COLIN PARRY, I was told at meetings of senior Sinn Féin figures in Belfast and Dublin involved in the ‘Uncomfortable Conversations’ initiative chaired by Declan Kearney, was prepared to give an interview to An Phoblacht. Free article

I AM GRATEFUL for the invitation to the respond to the interesting article published recently in An Phoblacht by Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney concerning what he termed “a new framework for the unfinished business of the past”. Many of the issues raised in Declan’s article resonate with themes which myself and others have been discussing over the past year and more. In particular, Declan raised the questions of ”justice and truth, whether that can be achieved separately, simultaneously, or not at all; the practical implications of either or both in terms of judicial or non-judicial procedures; effective truth recovery mechanisms and how to secure them with maximum participation and co-operation”. Free article

‘CAITHFIDH an aos óg aigne oscailte a choinneáil, na firící a lorg agus deimhniú dóibh féin gur fírící iad agus ansin a n-intinn féin a dhéanamh suas maidir leis an réiteach is fearr ar an ngéarchéim’, sin an teachtaireacht a bhí ag an réalt rac-cheoil, Roger Waters, ó Pink Floyd agus é ag seoladh acmhainn nua oideachais maidir le géarchéim na Pailistíne. Premium service article

AS SEASONS change, summer is followed by autumn. Darkness begins to crowd out the diminishing daylight hours. Leaves fall like confetti, dancing across the sodden ground. No more than time itself, the seasons cannot be turned back. Premium service article

I MEET Chris Andrews in Dublin city centre. He has just come from his first public event since he’d announced he had joined Sinn Féin. He’d been at St Andrew’s Resource Centre on Pearse Street at the launch of ‘The Junction’, a service for young unemployed people. President Michael D Higgins was officially opening the service. Chris says at the event he got a range of reactions from those present: some were telling him “Fair play, you did the right thing”, others weren’t as approving, asking “What were you thinking?” He chuckles that some of those people who didn’t agree with his decision are the same ones who have been giving out about the Government for almost 10 years. Premium service article

THE recently-released Beyond the Wire DVD features courageous contributions to the debate about how former political prisoners have tried to cope with the effects of imprisonment on their emotional and psychological well being as they adjust to life in the post-conflict world of today in Ireland. Premium service article

Eoin Ó Broin delves into Sunday Business Post Political Editor Pat Leahy’s new book on the Fine Gael/Labour Government Free article

‘One in ten live in food poverty. One in five schoolchildren go to bed and go to school without food in their bellies. It shouldn’t be like this, not in our enlightened, emancipated times.’ Premium service article

PETER McVERRY says he looks forward to the day when he can introduce his Trust’s annual report for the very last time and simply announce that the problem of homelessness has been solved. Free article

THE NEW BRIDGE over the Liffey in Dublin near Liberty Hall is to be named in memory of Irish Citizen Army veteran and trade unionist Rosie Hackett. For many it was a surprise result – James Connolly and Bram Stoker were just two of the names considered to be frontrunners, so just who was Rosie Hackett? Free article