GREEN PARTY Minister Mary White has been challenged by Sinn Féin to state clearly that she will vote against the Budget if it cuts the pensions she says she supports.

Sinn Féin Social Protection spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD said:

Minister White’s statement ruling out pension cuts can’t be trusted without a commitment to vote against the Budget if pension cuts are included... Free article

BY EOIN Ó BROIN

AS WE collectively brace ourselves for four years of austerity, it is worth remembering that Ireland is not a poor country.

Yes, we have high levels of unemployment and poverty. Yes, we have high levels of private and public debt. But the money that flowed into the country at the height of the boom has not all disappeared.

In June of this year, Merrill Lynch,... Free article

A GOVERNMENT which uses emigration as a cornerstone of its economic policy is one which is "little short of committing treason by sacrificing children’s futures and betraying the nation", according to the UNITE trade union.

UNITE Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly said at the weekend:

The current Government budget policy is based on hoping and planning for mass emigration unseen... Free article

SENATOR Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin has said the Fianna Fáil candidate in the Donegal South-West by-election cannot detach himself from Government failures and attacks on people's living standards – even if he is a nice guy.

Pearse Doherty said:

Brian Ó Domhnaill is a nice fella but he simply cannot remove himself from this government which did everything in its power to prevent... Free article

SUNDAY TIMES Ireland Editor Frank Fitzgibbon has more media resources than most when it comes to putting his point of view or developing his own agendas. In the paper he has his own weekly half-page of space to tell us of the world according to Frank.

It is usually lightweight stuff, occasionally humorous where he focuses on some aspect of the week's news, rightly often poking... Free article

http://www.progressive-economy.ie

At least one party gets it

Michael Taft of progressive think tank TASC looks at Sinn Féin's pre-Budget submission

WITH the political consensus obsessed with a €15 billion deflationary juggernaut, it’s a relief that one party gets it. Sinn Féin’s pre-budget submission argues for a major stimulus programme combined with a growth-friendly... Free article

NEWSPAPER editorials and analysis following Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty’s stunning High Court victory on the Donegal South-West by-election delay must have made uncomfortable reading for Fianna Fáil but especially for their milksop Green Party partners in power.

Here’s some of what some of the print media said.

The Irish Times

Miriam Lord’s Dáil Sketch

That wasn’t too... Free article

COMMENTING on the trial of Vincent McAnespie and Gerry McGeough which continues in Belfast this week, Sinn Féin Dáil leader and Cavan/MonaghanTD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said:

It is now over three and a half years since the arrest of Vincent McAnespie and Gerry McGeough and their subsequent charging. As I stated at the time, this caused justifiable outrage among republicans throughout... Free article

IT WASN'T a surprise that Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable asked Ofcom, the British media super regulator, to investigate the proposed take by News Corporation of BSkyB.

At present, News Corporation owns a range of media firms including 20^th Century Fox, Fox TV, My Space, Times Newspapers, the News of the World and Sun papers, The Wall Street Journal and Harper... Free article