As the coalition government’s controversial and flawed Consultative Forum on International Security Policy finishes its public sessions today, we publish an article from the current issue of An Phoblacht by Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy. He outlines Sinn Féin’s vision for Ireland playing a constructive role in the wider world, committed to diplomacy, humanitarianism, peace building, and cooperation with other states on global challenges. Free article

Chris Hazzard and Mick Murphy visited the grave of United Irishman Tom Dunn. Chris gives context to importance of Dunn 225 years since the 1798 rebellion. Free article

In his latest blog, Declan Kearney reflects said the results of the recent council election underlines need to prepare for new future. Free article

At a recent lecture on Ernie O’Malley by the historian and Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, I was chatting with Belinda Nugent from the O’Malley/Russell Cumann and I mentioned that my Granda Michael Smyth knew Ernie O’Malley and was instrumental in his famous escape from Kilmainham Gaol in 1921 along with Simon Donnelly and Frank Teeling. Free article

The council elections in the north has seen Sinn Féin become the biggest party in local government for the first time with a record 144 seats. Free article

THURSDAY, 21 MAY 1981, witnessed the deaths of two more Hunger Strikers. Raymond McCreesh passed away at 2:30am. That evening, Patsy O’Hara died. The deaths of Raymond and Patsy – who had started the strike on the same day, died on the same day and were born within a fortnight of each other in February 1957 – marked a critical escalation in the prison struggle as well as the struggle outside the prisons walls. Free article

Declan Kearney has said constructive diplomatic and political initiatives will bring important impetus to the achievement of a permanent and democratic peace settlement in the Basque Country. Free article

The death of Francis Hughes at the age of 25 on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh saw not the end of a legend but a new chapter in what was, by any measure, the story of one of the most fearless and tenacious guerrilla fighters of the 20th Century and of the Irish Republican Army. Free article

A collection of current and former Sinn Fein MPs met in London with members of the legal profession, trade unionists, political activists, and members of the Irish community in Britain to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Free article

5 May 1981 was one of the most defining days in Irish history. It was the day that Bobby Sands, the 27-year-old Member of Parliament for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh as part of the republican prisoners’ campaign for the restoration of political status. Free article