LAST WEEK saw the resumption of industrial action by classroom assistants in the North who are members of the NIPSA trade union. Last month, a protracted industrial dispute over job evaluation and grading for classroom assistants in the North resulted in a 10-day strike action by members of NIPSA. This action closed over half of the special needs schools in the Six Counties. Free article

Employment Agencies are sprouting up all over the country. It is a growth industry that we need to be wary of if we are to protect workers against the erosion of their rights. I welcome the SIPTU campaign launch in Liberty Hall on Monday evening last aimed at improving agency workers' rights and I hope that it will be organised on a 32 county basis. Free article

Time for an honest debate on the EU Reform Treaty, Presentation of the de Brún PEACE report, Climate change high on MEPs' agenda, Climate change delegation to China and Far-right group in European Parliament disintegrates Free article

JIM MONAGHAN (62), from, Rathmullan, County Donegal, is one of three republican former prisoners known as the Colombia Three. Last Tuesday, he launched his book, Colombia Jail Journal, published by Brandon, in the Sinn Féin Bookshop in Dublin. Jim talks to ELLA O'DWYER about his vivid account of the often harsh and dangerous prison conditions in which the Colombia Three - Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly - were held for four years in Colombia. Free article

Meehan's War and Peace Free article

Cén fáth a dtiocfadh duine a fhad leis an "bhaile beag" seo atá thart fá ceithre uair an chloig ar bus siar aduaidh ó Buenes Aires? Bhail, tá daoine ann a thiocfadh fhad leis an áit as siocair Che Guevara, rugadh agus tógadh é ar an bhaile seo. Ach da mbeifeá ag súil le hiarsmalann in ómós don fhear seo chan anseo a gheobhaidh tú í. Ag siúl thart dom bhí a fhios agam gur shiúil an laoch seo ar na sráideanna céanna ina raibh mise ag siúl orthu agus gur amharc an bheirt againn ar cuid de na radhairc chéanna, agus b'fhéidir gur lean muid mná thart fá na tithe tábhairne agus clubanna céanna! Free article

BOOK REVIEW The Basque Country: A Cultural History Free article

CROSSMAGLEN'S quest for another Ulster club title continued apace last Sunday when they overcame Dromore by a point. Cross' seem to enjoy nothing so much as a tight finish and it is very rarely indeed that they come out the wrong side. They face St Gall's in the final on Sunday in Newry and it promises to be a fascinating denouement. Free article

When the media goes into overdrive on a particular issue it invariably reflects the obsession of the establishment in pursuit of a political goal. The latest issue dominating the media is the need for reform of the public service or, in common translation, the need to tame the unions that happen to be stronger in the public service than elsewhere. Free article

Paisley Junior’s cottage hiccup

IAN PAISLEY JNR has insisted that his failure to register his second home at property speculator Seymour Sweeney’s Ballyallaght Farm Cottages in his own name is due to “an administrative hiccup at Land Registry”. DUP ministerial colleague Peter Robinson begs to differ.
Sweeney, a DUP member, is the tycoon behind the controversial plan for a commercial... Free article