Britain Already Controls Ireland: We Need To Stop It Controlling Our Children

In July 2026, a legal threat arrived at the doors of Féile an Phobail. The Women’s Rights Network NI had been scheduled to hold a panel called Respect, Rights and Reality: Women’s Voices from Ireland and Europe at the West Belfast festival. After initially accepting the event and including it in its programme, Féile withdrew it.

On social media, the festival said they were unaware that the event would campaign against Trans rights, and insisted they “fully support the right of the Transgender community to be treated with equality and respect.”

WRN NI responded by filing proceedings in the High Court, alleging a breach of contract and seeking an injunction that would force the festival to restore the panel.

Maya Forstater, founder of Sex Matters, accused Féile of unlawful discrimination, “as unacceptable as cancelling someone for their religious or non-religious beliefs.”

Billionaire author J.K Rowling – whose first foray into politics was to oppose Scottish independence in 2014 – publicly stated her organisation would fund their legal action against Féile.

Despite billionaire backing, the case did not reach a judgement. On 29 July, WRN NI withdrew its legal action as part of a settlement. The panel was not restored to the Féile programme, and WRN NI agreed not to hold an event or protest at the original venue on the scheduled date.

In a sop to the hurt feelings of millionaire-backed cruelty dilettantes, the settlement left open the ‘possibility’ of discussions about the organisation taking part in future festivals.

Féile described the result as a vindication of its decision to stand with marginalised people: “Many of the very same people line up every year to attack Féile at every turn, and to attack the West Belfast community. They will never succeed.”

It would be easy to dismiss this as one more tedious instance of transphobic lawfare.

But context matters: Féile is not just any venue. Founded in 1988 as a direct response to Hillsborough-style press vilification of the people of West Belfast following the death of two undercover British soldiers, it grew from a community’s drive to reclaim their own narrative.

A British billionaire was writing blank cheques to stamp down on a working-class Irish community for the crime refusing to platform a British organisation pushing a British culture-war.

The Women’s Rights Network presents itself as a “network of women from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who promote the human rights of women and girls, claiming 3000 members – out of 35.84 million women in Britain and the six counties.

WRN NI is not an autonomous organisation with a distinct programme, but shares the British network’s commitment to “sex-based rights”: a euphemism for excluding Trans people from public life.

We do not know the membership of WRN NI, but membership is only one measure of political influence.

When their event was cancelled by Féile, this ostensibly grassroots group was able to draw upon the massed resources of the British establishment: sympathetic media coverage, legal advice, and billionaire backing.

This is not the first time that transphobia and unionism have shown their shared interests.

WRN is part of the transphobic unionist ecosystem that successfully overturned the 2022 decision of the democratically elected Scottish government to improve Trans lives, by measures like simplifying gender recognition and removing the requiring for a medical diagnosis.

The British establishment leapt into action: blocking the bill through Section 35 of the Scotland Act, arguing that equality law is a matter that is “reserved“ to the British government and that Scotland’s democratically elected parliament has no right to implement the mandate given to them by the Scottish people.

Shortly afterwards, JK Rowling then funded the legal action in For Women Scotland to the tune of £70,000 – where transphobes appealed to an English court to restrict the Scottish government’s attempts accommodate Trans lives with dignity and equality.

Billionaire-backing paid off: the lives and bodies of Scottish Trans people would be controlled by Westminster.

For now, Trans people in the six counties are safe from For Women Scotland. Equality Law is devolved to Stormont, despite moans from the Newsletter and the DUP’s Jonathon Buckley that the north was “lagging behind” Britain in the rush to bully Trans people.

The trend is obvious, transphobes and unionists make natural bedfellows because of shared values: control, uniformity, fear of diversity, and regressive social values.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Sinn Féin’s approach to Trans rights.

Following the publication of the ruling in For Women Scotland, Sinn Féin TDs David Cullinane and Padraig Mac Lochlainn welcomed the judgement that Westminster controlled Scottish lives – although Cullinane later apologised.

In August 2024, First Minister Michelle O’Neill approved an extension of Westminster’s puberty blocker ban to cover the six counties.

The NI Department of Health said alignment was necessary to “close loopholes that could be exploited”, and to prevent the north from becoming a regulatory “backdoor”.

Sinn Féin defended its decision by saying it accepted the prevailing medical advice.

In reality, they surrendered to Westminster’s demand to control not only Irish territory, but Irish children too.