4 June, 2009

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Election 2009 Momentum builds for Sinn Féin in final days

SINN FÉIN'S vote in the 26 Counties will rise significantly if people turn their anger into action and get out and elect the party's representatives in and Fianna Fáil out. Speaking at the final press conference of the election campaign in Dublin on Wednesday, Party President Gerry Adams said Sinn Féin could emerge from elections North and South with four MEPs and a new TD in Dublin Central, if people use their vote for change.

COLERAINE MURDER: Nine charged after loyalist invasion of estate

OVER a decade ago, in the aftermath of the sectarian murder of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill, An Phoblacht pointed out that it takes more than a loyalist mob to lynch a man. A mob can kill but it's the reaction of others, the inaction of law enforcers, the compliance of the justice system, the acquiescence of political leaders that turns a brutal murder into a lynching. Last month, with the mob murder of Coleraine Catholic Kevin McDaid, we witnessed another lynching. As in the murder of Hamill, the loyalists who killed McDaid did not hang him from the nearest tree. No, this was classic lynching - Ulster, not Alabama, style.

Photo: LOSS: Kevin's widow, Evelyn, and son, 'Wee Ryan’, at the graveside

Voting Sinn Féin on June 5th can bring positive change

TALKING dogs, trick cyclists, rap singers, Facebook outings, sexiest candidate surveys, campaign bus crashes, missing posters, crying babies and football-playing candidates were just some of the election media events covered in Irish daily newspapers last week. You might ask: 'Where was the politics, the policies and the debate?' Well, it seems that with some Irish newspapers you can judge a book by its cover and that we don't need any detail or political depth when it comes to election coverage.

Can the real DUP please stand up?

ON the evening of 24 May, as several hundred republicans from across County Derry and County Antrim, left the unveiling of a new monument to Kevin Lynch in the foothills of the Sperrins, a UDA-inspired mob invaded a small Catholic estate in Coleraine, 30 miles away. Local republicans returned to the town that night to discover one of their neighbours dead, another seriously injured, and others badly beaten.

Photo: Peter Robinson

Sinn Féin's Paul Fleming elected Mayor of Derry

SINN FÉIN Councillor Paul Fleming was elected as Mayor for Derry City on Monday night. Paul is the second member of the Fleming family to be elected Mayor. His sister, Lynn, was mayor in 2005. This is believed to be the first time in Ireland that a brother and sister have been elected as mayors to the same city.

Photo: FIRST FOR DERRY: Sinn Féin Mayor Paul Fleming with family and friends, including Martin McGuinness

PUBLIC SERVICE PROTEST: Fianna Fáil postpones Monaghan hospital cuts until after polling day

COMMUNITY GROUPS, the County Monaghan Community Alliance and Sinn Féin elected reps turned out to defend services at Monaghan General Hospital during an election visit by Taoiseach Brian Cowen to Castleblayney for local Fianna Fáil candidates. Sinn Féin Dáil leader and Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Taoiseach and Health Minister Mary Harney had rejected last-minute pleas not to proceed with the removal of the last acute medical services from the hospital which was due to take place on 31 May but postponed until after polling day.

Photo: Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Electoral Office may face legal action over denying voters' rights

VOTERS in the North are being arbitrarily denied their democratic rights by the Electoral Office through a number of dubious decisions which Sinn Féin has complained about and said may be legally actionable. Sinn Féin West Belfast MP Gerry Adams urged everyone concerned about the Electoral Office's denial of the democratic franchise to urgently seek legal representation.