IT’S HARD to believe that 20 years have passed since the cruel murder of Fergal Caraher by the British military on December 30th 1990.  But as the huge crowds gathered in Cullyhanna to commemorate the occasion the reality of that fact was brought home.
People came from near and far, as they have done all down the years, to once again honour a brave life cut short in its prime.Free article

Sectarian attacks that don’t make national news headlines

BY PEADAR WHELAN

THE news that 600 people clicked on a Facebook page calling for Celtic FC manager Neil Lennon to be shot is yet another dimension to the pervasive sectarianism that inhabits sections of unionism to this day.

The page (closed down after two days) was appealing for the support of “100,000 that want to see... Free article

MORE THAN a hundred young republicans from all over Ireland will be attending this weekend’s Ógra Shinn Féin Congress in The Gasyard, Derry City, starting this evening (Friday).

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams will address Congress on Saturday.

Saturday's schedule includes two public talks: (11:30am to 1pm) The Road from Bloody Sunday to Ballymurphy; (2:30pm to 4pm) The Crisis,... Free article

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has confirmed to the Press Association that Gerry Adams has resigned his seat as MP for West Belfast but did not apply for a position under the British Crown as part of the resignation process.

Earlier, political commentators at Westminster said the Sinn Féin leader was on a collision course with authorities because he wouldn't go through a convoluted,... Free article

THE Government should intervene to get Aer Lingus management to enter talks to end the dispute over imposed rosters and working arrangements, Sinn Féin has said.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Workers’ Rights Martin Ferris TD said:

Members of the workforce have in effect been locked out and many people have suffered severe inconvenience due to flight cancellations.

This situation... Free article

BOTH the Financial Times today and Reuters over the weekend have been predicting a Fine Gael/Labour Coalition with Labour "posing little danger to Dublin's commitment to fiscal austerity".

Today’s FT editorial predicts:

Fianna Fáil will almost certainly be replaced by a coalition of the centre-right Fine Gael and centre-left Labour parties.

The FT also believes that Fianna Fáil... Free article

SINN FÉIN President Gerry Adams has said Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens are cobbling together a “grubby deal” to get the Finance Bill through before the general election:

What the Taoiseach should do now is go to Áras an Úachtarán immediately and seek the dissolution of the Dáil.

The instability must be brought to end.

It appears that there is to be grubby deal... Free article

FINE GAEL’S offer on Saturday to help the passage of the Government’s Finance Bill has exposed Fine Gael policies as being no different to those of Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said yesterday.

He said the Taoiseach should call a general election now.

Pearse, the party’s Finance spokesperson, said:

Sinn Féin is totally opposed to the Government’s Finance Bill,... Free article

IRELAND’S Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981 were a watershed in the Irish republican struggle.

Ten young Irish republican POWS gave their lives to restore political status for their fellow prisoners and defeat the British Government’s attempt to criminalise their struggle.

2011 sees the 30th anniversary of their sacrifice.

This video is about remembering that sacrifice.

For those... Free article

By Vincent Wood

MARGARET THATCHER has been out of office since the early 1990s yet her imprint on Britain and Ireland has outlived her premiership by two decades.

The announcement that Mary Harney is to join the growing list of deserters from a sinking government signals the end of the physical presence of 'Thatcher’s’ children' in government. Whether it marks the end of Irish... Free article