25
Dame Kelly Holmes
This year the Olympic track legend revealed to the Belfast Telegraph that she had moved to Northern Ireland to be with her partner, loved dining in Belfast restaurants as well as getting drunk with a group of students in The Boneyard bar. In October the double Olympic Gold medallist was unveiled as the honorary patron of LGBT+ running club, Belfast Front Runners. A month later, the 53-year-old also released her new book, Unique, a revealing memoir that discussed her identity as a gay woman.
24
Ciara Mageean
It’s been an exciting year for the Co Down athlete. Earlier this month, she was named the 2023 BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year… and secured a world Parkrun best for the fastest time ever run by a woman at the event. While competing for Ireland, the Portaferry runner shaved more than two seconds off Sonia O’Sullivan’s Irish mile record, in existence since 1994. Mageean also broke the Irish 1500m record and set a new Irish record for the 800m race. Couple that with Commonwealth and European silver medals, as well as an August highlight, finishing fourth in the women’s 1500m at the World Championships and she is well on her way ahead of next year’s summer Olympics.
23
Fr Martin Magill
In November, the Belfast priest called for a dedicated police unit to be established to tackle paramilitary-style attacks in Northern Ireland. New figures revealed there had been 48 paramilitary-style shootings and assaults here in the year to October 31, compared to 36 over the previous 12 months. Fr Magill, parish priest of St John’s Parish on the Falls Road and who works with pressure group Stop Attacks, described the latest figures as ‘appalling’. He told the Belfast Telegraph: “It is not normal behaviour for any civilised society, but it has become normalised because of how frequent these attacks happen. Too many of us just shrug our shoulders when one of these attacks takes place.”
22
George Mitchell
A commemorative bust of former US senator George Mitchell was unveiled at Queen’s University in Belfast during a conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in May. Speaking at the conference, Mr Mitchell who was the chairman of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and a former chancellor of the university, encouraged Northern Ireland’s political leaders to act with the same “courage and wisdom” that their predecessors did. He added: “We need people who believe, who know, that the possible exists within the impossible. Don’t let it slip away. May God grant you opportunity, prosperity, and everlasting peace you deserve.”
21
Lisa McGee
Another year, another celebration of Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls. In November, the writer added ‘Emmy winner’ to her already impressive awards cabinet, as the third series of the Channel 4 show was crowned joint winner of best comedy programme. Derry Girls has won a host of awards for both the show, its stars and its creator. But Ms McGee isn’t finished yet… fans were delighted to learn that her next TV series How To Get To Heaven From Belfast was commissioned by Channel 4. Centring on a group of schoolfriends who now lead very different lives in their late thirties — and Ms McGee has vowed there will be a character from Derry — the friends find themselves embroiled in a mystery.
20
Masked men
In October, masked men appeared in the public gallery in a Belfast court during the trial of James Stewart Smyth. Mr Smyth is accused of the double killing of Gary Convie and Eamon Fox in 1994 which he denies. There was a heavy police presence at Laganside courts during evidence from former UVF commander Gary Haggarty, seen in public for the first time since 2009. The judge, when alerted to the masked individuals, warned anyone concealing their face would be removed from court. Northern Ireland’s most senior judge, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, ordered a review of the incident.
19
Rory Gallagher
In September, the former Derry senior men’s Gaelic football manager was temporarily disbarred from the GAA. He stepped back from the role in May prior to the Ulster Final against Armagh after allegations of domestic abuse were made in a social media post by his estranged wife Nicola Gallagher. Ms Gallagher alleged she had suffered the abuse over a period of 24 years; in response, Mr Gallagher said claims were ‘investigated and dealt with by the relevant authorities’. The temporary disbarment followed reports that the Fermanagh native had been back training a club in Co Monaghan.
18
Jean Claude Van Damme
Not only did the Hollywood action movie star celebrate his 63rd birthday in Belfast at the launch of his Irish whiskey brand, Old Oak, and pop into a gym in the city to meet NI fighter Leah McCourt, but his Northern Ireland visit appeared to make such a lasting impression that he later apologised for mixing up Belfast and Dublin during an interview on the Late Late Show with our own Patrick Kielty.
