A 32-year-old man who was beaten to the ground in his own garden in Finlay Park, Belfast, by the PSNI described his attackers as "thugs". Michael Wicklow was speaking after sustaining bruising to his body and forearm when a member of the PSNI struck him as he tried to protect himself during the incident on Saturday 11 June. Free article

If you go to an Irish hospital, and are lucky enough to be assigned a bed in a ward, and not a trolley on a corridor, very possibly you will be looked after by nurses from the Philippines, Nigeria, etc. It is believed that up to 45% of doctors working in Irish hospitals are "non-nationals". And where are the Irish doctors? Well, they also go abroad, to countries where the system allows for good pay and not so many hours of work. So that creates a void in Ireland that is filled by foreign doctors, who leave their native countries mostly for the same reasons. And the lack of health resources and staff in those less developed countries is "solved" by aid agencies, which send specialised staff to those countries. However, the efforts of NGOs could be compared to trying to stop a haemorrhage with a plaster. Free article

A LITTLE bit of democracy and debate broke out at the highest levels of the EU last weekend. For some, the reaction was to write obituaries of the 25-state union, led most notably by the Luxembourg Prime Minister and current President of the EU Council, Jean Claude Juncker, who pronounced that "Europe is not in a crisis, it is in a profound crisis". Free article

Shelltosea held a press conference in Dublin on Monday in support of the seven Mayo farmers currently under High Court injunction as a result of their refusal to allow the Corrib Gas consortium of Shell, Statoil and Marathon to lay a pipeline across part of their land. The group later protested outside Shell's Dublin headquarters and handed letters in to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and to the Norwegian Ambassador, pointing out the failure of the Norwegian state company Statoil to comply with conditions that would apply in their own country. Free article

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams this week congratulated party Councillor Pat Treanor on his election as An Meara Chontae (County Mayor) of Monaghan. Pat Treanor is only the second Sinn Féin member to hold the premier office of Monaghan County Council. Free article

NIO Health Minister Shaun Woodward has been told by the communities of North and West Belfast that they want him to deliver on strategies, policies, resources, funding and campaigns to confront the growing and serious issue of suicide and self harm in the areas. Free article

People tend not to believe what you say, but rather study what you do. We claim to be about building a political project that will create an Ireland of equals. It would appear from recent events in Donegal that Sinn Féin elected representatives in the county mean what they say. Free article

Three Polish workers, all in their 20s, were attacked by a gang of four men as they returned to their Lisnaskea home in County Fermanagh in the early hours of Sunday 19 June. Free article

• Residents Against Racism organised last Saturday's National Day Of Action Against Racism, themed 'Let us stay! Let us work! Justice For Asylum Seekers'. The demonstration was supported by groups from across all 32 Counties, including, of course, Sinn Féin. The party's Dublin MEP said it is the responsibility of every Irish citizen to challenge racism, from wherever it emanates. She welcomed the demonstration as a sign of solidarity with the different ethnic groups who live in Ireland, including the Travelling Community and the fact that it was organised on an all-Ireland basis. Free article

Over 50 people came out and took full advantage of the fine weather on Sunday 12 June to join an historic walk around the Foxford countryside to mark the centenary of Sinn Féin. Guide Brían Hoban and Caitríona Ruane, Sinn Féin MLA for South Down, led the historic walk that incorporated the Foxford Way. Free article