15 January 2009 Edition
The Mitchel McLaughlin Column
15 January 2009
PUBLIC procurement contracts on the island of Ireland are an £11bn to £15bn market. This very significant level of public expenditure represents an important opportunity to enable and empower local enterprise, particularly in the current difficult financial circumstances. Unfortunately, public procurement can effectively be a closed shop to many suppliers who find many bureaucratic obstacles to doing business with Government departments. Free article
Media View
15 January 2009
NOT many people spend Christmas Eve reading the papers. There's last-minute shopping to get and turkey cooking instructions to dust off and decipher but Sarah Carey's ham-fisted assault on Gaelscoileanna in her new home in The Irish Times, was worth setting aside the sherry for. Free article
Cúlchaint
15 January 2009
I rith Mhí Eanáir beidh coistí ar fud na tíre ag ullmhú do Sheachtain na Gaeilge a thosaíonn ar 2 Márta i mbliana, agus a mhaireas ar feadh an seachtaine is faide ar domhan go dtí 17 Márta, Lá 'le Pádraig féin. Coicís d'imeachtaí, spraoi agus ag bailiú airgid do chúiseanna maithe carthanachta. Seo í 'Seachtain na Gaeilge' oifigiúil, ach is léir go mbíonn Seachtainí na Gaeilge eile ar súil, ag amanna éagsúla den bhliain i gcoláistí tríú léibhéal, meánscoileanna agus bunscoileanna ar fud na tíre ach tá baint nach beag anois idir an fhéile agus Lá Fhéile Pádraig féin már Fhéile náisiúnta na hÉireann. Free article
More than a game BY MATT TREACY
15 January 2009
THE GAA released statistics on Monday purporting to prove that the new disciplinary rules have been a success. The said statistics apparently show that the average number of yellow cards per game has actually dropped in the hurling and football matches played so far this year although I am not sure to what other matches they were comparing them to. Free article
Remembering the Past: The First Dáil and Soloheadbeg
15 January 2009
When Sinn Féin swept to victory in the General Election of December 1918 it had a mandate to establish the Irish Republic proclaimed in arms at Easter 1916, to convene a national constituent assembly of all the members elected for Irish constituencies, to push for international recognition of the Republic and to oppose British rule in Ireland by all means at its disposal. Free article