Go into any house, pub, shopping centre, café or community centre in the 26 Counties and you will hear people talking about how rubbish the Fianna Fáil/ Progressive Democrats Government is. In the North, people who voted in an Assembly last year are sick of direct rule and a Peace Process stalled at the behest of unionist rejectionists. The people of this country are sick of the status quo. They want to see their elected representatives working for them, whether it is in local government or in the European Parliament, where 70% of the legislation that affects their lives is passed. Free article

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last weekend met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe concerning the case of the Colombia Three during a summit of European Union and South American leaders in Mexico. Free article

Gerry Adams and Bairbre de Brún enjoy the sun at the Six-County launch of the party's EU manifesto

Six-County European elections

With just a week to go to the Six-County EU electoral contest, within the unionist and nationalist republican constituencies the campaigns of all the real contenders for seats are in top gear.

With four parties seriously contesting the... Free article

An Phoblacht's JOANNE CORCORAN met with Sinn Féin's South EU candidate, David Cullinane, this week to discuss the progress of his campaign in the old Munster constituency. David spoke about the issues he is hearing on the doorsteps, the advantage that being the youngest candidate in the race has given him, the fact that he is the only Waterford-based candidate running in the South, and the profile his campaign is giving Sinn Féin in his home county. Free article

Over the phone is never the best way to conduct an interview with somebody. Aside from the usual problems of not being able to hear the person on the other end and having to jot down answers at top speed, holding the phone with one hand and the pen in the other, there's also the difficulty of having to guess your subject's mood - something you can gauge easily in a face-to-face interview. I expected all of these problems and more when I spoke with Sinn Féin's East EU candidate John Dwyer last Monday. Free article

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP on Tuesday morning launched the party's manifesto for the EU election and called on people to support Sinn Féin's agenda for change in Ireland and in Europe. The manifesto addresses fundamental issues relating to the future of the EU and sets out Sinn Féin's policies for an Ireland of equals in a Europe of equals. Free article

Three weeks ago, AIB were caught overcharging thousands of foreign exchange customers. Two weeks ago, it was the mismanagement of trust funds in their care and this week it emerged that some of the top executives of the company were involved in a special elite company whose operations involved tax fraud and possible insider dealing. Free article

Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell has been successfully elected as Belfast Deputy Mayor. And for those with a taste for political drama, the election had plenty to offer, with down-to-the-wire decisions and positions secured by a hair's breadth. And when the final count was declared, unionist uproar filled the debating chambers as the DUP's defeated candidate, Eric Smyth, accused the new Alliance Party mayor, Tom Ekin of having "blood on his hands". Free article

A covert British Army spy team was uncovered by a man walking his dog at the junction of the Upper Springfield Road and Hannahstown Hill on the Black Mountain on the outskirts of West Belfast at the end of May. Free article

Free Derry Corner, one of the country's leading landmarks, has been restored by a group of republicans. The Wall, which has been the gathering point of many protests and confrontations over the decades, had deteriorated over the years due to exposure to the elements and the heavy volume of traffic that passes by. Free article