On Tuesday, 30 March 2010, Brian Lenihan - Minister for Finance in a state with a €20 billion deficit and almost 450,000 people unemployed - stood before the Dáil and announced that over the next number of years Ireland will pump €80 billion into five wayward banks. In carefully co-ordinated statements, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), the Financial Regulator and Lenihan revealed the details of the largest financial bank bailout, proportionately, in the western world. Free article

There was a certain amount of media focus this week on the publication of a new book by Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, which carries claims made in interviews McIntyre carried out with the late Belfast republican Brendan Hughes some years before he died and when he was in poor health and politically estranged from his former republican comrades. Free article

On this the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Rising the leadership of Sinn Féin extends its solidarity to the families of all our patriot dead. We remember with pride those comrades from every generation who gave their lives for the cause of Irish freedom. We are immensely proud of our patriot dead and of their families. Free article

It's not bigotry that propels the Orange Order to protest against the forthcoming papal visit to England and Scotland and it's not racism to allow members to stand for the British National Party, or so the leaders of the Orange Order would like us to believe. Free article

The Bloody Sunday families on Monday issued a statement saying that while the families were glad to hear the Secretary of State's most recent comments on releasing the Saville Report, they further insist that Shaun Woodward should "pull out all the stops" to publish the Inquiry report before the forthcoming election. Free article

Barry McElduff, Martin McGuinness and Michelle Gildernew addressed a packed hall of over 300 people at the Westville Hotel in Enniskillen last week for the launch of Sinn Féin's 2010 Westminster election campaign in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Free article

IN a significant development, An Phoblacht, the voice of republicanism, is soon to be transformed. In the coming weeks the print edition of the republican paper will become a monthly publication and a brand new An Phoblacht website will be launched, including an online daily news service; up-to-the-minute videos featuring interviews; historic film footage; and an archive section with access to thousands of photographs and historic republican material including back issues of An Phoblacht/Republican News. Free article