Loyalists Against Democracy (LAD) founder: It was my stupidest idea ever but I have nothing to do with it anymore

Dundalk native John-Paul Whearty, in his early 40s, said he severed involvement with the site in October 2016 – around the same time he gave an interview to the News Letter revealing his role in LAD.

The social media pages initially sprang into being during the 2012 loyalist flag protests, with the principal aim of mocking the protestors.

Some regarded the accounts as satirical but others said they fomented negative comments and unfairly focussed on unionists.

Then this week, without warning or explanation, both accounts disappeared (@ladfleg on Twitter and www.facebook.com/BELFASTLAD/) .

On Sunday Mr Wheraty had said on Twitter: “If LADFLEG upset or annoyed you I’m sorry. I’m sick of taking all the flak for what was a group effort.”

He also said he was “exploring how to have the accounts removed”.

Now the News Letter has managed to reach him directly. Asked why the pages were taken down, he said: “I don’t know. I’ve had no control over them for four years. I left them in the capable hands of other people four years ago. And for four years I have taken a lot of flak...

“I did the interview with Sam [McBride] and I walked away, and I went and did something else.”

He would not be drawn on exactly what he does now, but said “I do things that amuse myself and I get paid for them”.

He also said he was not sure who was still running LAD up until present – but that he had been considering legal action if no other way could be found to remove them from the web.

Mr Whearty did say that he “wasn’t a fan of the content on either [Facebook or Twitter] in the last while”, saying the Twitter account in particular appeared to have moved in a more republican direction.

He continued: “It was a little bit tiresome, wasn’t it? It had kind of outlived its usefulness.”

As for LAD unfairly targeting unionists, he said: “I’d disagree with that... People are entitled to their opinion. Do I feel that all that criticism should be aimed at me personally? No.”

And when it comes to claims that people were harassed as a result of posts on LAD, he said: “And yet the people who are complaining about that are harassing.

“There is an innate flaw in the character in this island, that we harass each other.

“When I ran that, it was moderated. Because that moderation took all my time...

“Twitter in Northern Ireland has descended into a sectarian sewer.

“It’s not adding to the solution to our problems here and I’m embarrassed that the stupidest idea I ever had [setting up LAD] is the one that attracted so much attention.”

He said “people change” – adding that he does not drink any more, for example.

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