TEN THOUSAND electricians in the 26 Counties have been picketing over 200 locations since Monday as part of strike action in an effort to secure 11% pay increases owed to them since 2006. Electrical contractors are looking for a 10% pay cut. As An Phoblacht goes to print both sides in the dispute are in talks at the Labour Relations Commission. Free article

LOYALIST flags and bunting are nothing new. During the Orange marching season, streets in loyalist areas are often festooned with Union flags, loyal order flags and loyalist paramilitary flags as well as the ubiquitous red, white and blue bunting. But this year we have witnessed what joint First Minister Martin McGuinness has comically referred to as an outbreak of "flag flu". It is an outbreak which has not only seen the usual cacophony of flags in unionist areas in the run up to 'The Twelfth' but also the erection of flags in mixed areas and attempts to put up flags in predominantly nationalist areas. Free article

THE North's joint First Minister and Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster Martin McGuinness has called on PSNI Chief Hugh Orde to end his policy of cover-up and concealment and release files on a number of controversial killings in order to allow inquests to proceed. Speaking on Wednesday McGuinness said: "In the course of recent years Hugh Orde has adopted a policy of concealment and cover-up with regard to co-operating with Inquests into the controversial killings of a number of nationalists and republicans. Some of these people were killed directly by British State forces others by their surrogates in the loyalist gangs. "Hugh Orde is deliberately and quite consciously denying these families their right to the truth by continuing to withhold files and preventing Inquests proceeding in an open and transparent manner. Free article

ELDERLY patients in a respite home funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) are being forced to go to private nursing homes this summer. Dublin's Cherry Orchard Hospital wants to shut down a ward of 16 beds until October because, it claims, there are no staff to cover annual and maternity leave. Free article

LOUTH Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan has been appointed by an Oireachtas committee to compile a report on the agri-food sector - one the key potential growth sector in the economy. The Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment last week agreed to Arthur's request to head an investigation under the title What is required to expand employment in the agri-food sector. So why did Arthur ask to take on this task? "I proposed to the Committee that I would undertake this report because the government is doing little or nothing in terms of job creation. For all their waffling about the need to create employment," the straight-talking TD says. Free article

THE economic crisis topped the agenda at the all-Ireland Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin on Monday. Taoiseach Brian Cowen hosted the meeting at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park along with ten Government ministers from the 26 Counties. The North's joint First Ministers, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin and Peter Robinson of the DUP, attended with eight ministers from the Northern Executive also present. Free article

SINN FÉIN Dáil leader and Health & Children spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has described as "a disaster for our health services" the announcement by the HSE that the axing of all acute services in Monaghan General Hospital is now scheduled to go ahead on 22 July. He said lives would be put at risk. Speaking on Wednesday Ó Caoláin said: "The announcement this morning by the HSE that the axing of all acute services in Monaghan General Hospital is now scheduled to go ahead from 22 July represents a disaster for our health services. This decision flies in the face of all appeals from front-line healthcare workers, including nurses, GPs, consultants and support staff and from the community in County Monaghan across all political and religious divides. Free article