A REPORT by the so-called Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) has stated that the IRA Army Council is 'no longer operational or functional'. Sinn Féin has always resolutely opposed any role in the peace process for the IMC, which has been seen at various stages of the Peace Process as a tool of British securocrats. Free article

AN INVESTIGATION by the Police Ombudsman has found that the PSNI failed in their duty after hundreds of people under the threat of murder at the hands of unionist paramilitaries were not warned by the PSNI. The failure of the PSNI to take swift action to protect the right to life is a direct breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 2 requires proactive measures to ensure the lives of citizens are protected. Free article

PRIOR to the beginning of the negotiations in Stormont Buildings in September 1997, the two governments and the political parties (with the obvious exception of the DUP) had already recognised the need for an inclusive political dispensation if we were to move from conflict to a democratic process in which all political aspirations would be accepted as equally legitimate. Free article

SINN FÉIN'S Leinster House parliamentary team has held its annual party 'think in' in Howth, County Dublin, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in advance of the return of the Dáil. Speaking as the two-day event got underway, Dáil group leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said: Free article

'GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY' came to Mayo last week when a Naval Service ship, the LE Orla, arrived off the coast at Broadhaven Bay to protect and support the giant Shell multinational's Corrib gas project against civil disobedience. Reports on Tuesday said that the LE Aoife had also been deployed by Defence Minister Willie O'Dea. Free article

"A FITTING TRIBUTE" and "the lads would be proud" were two of the most frequent comments made during last weekend's events to mark the 20th anniversary of the deaths of IRA Volunteers Brian Mullin, Gerard Harte and Martin Harte, killed in an SAS ambush at Drumnakilly on 30 August 1988. The programme of events commenced on Thursday evening with the launch of a commemorative exhibition in Loughmacrory clubrooms. The exhibition consisted of photographs and personal memorabilia which reflected on the lives of the three Volunteers. A section of the display charted the republican struggle in mid Tyrone. Free article