17
Clements
It wasn’t the only coffee shop to shut this year but many living in Belfast felt a pang of sadness after the announcement — and closure — of three Clements Coffee outlets. The branches in Royal Avenue, Rosemary Street and Botanic Avenue shut their doors in mid-October, leaving only two in operation at Queen’s University and Ulster University, Jordanstown. The trio of closures marked the end of the independent chain on the high street, once a fixture of the city’s enjoyment of coffee culture. A statement from the company said it was unable to ‘sustain the pressures’ of the current economic climate, thanking its loyal customers who made their 24 years in business the ‘most enjoyable journey’ for owners.
16
Jamie Bryson
It was a year in which the loyalist activist appeared in front of Westminster’s NI Affairs Select Committee in October to rebuff claims about alleged relationships with loyalist paramilitaries and DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, telling MPs: “The notion that [Donaldson] … needs to ask me for permission to make a decision is quite frankly for the birds”. A month later, the Belfast Telegraph exclusively revealed Bryson was cited as part of a probe by Ards and North Down council over allegations council staff leaked confidential documents to him. Bryson also recently welcomed a 10-month jail sentence handed down to Robert Beck who admitted he had threatened to kill him, as well as other North Down loyalists. In November, Bryson appeared at Belfast Crown Court where he was arraigned on a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office — an offence he vehemently denies.
15
Rory McIlroy
Leading Europe’s Ryder Cup victory to SPOTY snub
Another fine year for Rory McIlroy that saw him navigate distractions off the course to continue his fine performances on it, capped by leading Europe to a memorable Ryder Cup victory in Rome. McIlroy started the year on a heater, winning his first event at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, beating out LIV defect Patrick Reed to the title by one shot after birdieing his final two holes to see off the American and win for the third time in the United Arab Emirates. But the Holywood man would go through a lean spell following that, including missed cuts at The Players Championship and, more painfully, The Masters at Augusta National, the only Major he has left to win in his bid for the Grand Slam.
After finishing seventh at the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill, McIlroy would get his best chance to end his nine-year Major duck when he started the final round of the US Open in Los Angeles one shot behind leader Wyndham Clark and he would birdie his opening hole to claim a share of the lead. However, the 34-year-old would fail to pick up another shot for the remainder of his round, finishing one back of Clark.
His Major results were made even more impressive in that between them, the bombshell news broke that the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund — which runs LIV — were in talks over a stunning merger that would essentially unite the two circuits.
Since LIV was founded, McIlroy had been one of the staunch defenders of the PGA Tour, and at his press conference ahead of the Canadian Open he declared he still hated LIV. But this was a huge smack in the face for the World No.2, who reportedly rejected nine-figure sums to join the breakaway tour.
Despite all those distractions, McIlroy’s golf continued to sparkle and he produced his best win of the year at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, holding off local favourite Robert MacIntyre to win by a stroke after birdieing his final two holes. A week later he would pick up another top-10 finish at a Major, this time The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, an impressive final round 68 earning him sixth but well adrift of Champion Golfer of the Year Brian Harman.
Already the only person to win three FedEx Cups, McIlroy would then begin his bid to make it four in impressive style at the first two Play-Off events by finishing third at the FedEx St Jude Championship and fourth at the BMW Championship, but he would flop at the Tour Championship in East Lake, finishing fourth and a whopping 13 shots adrift of winner Viktor Hovland.
But undoubtedly his crowning glory of a superb 2023, McIlroy was determined to help Europe reclaim the Ryder Cup after a massively underwhelming individual performance at Whistling Straits in 2021 and he delivered and then some.
On the second day’s play, McIlroy had to be restrained by Shane Lowry as tempers boiled over in a car park. Earlier, he had become embroiled in a heated exhange with Patrick Cantlay’s caddy, Joe LaCava.
Despite the exhange, partnering with Tommy Fleetwood in the foursomes and Matthew Fitzpatrick in the fourballs, McIlroy would win four out of a possible five points to spearhead the European charge, capping it off with a 3&1 singles victory over Sam Burns in the final session to help them reclaim the trophy with a 16.5-11.5 win at Marco Simone Golf Club.
And he would cap off a fine year with his fifth career Race to Dubai title, winning the DP World Tour’s order of merit with one event to spare and rounding of his season with a top-25 finish at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
There was also a BBC Sports Personality of the Year nomination in December; however, McIlroy would lose out to England goalkeeper Mary Earps — prompting commentary in the media over the decision. McIlroy, for his part, snubbed the ceremony and gave no reason for his absence.
