Dublin government plans for a network of waste incinerators throughout the 26 Counties are running into trouble and Sinn Féin councillors are to the fore in the battle. The Draft Waste Management Plan for the North East region is now in limbo after council meetings in Louth and Monaghan on Monday, 17 July. In Louth, councillors voted to defer a decision on the Plan, which covers Counties Cavan, Louth, Meath and Monaghan and which relies heavily on incineration. In Monaghan, the Sinn Féin group secured major amendments to the Plan. Free article

A mural at Gardenmore Road in Twinbrook was commissioned by Sinn Féin in the area and was painted by muralist Andrea Redmond. Local woman Eileen Kelly, whose daughter Carol Ann was one of those commemorated, attended the unveiling. Free article

The Relatives for Justice group met with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Government Buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, 19 July. Free article

Sinn Féin North Belfast Assembly member Gerry Kelly said this week that the burning of Orange halls will achieve nothing and called on those responsible to stop their activities immediately. Free article

Last week, Dublin Councillors voted to make every householder in the city poorer by £120 to £150 a year, when they voted to introduce waste charges across the city. Dublin Corporation intends to continue its waste collection service but to make householders pay for a service which to date they have received free. Free article

In the first installment of a two-part investigation into the raw deal endured by Irish fishermen, ROISIN De ROSA reports from Dingle and Castletownbere in County Kerry Free article

On Saturday, 8 July, Simon Adams, president of the West Australian branch of Australian Aid for Ireland (AAI), a republican solidarity group, presented a didgeredoo to children and teachers from the Garvaghy Road residents' cultural group. The traditional Aboriginal instrument was a gift from AAI and the Nyoongar people of Western Australia to the people of the Garvaghy Road. Simon Adams, who is the first Australian to act as an International Observer for the loyalist marching season, spoke of the historic connection between Australian Aborigines and Irish people in their respective struggles for equality and human dignity. Free article

On the morning of the Twelfth, the front page of Belfast's Newsletter carried the silhouette of a small boy beating a drum, his face turned towards the flames of a bonfire which filled the background. ``11th Night: bonfires lit up the sky'' read the caption. Inside, the editorial looked forward to a glorious Twelfth where ``it may just be possible for ordinary people to immerse themselves in the pageantry and nostalgia of it all''. Free article

Around 150 people assembled at Darndale in Dublin on Saturday for the 24th annual Volunteer Pat Cannon Commemoration, which was addressed by Sinn Féin Árd Chomhairle member Martin Ferris. Free article

A Flemish barrister, Piet De Pauw, who has carried out enormous work on behalf of Irish POWs over the past number of years, was in the North last week to visit the H Blocks, where he met the OC of republican prisoners, Jim `Flash' McVeigh. Free article