Top Issue 1-2024

3 February 2013 Edition

Irish unity – Let the people decide

3 February 2013

Irish republicans have argued for Irish unity since partition. Fifteen years ago, in the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin secured the removal of the Government of Ireland Act by which the British claimed ownership of the Six Counties. Free article

Why is the Southern Establishment afraid of a Border poll?

3 February 2013

WHILE OPINION POLLS in the South indicate majorities both for Irish unity and for a Border poll as called for by Sinn Féin, the Southern Establishment remains decidedly lukewarm if not downright hostile about the idea. Premium service article

Má tá Gaeilge agat labhair í

3 February 2013

NÍ LEOR CAINT, ach gníomh a deirtear. Is amhlaidh atá ó thaobh na Gaeilge di. D’fhéadfadh na mílte straitéis, scéim agus polasaí a bheith ann ó thaobh na Gaeilge di, ach muna bhfuil daoine toilteanach ár dteanga dhúchais a úsáid, ní fiú tráithnín iad. Premium service article

Facing up to anti-Irish ‘stealth racism’

3 February 2013

THE Scottish Government has appointed a ‘bigotry czar’. Dr Duncan Morrow, of the School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy at the University of Ulster, will chair a panel chosen to examine the scale and nature of religious bigotry in Scotland, assess efforts to tackle it and advise ministers on policies and initiatives to combat sectarianism. Dr Morrow is also a former chair of the Community Relations Council in the North of Ireland. Premium service article

Nelson wrong on Housing Executive

3 February 2013

NELSON McCaulsland’s Assembly statement on the future of the Housing Executive has caused a bit of a stir. Much of the debate has focused on whether the minister’s proposals have an underlying sectarian motivation. This is hardly surprising given the reasons for the establishment of the Housing Executive in 1971 and Nelson McCausland’s own dubious record on housing issues in north Belfast for over two decades. Free article

115,000 call for release of Basque POWs

3 February 2013

MORE than 115,000 people took part in a massive rally in the centre of the Basque capital of Bilbao on 12 January to demand the release of the hundreds of Basque political prisoners still being held in Spanish and French jails. Organisers say that their release is key to a succesful peace process. Free article

The British Labour Party and Ireland

3 February 2013

THE HISTORY of the British Labour Party and its attitude to Ireland has been one of pride and shame, solidarity and betrayal at different times and among the different political tendencies within that very broad-based party. Free article

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Learning about the devastation of Gaza

3 February 2013

DAITHÍ BELL is a Sinn Féin councillor and a teacher in Belfast. Daithí is currently working with the Irish Friends of Palestine Educational Committee on its successful School Twinning Programme and visited Gaza shortly after the most recent Israeli Army invasion. Free article

Does An Taoiseach have an achievable vision for Irish EU Presidency?

3 February 2013

DURING the recent visit to the EU Parliament by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD I challenged him on a number of issues affecting the people of Ireland. Free article

Batasuna party dissolves

3 February 2013

BASQUE separatist party Batasuna announced in January that it has formally dissolved its structures. Free article

Burning your money – The Poolbeg incinerator scandal

3 February 2013

IT’S ESTIMATED to have cost €91million in taxpayers’ money yet not a single block has been laid. Say hello to one of the last white elephants of the Celtic Tiger years: Dublin City Council’s Poolbeg Incinerator — a project that has been squeezing millions out of people’s pockets since the late 1990s with no end in sight to the fiasco. Free article

Does the Seanad have a future?

3 February 2013

A RECENT Ipsos MRBI opinion poll showed that more than half (55%) of people wanted to see the upper house of parliament in Dublin, the Seanad, scrapped. Many consider it a talking shop, a place where politicians go to either launch their career or to ‘retire’ from the Dáil with a cushy number. The costs associated with operating it is also of major concern. In their Programme for Government, Fine Gael and Labour pledged to hold a referendum on abolishing the Seanad. Sinn Féin has said the Seanad is “undemocratic” and called for it to be “scrapped in its current form” followed by a root and branch reform of the instiution. An Phoblacht’s MARK MOLONEY spoke to Sinn Féin Senator KATHRYN REILLY — at 24, the youngest member of the Oireachtas — about the Seanad’s future. Free article

Céad sé mhí san Tionól mar MLA

3 February 2013

NUAIR a iarradh orm áit Paul Maskey a ghlacadh mar Ball Tionóil Bhéal Feirste Thiar baineadh stad asam ar dtús nó ní raibh cliú dá laghad agam go mbeadh an athrú seo ag tarlú agus déanta na fírinne níor smaoinigh mé riamh go mbeinn féin i ról mar seo. Ar ndóigh, thuig mé go soiléir gur onóir mór é gur tugadh an deis seo dom agus chuir sé gliondar ar mo chroí go raibh muinín ag daoine s’againne asam. Premium service article


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