Words by Adam McKendry
14
Eamonn Holmes
Award nods and Schofield scandal frame Eamonn’s 2023
The veteran Northern Irish broadcaster will celebrate two years at GB News next year — and in less than 24 months Eamonn has already won a major media industry award — an achievement that ultimately silenced his detractors who believed his move to the anti-establishment channel would spell the death knell to his career.
The TRIC award for best breakfast programme was awarded to the presenter and his breakfast programme co-host Isabel Webster in June. Holmes was also nominated for an individual news presenting gong, but lost out to fellow GB News alum Nigel Farage. The pair were also nominated for best news programme at the National Reality TV Awards.
The award recognition comes in a year in which Holmes not only delivered the news to his breakfast viewers, but one in which he shaped the news agenda. In May the broadcaster did a sit-down explosive tell-all interview on GB News in the wake of the Phillip Schofield scandal.
Being interviewed by Dan Wootton [who has since been off the air on GB News after being accused of improper sexual behaviour in his personal life — allegations he vehemently denies], Eamonn accused his former This Morning colleague of creating a toxic work environment.
Schofield resigned from This Morning and was dropped by ITV amid a media storm following his shock confession that he had an “unwise, but not illegal” secret affair with a younger male colleague. Eamonn said he and his wife Ruth Langsford, who together took over presenting duties on Fridays on This Morning until 2022, had been “embarrassed and ashamed” at being caught up in Phillip Schofield’s coming out moment. In February 2020, Schofield appeared on the magazine programme alongside co-presenter Holly Willoughby to make the announcement.
“We were lied to. Ruth and I to this day are embarrassed and ashamed see those pictures… So we feel angry about that, we feel used”, he told Wootton.
The Belfast man was sacked by ITV just 10 days after Schofield’s tearful personal revelation. It was January 2022 when he appeared back on our screens at GB News.
This year was also one in which Eamonn continued to experience health problems, declaring in September that he’d “drink horse pee if it made me feel better”. The 63-year-old has been struggling with health and mobility issues for over a year.
Still, his back pain woes did not deter him from conducting the wedding service of friend and former Coronation Street actor Charlie Lawson, who played Jim McDonald for 11 years, and Lawson’s partner Debbie Stanley.
He also revealed that he has taken up boxing to boost his health. He also became a grandfather again in 2023, announcing the family news on X, formerly Twitter, saying his son Declan and daughter-in-law Jenny had welcomed a baby girl, adding: “We feel very blessed, relieved and happy.”
Words by Gillian Halliday
13
Michael Deane
The restaurateur saying goodbye to an Eipic adventure
In November, it was announced that Belfast’s oldest Michelin star was set to go as Michael Deane announced city centre restaurant Eipic will close in January.
With a career that has proved inspirational to many, Deane’s determination and longevity ensured a loyal — and significant — fan base.
He said the decision is part of a development plan to ‘readjust their customer offering’ at its flagship premises on Howard Street — citing changing customer preferences and current market demands.
“We have reaped the benefits it has brought to our brand,” said Deane on the importance of his Michelin star.
“Our decision to move away from this has been carefully considered and evaluated and I believe it is the right decision to take now and it’s the right time to do it.”
The restaurateur has held a Michelin star for a quarter of a century, second only to Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin and the longest ever in Northern Ireland.
Deane first opened restaurant Deanes on the Howard Street site in 1997, winning a Michelin star within a year. It lost the award in 2011 after the venue closed due to flooding but was to regain a star as Deanes Eipic four years later.
It was the second shake-up within the company in 2023, with the closure of Lisburn Road bistro Deane & Decano after facing a two-thirds increase in rent.
These closures follow those of Vin Café and Deanes Deli on Bedford Street. The company stated it would expand its Howard Street offering with a new brand responding to customer trends ‘with an increased focus on value for money’. It will combine elements of both Meat Locker and Love Fish restaurants.
“With Brexit, Covid and now the cost-of-living crisis, the world has changed, my team has changed, customers have changed their choices, and I have changed, and, while people are back to eating out, there is increasing cost sensitivity which is out of kilter with our fine dining offering at Eipic and we have to respond to that,” Deane said.
Perhaps it is set to become a growing trend within the hospitality industry. In October, the owners of Monad said they were rebranding the east Belfast restaurant with its menu that would be affordable and budget-conscious.
