Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has put it up to the political establishment in the 26 Counties to cease hiding behind meaningless figures and engage in a real debate about the type of society Ireland should have. Free article

Gerry Adams has opposed any amnesty for British state forces involved in collusion and other state killings. "After the release of prisoners under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Fein raised the issue of the small number of people, known as On-the-Runs, who are displaced from their families and who, if arrested and convicted, would have been eligible for release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Free article

Sinn Féin is hosting an important conference this weekend on issues related to the all-Ireland agenda. Here, Mitchel McLaughlin outlines his view of how the party's all-Ireland approach is impacting on the wider political stage. Free article

A packed public meeting in Dublin last week saw people detail a litany of abuse and cover up by the Garda. The meeting in the Mansion House, organised by Frank McBrearty, saw several hundred people accept his open invitation to come and tell of their experiences. Free article

With over €48 billion to spend in 2006, and another €3 billion of Budget Day sweeteners still to come, the Fianna Fáil message seems momentarily credible. Finance Minister Brian Cowen, launching next year's budget estimates last week used the occasion to present an unrecognisable vista of the Irish economy after nine years of coalition with the Progressive Democrats. Free article

In the early 1990s a senior British auditor uncovered a homes for votes scandal in London that rocked the foundations of the British political establishment. The scandal broke when local government auditor John Magill ruled that a vote rigging scam known as "designated sales", which involved selling off council houses at knock down prices in marginal wards to potential Tory voters, had cost the local tax payer millions in lost revenue. Free article