County Derry, Friday

13th August to Sunday 15th

“Comrades, the death of our comrade, Bob, has left us all in great sorrow and though we had prepared for such a tragic event it nevertheless stunned each one of us. I feel a great sense of personal loss also. In fact we all do. Blanketmen are more than just comrades – they are brothers. We all feel a bitterness of immeasurable depth... Free article

A legend on the border

JAMES ‘JUNIOR’ McPHILLIPS, a former POW, died in his native Clones on July 1st at 63 years of age.
His death came as a great shock to the local community, where his warmth and sense of fun had won him a wide circle of friends. It also came as a shock to those with whom he spent more than 17 years incarcerated in Portlaoise Prison.
Born and reared in... Free article

‘Right political will’ can break Maghaberry Prison impasse and Stoneyford ‘mistakes’ lead to PSNI discipline Free article

Junior McPhillips, Brian ‘Batt’ Rafferty, Jack Webb and John Fogarty Free article

IN MADRID, people only seem to really wake up around 10pm and then stay out all night. Perfect for the insomniac social toper, or even the insomniac unsociable toper. So I was ‘in my granny’s.

Those fond traits of the Madrilenos were  enhanced by it being the week that they won the World Cup. I arrived in the city just in time for the start of the game after a frantic rush from... Free article

THE Labour Party has been challenged by Sinn Féin group leader on Dublin City Council Larry O’Toole to “come clean” about their plans for cutting Dublin amenities.

Labour Councillor Killian Forde told a newspaper the next budget by the Labour/Fine Gael ruling group would be the harshest ever for the city.

Councillor O’Toole said:

“Labour’s Killian Forde said the Dublin City... Free article

AN PHOBLACHT'S interview in the July issue with leading republican Bobby Storey has made news in the mainstream media, particularly after disturbances in Belfast and elsewhere orchestrated by opponents of the Peace Process.

This week, as well as the disturbances centred around the Twelfth of July Orange Order parade in Ardoyne, these attacks included the attempted burning of the... Free article

THE Seanad Committee on Members’ Interests has tonight recommended Senator Ivor Callely be suspended from the House for 20 days without pay after investigating his €81,015 travel expenses and why he claimed for the 370km journey between Leinster House and his property in Kilcrohane, west Cork, instead of from his property in Clontarf, Dublin, over a two-year period while a... Free article

POLICE OMBUDSMAN Al Hutchinson is to personally apologise to the families of those killed in the McGurk’s bar massacre in north Belfast almost 40 years ago for his report into the 1971 UVF bomb attack in which 15 people were killed and which contained embarrassing errors — including names and dates.

Read more: Free article

THE Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign will hold a peaceful protest at the Shamrock Rovers versus Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv game in Tallaght Stadium tomorrow evening, Thursday, July 15th, at 7pm.

Banners reading ‘Love Football, Hate Apartheid’, ‘Boycott Israeli Apartheid’ and ‘Unity Against Occupation' will be flown alongside Palestinian flags.

The IPSC says it does not want to... Free article