Other restaurants throughout Belfast have closed this year.
Less than a five-minute walk from Eipic, Vero closed its doors in September, five months after opening. Lottie on Belfast’s Upper Newtownards Road closed in June, while The Barking Dog ceased trading in May due to a number of factors including rising costs and the impacts of the pandemic.
Though ‘excited and invigorated’ by the opportunity to refresh the business, Deane’s decision was no doubt a blow for the city’s restaurant scene.
Locations such as Ox and The Muddler’s Club have brought diners into the city centre — a city with three Michelin stars that few if any other cities of similar size hold in Ireland or the UK.
While customers await what Deane does next, they’ll potentially have another eatery to add to their must-visit list. Following Deane’s announcement, Eipic’s head chef Alex Greene and general manager Bronagh McCormick revealed their new venture — a restaurant to open in 2024 in the heart of Mourne Country. In doing so, the Great British Menu finalist alongside McCormick will expand their current business, Fish & Farm, in Newcastle
Words by Aine Toner
12
Rain, Rain… And More Rain
NI’s worst spell of flooding brought huge misery
It’s not much of a consolation to those left counting the cost of the seemingly endless bad weather, but 2023 brought some local interest to the names of the storms. We’d been through Agnes and Babet in double quick time before storm Ciaran, named after Ciaran Fearon, who works for the Department of Infrastructure in information on river levels and coastal flooding, arrived.
Along with Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch weather service, the Met Office are now naming storms when they are expected to have a “medium” or “high” impact on people in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands. The public in all three countries submit suggestions for storm names. Enter Ciaran.
“With the effects of climate change, we are more aware than ever of how weather can affect us all in every aspect of our daily lives,” he said. “We need to respect each weather event and this work, particularly during periods of severe weather and storms, helps to ensure that we are all as well prepared as possible to help reduce the impact of such events.”
The storm season started officially on September 1, but it came on the back of one of the wettest summers in memory. Northern Ireland had its wettest July on record, with 185.4mm of rain falling throughout it, according to the Met Office. That was more than double its long term average for the month, with the record previously held by July 1936.
Autumn brought little and in September Storm Agnes battered us with heavy rain and winds up to 80mph.
The strongest winds were around Irish Sea coastal areas, and thousands of Northern Irish homeowners were left without power, mainly affecting homes in counties Down, Armagh and Tyrone.
October 31 proved a scarier night for many with sections of Newry under water. The scenes came after an amber warning for rain, and a month of sustained rainfall, ahead of the arrival of Storm Ciaran at the beginning of November.
Newry’s canal burst its banks, flooding Canal Quay, Sugar Island, Kildare Street and part of Bridge Street, while just across the border in Co Louth, a bridge close to Riverstown partially collapsed.
Businessowners felt the pressure, with Paul McCartan, who owns a clothing shop with his brother on Sugar Island, describing his premises as being a mess under three feet of water, with clothes saturated. Some took to boating their way through the water, as many tried to salvage what was left of stock. Roads were also flooded in other parts of County Down and County Armagh with water levels called ‘unprecedented’.
Then Storm Ciaran struck, the second storm in two weeks to hit Northern Ireland. Downpatrick fared badly, with Asda in the town’s Ballydugan Retail Park still closed after Storm Ciaran made itself known. Another premises suffered upwards of £25,000 of water damage while Downpatrick and County Down Railway charity confirmed “unprecedented” damage to their historic locomotives after they were covered by three feet of water.
Words by Niamh Campbell
11
Blue Lights
Cops of Blackthorn Street Station captivated police drama fans
The high-octane action at Blackthorn Street Station, a fictional police station in Belfast where the decisions of PSNI officers in Blue Lights kept us hooked to our screens for six addictive episodes in spring 2023.
When the BBC announced with much enthusiasm that a new cop drama filmed in Belfast would be arriving on our screens in spring, homegrown fans of police dramas could be forgiven for raising an eyebrow: after all, it felt that Line of Duty’s Superintendent Ted Hastings had barely hung up his police cap when Blue Lights swooped in all guns blazing with Sherlock’s Sian Brooke in the lead role of Grace Ellis, a rookie cop who quickly finds her altruistic zeal (courtesy of a past career in social work) clashes with a reality check of life on the beat.
