THE SITUATION in Maghaberry Prison is tense, making the need for the prison administration to resolve outstanding issues in the jail for the benefit of prisoners and staff even more urgent, Sinn Féin MLAs said after visiting there on Thursday.

Sinn Féin MLAs Raymond McCartney (Foyle) and Jennifer McCann (West Belfast) visited Hydebank Young Offenders’ Centre and Women’s Prison as... Free article

THE FAMILY of Pat Finucane has announced it is to take legal action challenging the British Government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into the assassination of the defence lawyer at his Belfast home in front of his family in 1989.

The killing is engulfed by widespread suspicion that British Government security services, the British Army or the RUC – or all three – and... Free article

By Paul Hayes, West Cork

I WONDER did the people of Cork and across the country really think that when they voted for Labour candidates last February that a short nine months later their Dáil deputies would support such a savage attack on the most vulnerable in our society?

People have come to expect that Fine Gael would always side with the more-well-off in society and protect... Free article

By Treoir

THE Budget introduced a range of significant reductions that will affect unmarried parents. Treoir is concerned that the amount of earnings disregard for the purposes of One-Parent Family Payment is to be reduced from €146.50 to €130 per week in January 2012 for existing as well as new recipients.

In addition, further reductions will be introduced over the following four... Free article

‘IMF clowns’ in Dublin demo

» BY MARK MOLONEY

» BY MARK MOLONEY

THE European Commission building on Dublin’s busy Dawson Street was shut down by EC officials when a large number of Sinn Féin activists dressed as ‘IMF clowns’ staged a noisy and colourful protest on Monday 21st November to mark the first anniversary of the IMF bail-out.
A large ‘Grim Reaper’ pulling along an Irish... Free article

Gerry Kelly wins libel action against Sunday World

THE Sunday World has suffered a significant and humiliating double defeat at the hands of a senior Sinn Féin figure in the Dublin High Court, losing a libel action taken against the sensationalist tabloid by North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly.
The Sunday World had to read an apology in open court to Gerry Kelly on Thursday 10th... Free article

BUDGET 2012
Sinn Féin’s economic alternative

Time to make different political choices

The Irish economy is still in deep crisis, the recession is far from over and Irish society is suffering. Last February, Fine Gael and Labour promised ‘new government, new policies’. Instead, they are delivering Fianna Fáil policies with the same devastating consequences.
Since 2009,... Free article

Families see new inquests as ‘a starting point’

BY PEADAR WHELAN

NEWS that the North’s Attorney General is to reopen inquests into the deaths of 10 of the 11 people killed by British paratroopers in 1971 is “a very important step”, the families have said.
In August 1971, two days after internment on 9th August, 11 civilians - including a local priest and a mother of eight children... Free article