News in brief

INO meeting

Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald and Party Health Spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin met with Irish Nurses Organisation General Secretary Liam Doran last Thursday 12 January. Ó Caoláin expressed Sinn Féin's support for the INO's recently launched "Enough is Enough" postcard campaign on A&E overcrowding.

Cocaine problem

The government needs to "get real" about the serious cocaine problem. So said Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh after it was revealed that 3% of people in the 26 Counties have tried cocaine. Ó Snodaigh said the Government only paid lip-service to the drugs problem and urgently had to produce and resource a coherent plan to deal with it, including doubling the size of the Drugs Task Force and the Garda Drugs Squad.

Athghabháil na Gaeilge

• Cuid den dream a bhí i láthair ag cruinniú de chuid Roinn an Chultúir a eagraíodh i nGaillimh ar an Sathran seo caite. Three members of Sinn Féin's re-invigorated Roinn an Chultúir team spoke with party activists last weekend in Galway, some fluent, some with differing levels of Irish, about their plans to radicalise the party's approach to Irish language acquisition and promotion. The meeting was the first of two in the Connacht/Uladh Cúige region and was aimed at the Connacht area. A second meeting will be held for Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and any other activists unable to attend the initial gathering