NOW let's see if I have got it right. While Polish residents of the Village area of Belfast were being intimidated out of their homes, representatives of unionist paramilitaries, long associated with racist and sectarian incidents in the North, were in Poland on what has been described as "ground-breaking anti-racism training" paid for out of the public purse. The programme, accredited under the City and Guilds Board of Examiners and with the title 'The Thin End of the Wedge,' has been hailed as an unprecedented step against racism for people whose past associates included the British National Party and its offshoot, Combat 18. Free article

THE banning of left-wing Basque nationalist parties, and an alliance between rival Spanish chauvinist parties, has meant that for the first time since limited autonomy was granted to the south-west Basque region (Bascongadas) under Spanish rule in 1979, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) has lost control of the regional Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. The Bascongadas regional elections (comprising the Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba regions) held on 1 March effectively disenfranchised 15-20 per cent of citizens through the Spanish authorities' banning of political parties they claimed were linked to armed Basque nationalist organisation ETA or Batasuna, the pro-independence political party that was outlawed in 2003. Free article

I DON'T understand the proposed National Asset Management Agency. I have listened carefully to Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and his chief adviser, Peter Bacon. I have read all the news reports. I have gone online to read background information on the theory and practice of bad banks and toxic debts. And still I just don't get it. I understand that we have a problem with our economy. I understand that 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, employing 400,000 people, can't get credit from our banks. I understand that the reason that they can't get the credit is that our banks have huge liabilities (risky loans) on their books and international banks won't lend Irish banks their money because of these liabilities. I understand that if our banks can't lend to our small and medium-sized enterprises then some will go out of business, others will reduce output, and in both cases more jobs will be lost. But I thought that the bank guarantee scheme agreed last October was going to provide the necessary support to our banks to enable them to borrow on the international financial markets. Free article

Ar na buntáistí a bhaineann le mo chuid oibre bím ag tiomáint go rialta go háiteanna ar fud na hÉireann agus dá bhrí sin bíonn deis agam éisteacht leis an raidió go rialta agus mé sa ghluaisteán. Ó fógraíodh deireadh ré PK cúpla seachtaine ó shin bím ag coinneal cluasa oscailte dá chomharba, ag macnamh ar na Turbridys, Duffys, Ó Callaghans agus Ryans amuigh ansin agus ag iarraidh iad a shamhail i gcathaoir Phat. Mar a dhearfadh breitheamh i Sasana, a terrible vista. Má a bhíonn buntáiste leis mo chuid ama ag éisteacht le RTÉ, is beag feidhm a bhainim as nuair atá mo thuras sa tráthnóna agus gan mórán eile ach Joe Duffy ar an raidió. Bíonn Duffy claonta agus coimeádach, ag iarraidh a tháispeáin go bhfuil sé ar son an underdog ach bíonn fuaim fhalsa, féintiománta, féinchosanta ina ghuth i gcónaí. Free article

RAB HUNTER has faced many challenges as a republican activist. He's fought the British Army and the RUC on the streets of Belfast during the 1970s, was forced on the run by supergrass Christopher Black in the 1980s, and he has almost been killed in a murderous Garda Special Branch ambush in County Wicklow. Now a community activist in his proudly adopted neighbourhood of Dublin's south inner city, Rab talks to ELLA O'DWYER ahead of being officially honoured by Dublin South Central Sinn Féin later this month for his staunch service to the republican cause. Free article

Book Review Na Fianna Éireann and the Irish Revolution, 1909 to 1923 By Damian Lawlor Price €15.50 Reviewed by Matt Treacy Free article

IN April 1919, the city of Limerick was the stage for a dramatic confrontation between British rule in Ireland and the organised working class. It was the first such major clash since the establishment of Dáil Éireann the previous January. The events which led to what became known as the Limerick Soviet centred on the rescue of a republican prisoner from the Limerick Workhouse Hospital. Bobby Byrnes was Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion of the IRA's Limerick Brigade. He was also a member of the Trades and Labour Council. Victimised because of his politics, he was dismissed from his job as a telegrapher. Free article