From the moment veteran cop Gerry Cliff (Richard Dormer) schools the keen-asmustard but naive trainee Tommy, played by Nathan Braniff, on how to spot a car being used by security forces operatives, it’s clear that Blue Lights is a show that is above and beyond all other police procedurals.
From the minds of Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, who garnered huge critical acclaim for The Salisbury Poisonings — a BBC One drama based on the true events surrounding the 2018 Novichok poisonings — Blue Lights has since been syndicated across the globe, with cop drama fans from Australia and North America hailing its brilliance. It burst onto our screens just before the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was marked (amid the power-sharing political stalemate) Blue Lights deftly balanced a Northern Ireland that no longer has to deal the with the Troubles, but one that it still grappling with its after effects — yet boasts themes and subjects that are universal. The first series focused on organised crime in a republican community; for the next series, the plot will centre on loyalists. Speaking about preparing for her role, Sian — whose father was a police officer — revealed that she went out on police patrols with the PSNI and fell in love with Belfast while she was filming here.
“I just met the best people, genuinely great people, great chats,” she told Weekend in March. “It’s funny because in my head I knew that the PSNI carry guns. But I don’t think I totally took that on board, I don’t think I’d comprehended in my brain what that totally was…It’s a level where you realise it’s a different responsibility that you have that. Holding it though, it’s never normal.”
Nominated for a National Television Award in the best new drama, Blue Lights has also recently been named as one of five NI-produced projects that have been given a nod in the 2024 Broadcast Awards. A hit with critics too, the show has been making the lists of the best shows of the year.
The Guardian ranked it number seven in its top 15 programmes of 2023.
Words by Gillian Halliday
10
Donna Traynor
The broadcaster whose case shone a light on BBC staffing issues
Donna Traynor quit her role as a presenter on its Newsline programme in November 2021. Her case, heard a year later, claimed gender, age and disability discrimination against the broadcaster.
Beginning at the end of May, the hearing heard that she felt she was being “bullied” and “coerced” by the BBC management into presenting the two hour Evening Extra radio show, two to three days a week. In opening remarks Ms Traynor’s legal team said she was subjected to “bullying and harassment” after she raised a grievance about a plan to change her role at the corporation.
Once one of Northern Ireland’s most high-profile broadcasters, the tribunal heard that she joined the BBC in 1989, presenting radio news bulletins, before moving into television.
In August 2006 she was offered a two- year contract presenting the flagship 6.30pm Newsline programme, five days a week and by 2008, the three-person tribunal was told that she was given a permanent contract, “engaged specifically to work on Newsline five days a week”.
Mr Lyttle KC said that she had yearly appraisals that graded her work to a high standard and that during her time as the programme’s presenter, audiences continued to grow.
The tribunal also heard that Ms Traynor had been assured that her role “would not be diminished” by BBC NI Director Adam Smyth during an annual appraisal held in December 2018.
A proposal to move her to a radio position was presented to her in 2019, on her 55th birthday, which she said made her the oldest female presenter working for the BBC in Northern Ireland. Ms Traynor quit her job in November 2021.
It was also claimed that a voluntary redundancy scheme introduced by the BBC was “a ploy” to get rid of the “old crop”. The scheme was available to anyone who presented a TV or radio programme more than 30 minutes in length and the tribunal heard that veteran journalists Noel Thompson, Seamus McKee and Wendy Austin took up the redundancy offer along with Karen Patterson.
The tribunal also heard how Ms Traynor had a “deaf ear”, something she had developed following a childhood illness, and suffered from “profound single sided deafness”.
Because of the scripted nature of the Newsline show, she had carried out her presenting role for many years to a high standard.
A move to radio, though, was argued to be ‘problematic’ given the “freewheeling and unstructured” nature of the two-hour Evening Extra show she was to be moved to. The tribunal was resolved without any admission of liability.
A settlement was agreed in the case, with both parties declaring they were ‘satisfied’ by the outcome. Both parties disputed the speculated settlement figure, with a statement from Ms Traynor on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “There has been speculation about the amount to be paid in the settlement of my employment tribunal case against the BBC and Adam Smyth. This figure has been exaggerated.”
In recent months, Ms Traynor has been easing herself back into the public eye through hosting events and as partner in Kellyvision Independent Productions.
Words by Mark Bain