13 August 2009 Edition

Assembly team reshuffle

13 August 2009

MITCHEL McLaughlin is standing down as chair of the Assembly Finance and Personnel Committee as part of a reshuffle announced by Sinn Féin last Thursday, 6 August, but he stays on as the party's spokesperson on Economy and Finance. He will be replaced as chair by West Belfast MLA Jennifer McCann. Free article

Minister challenged to live on social welfare for a month

13 August 2009

SINN FÉIN TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has challenged Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin to live on social welfare for a month after the minister confirmed on Tuesday that welfare rates will be cut in the upcoming Budget. Free article

Police tactics accused over Apprentice Boys march

13 August 2009

THE PSNI in Derry have come in for criticism over their deployment of Tactical Support Group (TSG) units in the city during Saturday's Relief of Derry parade by the Apprentice Boys. The units were accused by Sinn Féin Assembly member Raymond McCartney of "aggressive policing" as minor trouble occurred in the city after the Apprentice Boys' march. Free article

Crumlin Hospital: Treating the children of the nation

13 August 2009

TERESA SHALLOW, a mother of five children, is a key player in the Save Our Lady's Children's Hospital campaign. The campaigners for the famous Dublin southside hospital come from various walks of life and many are parents of seriously-ill children, as is the case in the Shallow family. The campaign has won the hearts and minds of Dubliners but still hasn't managed (so far) to secure Government funding to address the financial shortfall involved which is in the millions. The campaigners are not for going away. Free article

Loyalist mob enters Banbridge residential area to remove Tri-colours

13 August 2009

BANBRIDGE Sinn Féin Councillor Dessie Ward has said that there frightening similarities between the incident in the Peggy's Loaning area of the town where a loyalist mob came on Tuesday night, 11 August to remove two Tri-colours to the incident in Coleraine earlier in the summer where loyalists went into an area to remove flags which culminated in the death of Kevin McDaid. Free article

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Solidarity needed to defeat Basque extraditions

13 August 2009

A CONFERENCE on political persecution in the Basque Country was held in west Belfast's Cultúrlann on Saturday as part of Féile an Phobail. Organised by the Don't Extradite the Basques Campaign, more than a hundred people heard Julen Arzuaga, a lawyer from Behatokia, the Basque Observatory of Human Rights, who had travelled from the Basque Country to speak at the conference. Free article

Championing the jobless challenge

13 August 2009

"THERE are no quick fixes", the scale of the unemployment problem in Ireland is "massive", it is at a level "we have never seen before", the challenge is "serious" and "everybody needs to roll their sleeves up". Coming away from an interview with Bríd O'Brien, Head of Policy and Media at the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU), leaves you bewildered, feeling at best uncomfortable but more likely shell-shocked at the sheer scale of the unemployment problem in Ireland as joblessness soars past the 400,000 mark. But you also come away convinced there is a way out of this mess if, as she proposes, "we start engaging with people at all levels" and build "a real partnership process". Free article

400 march for Dublin dockers

13 August 2009

FOUR HUNDRED dockers, families and local people from both sides of the River Liffey marched through Dublin's Docklands on Monday morning in support of workers striking over jobs and pay cuts at the British-owned Marine Terminals Ltd in the south port. Dublin Sinn Féin supported the march and many members swelled the ranks backing the dockers. Nineteen SIPTU union members at Marine Terminals were made redundant earlier this year when new management brought in contract workers from Britain and - at the same time - demanded that remaining workers sign new contracts agreeing to pay cuts of between 14% and 18% or be laid off. Free article

Volunteer William Price 25th Anniversary

13 August 2009

THE 25th anniversary of the death of IRA Volunteer William (Willie) Price was marked by a parade and commemoration ceremony at Brocagh, County Tyrone on 12 July last. The commemoration was organised by Coalisland/Clonoe Ex-prisoner Association. Free article

Council destroys Terence Mac Swiney mural

13 August 2009

CORK CITY COUNCIL bureaucrats have intentionally destroyed a tasteful mural tribute to the city's hunger strike hero and former TD, Lord Mayor Terence Mac Swiney, by painting over it - and bizarrely leaving untouched vandalised portions of the wall it was on! Terence Mac Swiney died after 76 days on hunger strike in Brixton Prison after being arrested in Cork having been found in possession of a cypher key. Free article


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