On 25 May 1991 at 2.30am, a front door in Buncrana, County Donegal, was sledgehammered down. Two men entered the house and headed straight upstairs. [They passed five doors on the way, until they reached the left-hand door at the bottom of the corridor.] They clearly knew the layout of the house as well as the occupants. Free article

Galway for a Safe Environment (GSE), and the 25,000 people who petitioned against incineration in the county are enraged at this week's betrayal by Fianna Fáil and PD councillors. On Monday last, Galway Corporation reversed its decision, taken only six months ago, to reject Minister Noel Dempsey's plans for an incinerator in Galway. The tight vote was 8 to 7 for the plan's reinstatement. Free article

The Dublin Department of Justice has amnnounced that the Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, ``hopes to put proposals to ...the Irish government as soon as possible'' to end the impasse over an inquiry into the killing of Séamus Ludlow. Free article

A row between Assembly members and Stormont civil servants, reminiscent of the 1980's television series ``Yes Minister'', which dramatised the power struggle between elected politicians and their officials, surfaced last week after a memo by a senior civil servant complaining about political interference was leaked. Free article

Sinn Féin councillors walked out of a meeting of Armagh district Council on Monday night, 30 January, in protest at the handling of the issue of the striking of the local rate. Free article

A special meeting of the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) on Monday last voted to mandate its CEO to seek the appointment of consultant obstetricians and paediatricians to ensure that the maternity units in Dundalk and Monaghan Hospitals will not be closed. Free article

Sinn Féin Equality Spokesperson Conor Murphy has accused Regional Development Minister Gregory Campbell of misleading the Assembly on the use of the Irish language on bilingual road signs. Free article

A pathbreaking conference to discuss the powers and potential of the Human Rights Commissions (HRCs) was held last Saturday, 3 February, in Dublin, organised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). Free article

A employment tribunal in Manchester, England, has found in favour of Irishman Gordon Campbell, who claimed racial discrimination and constructive dismissal against his former company, Carpet Factors in Bolton. In its ruling, the tribunal said that Campbell's case was ``well founded''. Damages are to be awarded later. Free article

The Sinn Féin Mayor of Sligo, Sean MacManus, has welcomed the serving of an enforcement order by Sligo County Council on Eircell over their erection of an unauthorised mobile phone mast on the old National school in Strandhill, County Sligo. Eircell, who erected their apparatus on Thursday, 1 February, had neither sought nor received planning permission to carry out this work. Free article