It seems to be the habit now of British representatives in the Six Counties to send letters of denial to committees in the 26 Counties investigating British collusion. When, during the course of his investigation, Justice Henry Barron requested some of the 68,000 relevant files on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings from the NIO, he received a ten-page letter refuting allegations of collusion. When Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin requested answers from Security Minister Jane Kennedy as to why Barron's investigation had been hindered, he received a letter saying that all relevant documentation had been forwarded. Free article

International lawyer Ed Lynch and New York Supreme Court Judge Patrick Henry were among a host of dignitaries, campaigners, and political figures who gathered alongside the families of the New Lodge Six in Belfast City Hall this Wednesday to announce the launch of a petition to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Execution with respect of the 1973 massacre. Free article

The DUP's devolution proposals mark an important shift in as much as they are "a shift by that party from the never-never-land politics they have inhabited for decades," Sinn Féin's Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness told the party's Six-County Cuige AGM in Belfast this week. McGuinness said the DUP had recognised "that power-sharing is the way forward" and that this brought the party "into the ballpark of the Good Friday Agreement politics". Free article

Seventy is not usually an important number but last week it was the amount of measures published in Charlie McCreevy's seventh Finance Bill. Only three of the provisions deal with tax avoidance or evasion. The new bill means more workers on the higher rates of income tax, with unfulfilled promises to take the low paid out of the tax net, along with a stunning array of new or extended tax breaks for builders, holiday home developers and business in general. Free article

"The new Electoral Fraud Act has served to disenfranchise more nationalists than the infamous era of gerrymandering", according to Sinn Féin Councillor Seán Begley, a member of the party's Six-County Electoral Directorate. Speaking before the party's Cúige AGM last Saturday, Begley reminded party activists that nearly 200,000 potential voters were excluded from last year's electoral register, and urged the party to remain focused on the future registration needs of the public. Free article

West Belfast is statistically the most deprived constituency in the North of Ireland and has also been characterised as the area most affected by the 30 years of conflict. A detailed study recently conducted by the West Belfast Economic Forum and commissioned by the West Belfast Partnership Board has exposed the multi-layered nature of deprivation experienced by the people of West Belfast. With over 300 pages of statistical analysis, the document provides a ready resource for any agency tasked with challenging deprivation. Free article