The BelTel

The Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has been to the forefront of Northern Ireland's politics ever since the re-emergence of the Drumcree Parade issue.

The DUP-woman has stridently defended the rights of Orangemen to march down the Garvaghy Road in the face of nationalist opposition.

She has been clear - the DUP must get Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill out of power over her actions in the Garvaghy protest.

The problem is, the party leader Gavin Robinson disagrees – so what happens next?

Who is Carla Lockhart, what are her options, and how does this affect unionism?

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Professor Jon Tonge and by Belfast Telegraph reporters Claire Dickson and Andrew Madden.
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Jeffrey Donaldson was doing paid work for the ministry of defence in Africa even as acute political turmoil was engulfing his party at home in Northern Ireland.

Why was the then DUP leader undertaking sensitive work in dictator-led Cameroon just a week after he himself collapsed Stormont in 2022?
Why was he helping sell arms in Egypt alongside a British general?

Why did a special forces officer say he’d worked with Donaldson before?

Profound political questions remain over who all the now convicted paedophile was working for – alongside concerns about whether he had access to children in developing countries.

Sam McBride joined Ciarán Dunbar.
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The Metropolitan Police in London are investigating Jeffrey Donaldson over a rape allegation
It is alleged to have happened in the former MP's Westminster office.
Donaldson is currently serving a prison sentence in Maghaberry for 18 counts of child sex abuse, including the rape of a child.
The former DUP leader Donaldson was sentenced last week to 15 years but will serve just half of that term in prison.
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris.
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Offers made by Portadown District to allow Orangemen to walk the Garvaghy Road have been revealed in court – including a 4AM march, accompanied by a residents’ protest.
The court has finished hearing submissions during the legal challenge to the Secretary of State’s ban on the Drumcree parade, with Mr Justice Scoffield due to deliver his judgement next week. On Monday the court heard the security risks that were taken into account, with it being “almost certain” that dissident republicans had attended the protest, and “possible” that they had access to firearms.

Olivia Peden is joined by Allison Morris who was in court.
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Perforated Ulster, Give My Head Peace, and The Long and the Short of it, all produced by the Hole in the Wall gang are being axed by the BBC.
The Blame Game has also been culled.
The BBC is making major cuts across the corporation as budget cuts take hold.
BBC bosses say they have to make difficult decisions – but the cuts mean there will be no more local comedy on our screens.
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Tim McGarry and Damon Quinn and Michael McDowell from the Hole in the Wall Gang.
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