SDLP LEADER Alasdair McDonnell has made “a monumental strategic blunder” by refusing point-blank Martin McGuinness’s invitation to discuss the Westminster election pact by the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party, Gerry Adams has said. Free article

THE NEWS that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) have reached a deal to run a single candidate in four of the North’s Westminster constituencies for the 7 May general election has left commentators and political opponents bemused. Seen as a unity pact, observers see the electoral pact as a good deal for the DUP but most are puzzled as to what the UUP will gain. Free article

EAMONN McCANN’S Irish Times articles are an odd thing. His casual disregard for the facts is matched only by his willingness to join the Establishment chorus against Sinn Féin. Free article

CRIMES of sexual abuse against anyone – children or adults, women or men – are appalling crimes that should be dealt with by the appropriate authorities. Victims should be provided with all the necessary supports by expert agencies; allegations should be handled by the police and rigorously investigated. Free article

GERRY ADAMS, Desmond Tutu, Harold Good, Mairead Maguire, Ken Livingstone, Leila Khaled and Tariq Ali are among a host of worldwide peace process activists who have signed the ‘International Declaration to Free Arnaldo Otegi and Bring All Basque Political Prisoners Home’. Free article

Attend your local Easter commemoration | Téigh chun do chumhneachán Cásca áitiúl Free article

THERE WAS TWO DAYS of passionate and, at times, heated debate at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in the Millennium Forum in Derry in March as party activists and representatives considered and voted on more than 200 motions. Topics as varied as the Peace Process, the Irish language, international affairs and party development were thrashed out at the party’s annual Ard Fheis, held in the Maiden City for the first time. One of the highlights of the conference was the decision to overwhelmingly rule out entering Government in the South as a junior partner to either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. An Phoblacht columnist and Councillor Eoin Ó Broin articulated the beliefs held by many when he said: Premium service article

WITH MORE than 2,000 people packed into the Millennium Forum in Derry, the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis was the biggest political show of strength in recent years. From inside Derry’s walls, a very clear message was sent to the Southern Establishment – that Sinn Féin wants to lead in government, North and South. Premium service article

A Sinn Féin Bill which will see a referendum on the extension of voting rights in Presidential elections to the Irish Diaspora and Irish citizens in the North – as well as the lowering of the voting age to 16 – passed first stage in the Dáil in March. Free article

ED KANE is not a name that is known to most people. His appearance at the bank inquiry was a low-key affair, lacking the media bells and whistles of a Patrick Honohan or a David McWilliams. Yet, for the two hours he gave evidence, Professor Kane, a world expert in banking and finance, explained the way a crisis unfolds. Premium service article

DOES the looming sale of Aer Lingus give you a feeling that you have been here before. Auctioning off our national assets is nothing new. Various Irish coalition governments run by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour have all in recent decades signed up to sell out. Free article

CATHERINE ‘CAT’ SEELEY is flying the Sinn Féin flag in the Upper Bann constituency in the Westminster elections on 7 May. She is under no illusion that the task she faces is a massive one. Free article