IN the early 1980s it was obvious that in Dublin's Inner city the drug problem was out of control. The signs were everywhere - syringes were found on the stairwells of flats complexes, break-ins were on the rise, people from all over the city were arriving at particular residents' doors hoping to buy drugs. Free article

Everest climber Terence Banjo Bannon from Newry is organising a 26-mile hike over the Mourne Mountains, County Down for 4 October this year to raise funds for the O'Donovan Rossa Heritage and Cultural Society. Participants will climb in teams of four walking over 12 mountain peaks with panoramic views of some of Ireland's finest scenery. It will be a tough hike but nothing so gruelling as the climbs Bannon has made. Here Banjo talks to Ella O'Dwyer about his remarkable climbing exploits having reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2003 and undertaken the challenge of climbing K2 in 2005 and 2006. Free article

IT WAS to break down the wall of silence around the H-Blocks and Armagh Jail that ordinary women, from a generation literally tied to the kitchen sinks, suddenly found themselves in the forefront of a campaign to defend the rights of their children and their community labelled by the British Government as criminal and subversive. Free article

RESPONDING to some of the issues raised by Declan Kearney ('A signpost towards modern Ireland', An Phoblacht, 31 July) MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA, in a personal contribution, addresses the way forward in the 26 Counties and nationally. Free article

THIS WEEKEND, people gather in Derry to commemorate the Irish republican prisoners who died on hunger strike. Foremost in their minds will be the ten who died in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh between May and August 1981 but they will be paying tribute to all 22 republicans who followed to death the agonising path of the prison protest fast. Free article

THE PERSON from Laois (I'm guessing but would put money on it) beside me during the Kilkenny/Cork match last Sunday maintained a continual mantra of "Sure, that's not hurling" and "Tyrone - Blanket defence. Sure, that's not hurling." Not a fan of the Cats obviously. I was tempted to ask him, given his reference to Tyrone, who he would be supporting this Saturday but I bit my tongue. Free article

THE world is stood on its head and republicans must be wondering who are the good guys and who are the baddies. Free article

An Phoblacht's famous weekly satirical column. Free article