Top Issue 1-2024

8 March 2007 Edition

Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Rural Development and Agriculture

8 March 2007

The Rural Development and Agriculture section of Sinn Féin's Ard Fheis last Saturday was chaired by Kerry County Councillor Toiréasa Ferris. General election candidate for North Tipperary, Councillor Seamus Morris, a postman, addressed Emergency Motion 1 opposing the proposed closure of rural post offices. Free article

Equality and Human Rights

8 March 2007

"First they came for the communists..." Quoting Martin Niemoller's famous poem about the Nazis' rise to power in Germany, Caitríona Ruane opened the Ard Fheis section on equality and human rights. The outgoing South Down MLA said republicans should stand with all those suffering denial of their human rights and paid tribute to NGOs, trade unionists, the prisoners' rights movement and especially to those standing in solidarity with the people of Rossport. Ruane said Sinn Féin was the "engine of change" throughout the island. Free article

International solidarity a key theme

8 March 2007

Solidarity was the key theme in this year's EU & International Affairs section. Motions extending solidarity to the peoples of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Kurdistan, the Basque Country, Cuba and South America were prominent, as was support for the release of Leonard Peltier and for the struggles of Native American peoples. Free article

Fianna Fáil hypocrisy derided

8 March 2007

Dublin South Central TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh opened Friday's final session by speaking in favour of Motion 36, opposing mandatory minimum sentences. He acknowledged the "frustration" that working class communities feel when drug offenders are let off lightly, but said that international evidence has proven mandatory minimums to be an "expensive failure". Free article

An Phoblacht, Irish emphasised in debate on party development

8 March 2007

Motion 139 from the Ulster Cúige, calling on the Ard Chomhairle to establish an information technology unit within the party, was just one of a series of complicated and at times hotly contested motions in the Ard Fheis debate on party development, constitution and rules. Free article

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Interview : Francie Molloy, Sinn Féin National Commemorations Committee

8 March 2007

In January, FRANCIE MOLLOY was appointed Chairperson of Sinn Féin's National Commemorations Committee. He has big plans in particular to build the annual republican Easter commemorations, especially in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of 1916, which should be a huge national event involving people throughout the island and the Irish diaspora around the world. Here, Molloy talks to ELLA O'DWYER about the role of the Commemorations Committee and its aim of building, expanding and regenerating republican events - not just around Easter but at Bodenstown and elsewhere - and about plans underway for a commemorative garden for republican women. Free article

Dáil general election profile : Liam Browne - Tipperary South

8 March 2007

LIAM BROWNE, son of Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Browne, is the party's general election candidate in Tipperary South. Thirty-five years old, he's an up-beat and enthusiastic young man who - like Séamie Morris, his counterpart in the neighbouring North Tipp constituency - has a strong appetite for politics and community work. Currently doing a degree in politics and economics, he talks to ELLA O'DWYER about republicanism, the challenges facing his constituents and the rising support for Sinn Féin in South Tipperary. Free article

The Mary Nelis Column

8 March 2007

The most apt description of how the British partitioned Ireland can be found in a classic book written by the late Spike Milligan. Puckoon tells the story of what happened in a small village in Ireland when English civil servants, slightly in their cups, found that they could not guarantee an inbuilt unionist majority by drawing a straight line on the map. The result of this inebriated muddle was Puckoon, whose residents woke up the next morning to find the border running down the middle of the village street and through the cemetery. The dear departed were dug up to be re-interred on either side of the invisible line, according to their political and religious persuasions. It was thought at the time that Milligan had modelled Puckoon on the real-life village of Pettigo in Fermanagh. Indeed, he could have used any small village in Ireland, such was the economic and political disaster of partition for the people of this island. Free article

The Matt Treacy Column

8 March 2007

If only they had phones in Belfast the poor Dubs would have been spared a fruitless trek to Casement Park last Sunday. As it happened the team was ready to take the field when it was decided to abandon the game due to the condition of the pitch following severe overnight rain. Free article

Media View

8 March 2007

It's a great relief to find that the Independent newspaper group, having briefly flirted with news and serious analysis about two weeks ago, has reverted to type and is once more spewing out the dishonest misrepresentation that is their hallmark. Free article


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