Matthew O'Toole
speaker
264 appearances
3 recordings
3 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 22 Jun
Matthew O'Toole’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 3.
Appearances
our paramilitaries or have been loyalist paramilitaries in the past have had some role in coordinating um the this disorder in different contexts so some of the uh historical issues within certain communities are playing into but also i suppose some of the historical
structures.
But I suppose you can play it both ways.
One of which is to say that, yes, we have some of those issues.
And by the way, it isn't just in loyalist working class areas.
People, for example, gathered last night.
It was areas that are associated with, I suppose, what is termed, though I hate using this phrase, the other community or the other side of the community.
It is also true to say that people have a real resilience here.
People have come through, obviously, violence and conflict and extreme violence, particularly in that part of Belfast.
So there's resilience here too, and I think an ability to face down extremism.
Well, I would say go away and stay out of this region which you don't care about.
I think the really important thing to bear in mind is those people
don't care about the space.
I mean it's shocking the number of people who are all of a sudden experts on community relations and policy making in Belfast.
I mean I know because I'm in the unique position of having worked in Whitehall for a very long time and then come to be a politician in Northern Ireland how little any of these people care about what happens here.
and it's really important to say that they don't get a right to warp and um uh ferment discontent in this place i think they'll move on fairly quickly to be honest i think they'll move on to the next thing it'll it'll be something else um next week but the people who they have um whose minds they've worked the disinformation they have spread will have an impact on the people of color the kids who are homeless
possibly still in their jammies from last night, not to be too melodramatic about it, but that is literally true as we sit here now.
And also the young men who will get criminal records as a result of the richest man in the world and his platform and this...
this idiot with however many names he has, Tommy Robinson, and others, forcing them into actions which will give them a criminal record.
I would also say for some of our local politicians,
Showing 241–260 of 264 · page 13 of 14
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