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

Life in prison to life as an artist

HUGH AODH DOHERTY is a former IRA POW who was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment after his and his comrades’ arrest in London in 1975. Now a successful artist, samples of Aodh’s works have just been exhibited in the new Cultúrlann gallery on the Falls Road.

AODH was born in the Gorbals district of Glasgow in 1950 to Dan and Madge Doherty... Free article

FAMILIES IN SHOCK AT REVELATION ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL DEATHS | POLICE OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE IN THE DOCK AGAIN

» BY PEADAR WHELAN

ALMOST 50 CONTROVERSIAL KILLINGS by the RUC cannot be reopened unless there is ‘new evidence’, it has just been revealed to families despite the Police Ombudsman’s office having concerns about this for four years and a British Supreme Court ruling as far... Free article

Irish Gaza siege breakers defy Israel

BY PEADAR WHELAN

THE Irish aid workers kidnapped by the Israeli military as they brought aid to the besieged citizens of Gaza defied their captors throughout the duration of their ordeal.
The 14-strong crew of the MV Saoirse, along with the crew of the Canadian-registered Al-Tahrir (‘Freedom’), were taken prisoner by Israeli commandos... Free article