28 January 2010 Edition
Three days of talks
28 January 2010
"From the beginning of this process, I have been at pains to make this place work. Unfortunately, we have learned that there are people within these institutions who only see the future through the prism of one section of the community; that is not a sustainable way to move forward and I am not going to be part of that." So said Martin McGuinness on Monday, after a frustrating round of talks with the DUP. The joint first minister said nationalists were waiting for the DUP to deliver and honour their commitments that all of the parties had signed up three years ago - commitments under the terms of an agreement that was presided over by the Irish and British governments. Free article
Sinn Féin councillor gets second death threat
28 January 2010
Lisburn Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Nelson has received a fresh death threat from loyalists, the second she has received in two months. Nelson received two phone calls shortly after 11 pm on Thursday 21 January. She believes the caller was the same man who threatened her in a phone call in December 2009. On that occasion the call was traced to a phone box in Cadiz in Spain, close to a British Army base in Gibraltar. Free article
Stop and Search deemed an 'abuse of power'
28 January 2010
Sinn Féin Omagh town councillor Sean Begley has condemned the recent upsurge in the number of stop and searches by the PSNI under section 44 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. News emerged on Thursday 21 January that the number of stop and search operations carried out by the PSNI last year was almost three times as high as the previous year. Free article
Children hurt by Budget
28 January 2010
Sinn Féin Dáil spokesperson on Health and Children, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, has said that the Children's Rights Alliance 'Report Card 2010' exposes how the recent Budget cuts imposed by the Fianna Fáil/Green Government have targeted children and how government health policy is also failing children. Free article
Nuacht na nOibrithe
28 January 2010
Government and employers attack minimum wage, Community sector vows to resist cuts, Young people tell TDs: 'Don't Skip Our Future - Is it not worth €12 a week?' and Leinster House jobs protest Free article
Bloody Sunday remembered in English Midlands
28 January 2010
The Troops Out Movement, which campaigns for British withdrawal from Ireland, held its annual Bloody Sunday Remembered meetings in the Midlands last week. The 1992 BBC film by Peter Taylor was shown and the main speaker was Cahil McElhinney, whose brother Kevin was shot dead by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972. The film shows the horrific reality of what happened on the day of the massacre; the lengths the army went to trying to cover up their atrocities; the stunned disbelief of the people of Derry, out on a fine day to protest about Internment; and the shock and disbelief of the relatives who lost their loved ones. It shows the outrageous arrogance of senior army officers refusing to admit they did anything wrong and the honesty of one sergeant major, seriously critical of the army actions and attitudes. Free article
Adams hosts victorious Antrim team
28 January 2010
Sinn Féin president and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams MLA hosted a visit by the Antrim ladies junior football panel at Stormont last Friday following the team's successful year. Free article
Hundreds attend tribute to Charlie Love
28 January 2010
The sun shone brightly on the "Head of the Town" in Strabane on Sunday as hundreds gathered to pay special tribute to the memory of local teenager Charlie 'Cha' Love, who was tragically killed while attending the 18th Anniversary Bloody Sunday commemoration on Sunday 28 January 1990. Charlie was fatally injured when debris from an explosion, intended for British Army and RUC personnel monitoring the Bloody Sunday parade from the City walls, struck him on the head. Despite the best efforts of people at the scene to administer first aid, Charlie died upon reaching hospital. Free article
Kinsale Civil War fallen honoured
28 January 2010
Councillor Noel Harrington, the first Sinn Féin councillor representing Kinsale, County Cork, for 90 years, is pictured laying a wreath at The Abbey Cemetery in Kinsale Free article