Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP MLA expressed his support for a daily Irish newspaper and his support for those who would wish to provide this service to the Irish language community. Free article

ON 21 February 1908, Charles J Dolan contested the North Leitrim by-election as a Sinn Féin candidate, having resigned his seat as a Nationalist Westminster MP. The campaign office was in Castle Street, Manorhamilton, and the director of elections was Seán Mac Diarmada of Corranmore, Kiltyclogher - later a signatory of the Proclamation of the Republic and executed as one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Although defeated by the Nationalist candidate, Francis Meehan, by 3,103 to 1,157 votes, the 1908 by-election laid the foundation for Sinn Féin's future electoral strategy. Free article

THE US attorney representing H-Block escapee Pól Brennan who is being held in a Texan prison was in Belfast this week to meet members of Brennan's family. Jim Byrne met with Pól Brennan's sisters Marion and Sal and his nephew Colm at the offices of ex-prisoners group Tar Anall on Belfast's Falls Road on Tuesday, 21 October. Also at the meeting was Eamon McMenamin who is working on the Brennan case in America. Free article

DRAFT proposals by the Eames/Bradley Consultative Group on the Past were presented to the British and Irish governments last week after details of their plans to deal with the past were leaked to the media. Free article

On Wednesday Sinn Féin met the North's Parades Commission about the planned parade through Belfast on 2 November by British Army troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sinn Féin has lodged an application for a peaceful and dignified protest march and rally on 2 November. Free article

PLANS for major cutbacks at Louth County Hospital have been revealed by Louth Sinn Féin Councillor and the EU candidate for Ireland East, Tomás Sharkey. Sharkey, a member of the Dublin/North-East Regional Health Forum, accused the Government of being "hell-bent" on closing services and neglecting the sick and elderly. Free article

A PUBLIC PARK where children play that is being used by drugs users and littered with discarded syringes should be cleaned up by South Dublin County Council as a matter of urgency because the Garda have failed to act, a Sinn Féin councillor has said. Free article

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has now said that those earning the minimum wage will be exempt from the controversial 1 per cent income levy that formed part of Budget 2009. Free article

THE cathaoirleach of the Sinn Féin cumann in University College Dublin was one of two students arrested during a sit-down protest by 200 students against college fees during a visit by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to UCD on Monday. Free article

A MAJOR fund-raising drive has begun in Manchester to restore one of the most significant Irish monuments in Britain, the monument to the Manchester Martyrs in St Joseph's Cemetery in Moston. Free article