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7 October 2004 Edition

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Dúirt Siad...

It's something the people of Ireland, nationalists and unionists, need to think very carefully about. If the DUP are up for a deal then we too are up for a deal but that deal has to be on the basis of the Good Friday Agreement. Martin McGuinness responds to Bertie Ahern's statement that the DUP are not pressing for a change to the fundamentals of the Good Friday Agreement, Monday 4 October.

Five years ago, the prospect of a meeting like yesterday's going ahead may have been on a par with finding a copy of The Rough Guide to the Vatican, by Rev Ian Paisley, on the shelves at a bookshop. William Scholes of the Irish News comments on Paisley and Ahern's meeting, Friday 1 October.

What is now going on is an attempt to come up with some political face-saving device whereby the DUP can give the impression in Ballybackwards that they have changed things.Tom McGurk, the Sunday Business Post, 3 October.

Of course he would love to end his career as first minister, but sharing the top job with Beelzebub McGuinness may not quite look like the divine intervention he has been threatening us with for years. Tom McGurk discusses Ian Paisley's lust for power.

The idea that the people of Ireland should be asked to pay €40 an hour for the many hours he undoubtedly spent trying to deceive the tribunal, preventing it from getting to the truth, is unrealistic. Judge Frederick Morris on why he refused Superintendant Kevin Lennon legal costs. Irish Independent, Tuesday 5 October.

Constitutional rights have really been stamped upon by the political establishment. Dana Rosemary Scallon did not go quietly into the night, as Mary McAleese was elected President unopposed. Irish Independent, Saturday 2 October.

The Secretary-General calls on the government of Israel to halt its military incursions into the Gaza Strip, which have led to the deaths of scores of Palestinians, including children. Statement from Kofi Annan to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last Friday.

A bulldozer entered our living room and demolished half the house. Hussein al-Jamal, a resident of Jabaliya refugee camp. The Irish Times, Saturday 2 October.

People know where I stand. People out there know what I believe. President George Bush accuses his rival, Democrat John Kerry, of sending mixed messages at the first Presidential debate last Thursday 30 September.

It's one thing to be certain. But you can be certain and you can be wrong. Kerry responds to Bush's attack.

We recognised long before now that the only way of resolving this issue was through negotiations. Ian Paisley went to Government Buildings this week. Surely the two sides in this dispute can sit down and talk. Sligo sheep farmer, Andy 'The Bull' McSharry, agreed to a temporary truce on Saturday 2 October and allowed walkers onto his land for a one-day 'peace deal'. The Bull went to jail last January for refusing to pay a fine imposed for intimidating walkers. the Irish Times, Monday 4 October.


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