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A huge political storm has erupted this week after 26-County Justice Minister Michael McDowell admitted that he leaked Garda documents to the Irish Independent in the ongoing smear campaign against leading investigative journalist Frank Connolly.

Securocrat sabotage exposed

All charges were dropped against the three defendants at the centre of the so-called 'Stormontgate' controversy last week. In 2002 what was claimed to be 'irrefutable evidence' of a 'spy ring' operating at the heart of the Assembly became a mechanism by which the North's power sharing institutions were collapsed.

Photo: Sinn Féin's Denis Donaldson, Ciarán Kearney and William MacKessy

Huge effort to sabotage CPI and smear Connolly

McDowell's admission that he leaked the Garda documents to the Irish Independent to smear Frank Connolly show McDowell breaching all rules of due process. His comments in the Dáil accusing Connolly of obtaining a false passport to travel to Colombia mark an abandonment of the rule of law which is supposed to be the governing principle of the establishment parties.

Photo: Sam Smyth

Irish Ferries crisis - Two steps forward, one step back

As An Phoblacht goes to press union members are converging on Liberty Hall to cast their ballot on the compromise agreement hammered out at the Labour Relations Commission on Wednesday morning.

Enforcement and inspection needed - Morgan

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Employment and Workers' Rights Arthur Morgan TD said although the agreement reached in respect of the Irish Ferries situation was not "the preferred outcome" it was an advancement on the what was originally proposed by the company.

Myth of 'giveaway' Budget

Once again this year we were treated to the annual media myth of a 'giveaway' Budget. Long overdue rises in social welfare rates, measures to keep people on the minimum wage out of the tax net and to keep those on average industrial wage out of the upper 42% tax rate were described as 'giveaways' by many in the media.

Photo: Brian Cowen

Massive turnout a lesson in solidarity

Walking through Dublin last Friday was a lesson in solidarity. Over 80,000 people in Dublin and at least 50,000 more right across the country stood up in a concrete display of solidarity with workers on Irish Ferries vessels and their rejection of capitalism's race to the bottom.

Photo: Irish Ferries protest

Republican prisoners must be released

Some things never seem to change. Political subterfuge by British Secretaries of State, for example. It has been a common characteristic of them all. From Patrick Mayhew and Peter Brooke to Mo Mowlam and Peter Mandelson and right through to Peter Hain. Each and every one has demonstrated a higher than average ability to pull a card or two from up their sleeves at the last minute.

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