FROM OUR EXPLOSIVES EDITOR SAL TPETRE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT anti-aircraft missiles for Ukraine will be made in Belfast has Peace Process advocates scratching their heads and IRA veterans wondering if the British Government will be seeking help from its old enemies to supply ordnance to the beleaguered Eastern European nation.

“We’re not anxious to get any further involved in war – our people are turning cartwheels over Gaza, as it is – so if the Brits want stuff to send to Ukraine then they’ll have to do it themselves,” said Sean, an IRA commander who now works as a community worker. “Don’t get me wrong, the skills are still there. We might have downed tools but we haven’t gone away, you know.”

Curiously, Thales, which is expected to supply most of the weapons, is a French company.