Northern Ireland

Parades, protests and policing partnerships: Senior loyalist Winston Irvine has often been in spotlight

Winston Irvine pictured asking North Belfast Sinn Féin MP John Finucane to leave a Crumlin Road protest against a dump site in July 2020. The MP refused to do so
Winston Irvine pictured asking North Belfast Sinn Féin MP John Finucane to leave a Crumlin Road protest against a dump site in July 2020. The MP refused to do so Winston Irvine pictured asking North Belfast Sinn Féin MP John Finucane to leave a Crumlin Road protest against a dump site in July 2020. The MP refused to do so

WINSTON Irvine is one of north Belfast's most controversial loyalist figures, with a series of roles that has led him to working with nationalists and police on community safety issues, to founding a body representing the north's three main loyalist paramilitary groups.

A former head of communications in the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), the senior loyalist enjoyed membership of a number of publicly-funded bodies in the early years of the 2010s, the most high-profile of which was his seat on the North Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP).

His role on the statutory body, described by the Policing Board as groups that "work to make your community safer", came under heavy scrutiny in 2013 after a BBC Spotlight investigation alleged he was an active UVF commander.

Following the allegations, Irvine declined to deny having being a member of the organisation, saying he did not wish to discuss "what I may or may not have been involved in" in the past.

However, he added: "I do not support any violence. I want to see a society without any paramilitary groupings, be it republican or loyalist."

The year before the Spotlight broadcast, Irvine featured in a photograph of loyalists observing a republican parade from the balcony of Clifton Street Orange Hall.

Then a member of the North and West Belfast Parades Forum, Irvine was pictured with others watching the parade - linked to the Republican Network for Unity group - pass by the building.

Opposition to the parade sparked disorder that left 47 PSNI officers injured.

In more recent years Irvine threw his weight further into behind-the-scenes work in politics, with an ambition to increase PUP representation at council level, and Stormont, where the party's sole seat was lost in 2011.

His community roles continued to face scrutiny by the press - with some outlets often referring to him in coverage by his nickname 'Winkie' - including his work as treasurer of the Woodvale Shankill Community Housing Association charity.

In 2015 Irvine was involved in founding the Loyalist Communities Council, representing the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, which said it aimed to "play a full and meaningful role in connecting loyalism to civic society".

Winston Irvine (second from left) pictured with fellow founding members of the Loyalist Communities Council, Jim Wilson, David Campbell and Jackie McDonald. Picture by Mal McCann.
Winston Irvine (second from left) pictured with fellow founding members of the Loyalist Communities Council, Jim Wilson, David Campbell and Jackie McDonald. Picture by Mal McCann. Winston Irvine (second from left) pictured with fellow founding members of the Loyalist Communities Council, Jim Wilson, David Campbell and Jackie McDonald. Picture by Mal McCann.

Since its founding, the group has faced criticism for its links to still-active terror groups while also demanding support from both the UK and Dublin administrations to help loyalist groups move past paramilitarism.

Five years after its founding, Irvine continued to defend its activity, stating: "There seems to be a narrative that the loyalist groupings are to be categorised as criminals and ignored while the Provisional IRA is to be sanitised."

Meanwhile, that same year in 2020, Irvine was forced to defend his actions in demanding that North Belfast Sinn Féin MP John Finucane leave a protest site in his constituency.

The Sinn Féin MP had arrived to protest about a dumping site in the Crumlin Road area, and was approached by Irvine, who asked him to leave.

When quizzed on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback show about the incident, Irvine said he had spotted that a colleague accompanying the MP had a "GAA top on or a Republic of Ireland top, I'm not quite sure what it was", adding that the symbols on the shirt "confirmed that it was actually Sinn Féin had arrived".

The loyalist told Mr Finucane, who witnessed his father's murder by the UDA as a child, to "melt away quietly, quickly and in a dignified manner", but the MP remained at the protest, insisting he was there to represent "everyone in north Belfast", and described the confrontation as "nonsense".