Other News

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn hands in his nomination papers

CLLR PÁDRAIG Mac LOCHLAINN handed in his nomination papers for the EU elections last Saturday in the Court House in Sligo. He is the party's candidate to represent the 11 counties in the North & West constituency. The North & West EU constituency stretches from Loop Head in Clare to Malin Head in Donegal, from Carrickmacross in Monaghan to Belmullet in Mayo. It includes the Aran islands, Inishboffin, Achill islands, and Tory island, among others, as well as the Gaeltacht areas of Galway, Mayo and Donegal. New to the constituency are the midland counties of Longford and Westmeath

Photo: SIGNING UP FOR A FIGHT: Pádraig signs his nomination papers flanked by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD and Senator Pearse Dohery

Mary Lou 'the best candidate in Dublin' launches EU bid

MARY LOU McDONALD'S bid to hold Sinn Féin's European Parliament seat in Dublin was formally launched last week with 350 supporters crowding into the Gresham Hotel on O'Connell Street with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to get the campaign off to a rousing start. Setting the tone for the evening and the campaign ahead, Paul Donnelly, a sitting Fingal county councillor and local election candidate for Mulhuddart, opened the proceedings by saying: "We are not in this to make cosmetic changes or just to change the faces. We are not in this to tinker along the edges. We are here to make a real difference - to make a real change in Dublin people's lives."

Photo: CAPITAL: Gerry Adams, Mary Lou McDonald, Martin McGuinness and Tomás Sharkey on their way into the Gresham Hotel

Drug dealing thugs run riot in Dolphin's Barn

IN AN ATTEMPT to intimidate an entire community, drug-dealing thugs ran riot in Dublin's Dolphin's Barn, leading to calls from local Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh for a united response from the people and the gardaí and for the promised regeneration of the area to proceed. On the night of 26 April flats and cars of residents in Dolphin House were attacked and damaged and graffiti was scrawled on the outside of homes. The attacks were aimed at local residents who, in co-operation with the gardaí, have been actively seeking to combat drug-dealing in and around the flats complex. There had been an increased and effective Garda presence in the area and this incensed the criminal elements who are still trying to dominate the community.

Photo: Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Sectarian murder sentences criticised

THE family of murdered Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen (15) in Ballymena has criticised the jail terms to be served by his killers. Speaking after the hearing, the McIlveen family said they were "deeply disappointed" by the sentences imposed by trial judge Treacy. A murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence but the tariffs set by the judge means that the men will be considered for release after serving a maximum of 13 years.

Photo: MURDERED: Michael McIlveen

Special Branch failed to warn death-threat targets

THERE was "systematic failure" by Special Branch to warn people in the past that their lives were in danger, a member of the Stevens Inquiry team has testified. Former RUC Detective Chief Inspector Vincent McFadden was giving evidence last week to the Billy Wright Inquiry. The inquiry is examining the assassination of the Loyalist Volunteer Force leader by INLA prisoners in Long Kesh in 1997.

Photo: Billy Wright

Anger at Tesco over kids' GAA kit

CHILDREN were told to change their sports jerseys by a manager at Tesco in Antrim Town during a fund-raising back-pack. The chair of St Comgall's GAC, Tom Crilly, said the children, all under 12 years of age, had been initially told by Tesco to wear their club kit to take part in a charity bag-pack, just like all other bag-packing teams.

Tesco 'bargains' will cost Irish jobs

ONLY days after the temporary suspension of strike action in one of Tesco's outlets when workers in Cork objected to management changes in working conditions substantially cutting their wage packets, Tesco Ireland is back in the headlines this week. The startling news is that, despite €3.15 billion revenue coming out of the 26 Counties last year, the firm is set to reduce the number of Irish goods on its shelves in coming weeks in what industry representatives described as "a black day for the Irish food industry".

Bobby Sands's anniversary marked with vigils

SINN FÉIN marked the 28th anniversary of the death of republican Hunger Strike leader and Fermanagh/South Tyrone MP Bobby Sands on 5 May with a number of events in Belfast and a vigil at the GPO in Dublin. Speaking at a remembrance vigil in west Belfast, Six-County MEP Bairbre de Brún said: "The conditions which led to the Hunger Strikes were created when the British Government tried to criminalise Irish republicans. But the republican prisoners - young women in Armagh Jail and young men in the H-Blocks - bravely took on the might of the British state.

National Conversation for United Ireland

Public meetings continued across the North over the past week on as part of Sinn Féin's programme promoting a 'National Conversation for a United Ireland'. Addressed by representatives of the Sinn Féin leadership, the Sinn Féin Assembly and Executive teams, its Leinster House and European teams and local government representatives, the public meetings have provided an opportunity for discussion with members of the public on the key republican objective and on other matters of public concern.

Photo: Enniskillen

Nuacht na nOibrithe

May Day solidarity events, Fire - don't retire - AIB chiefs, European SME Week, 6 - 14 May and Union suspends official over bus strike

Mickey Joe Mulligan's house and the Brookeborough Raid

ON SUNDAY, 3 May, a large crowd of several hundred republicans, drawn mainly from Fermanagh and Monaghan, gathered at Knockatallon, near Roslea, for the official opening of 'Mickey Joe Mulligan's house'. The IRA, having commenced in December of 1956 an offensive against British forces in the Six Counties, had successfully targeted British bases mainly along the border. The Pearse Column, led by Seán Garland, had concentrated on the Fermanagh/Monaghan border area and had only recently destroyed Lisnaskea RUC Barracks.

Photo: LIVING HISTORY: The house where the Brookeborough Raid unit sought refuge

Condolences on death of Madge McConville

GERRY Adams has expressed his condolences to the family of veteran republican Madge McConville, who passed away on Monday, 4 May. Gerry Adams said: "Madge McConville was a republican all her life. She was imprisoned first in the 1940s along with IRA Volunteer Tom Williams, Joe Cahill and others. Tom Williams was later hanged by the British.

Photo: Gerry Adams, Madge McConville and Joe Cahill at the Tom Williams commemoration in January 2000

Martin McGuinness saddened by death of Bloody Sunday victim

MARTIN McGuinness has extended his sympathy and that of Sinn Féin to the family of Bloody Sunday victim Michael Bradley, who died suddenly at the weekend. The North's joint First Minister said: "I extend my sincere condolences to Mona and the Bradley family on the sad and sudden death of Mickey. Mickey was very seriously wounded on Bloody Sunday when British paratroopers launched a murderous attack on a Civil Rights march.

Photo: Michael Bradley and Gerry Adams

Fógraí bháis: John 'Big Deuce' McMullan

WHILE mourning the untimely death of John, we must also ensure that we celebrate his life, for it was an eventful life: from the loss of his mother at the age of three, through his school days in St Mary's Primary School in Divis Street and subsequent education at Harding Street CBS to his initial employment as a joiner building Divis Flats in the 1960s.

Photo: The funeral of John ‘Big Deuce’ McMullan

SINN FÉIN Election appeal

In 2009 Irish republicans are as committed to the objectives of Irish independence, national unity and social equality as we were when the first and only all-Ireland Parliament - An Chéad Dáil - met 90 years ago.

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