Top Issue 1-2024

2 July 2009 Edition

McDaid murder - witnesses' lives threatened

2 July 2009

AN ongoing campaign to intimidate witnesses to the sectarian murder of Coleraine Catholic Kevin McDaid has been confirmed by the High Court in Belfast after lawyers disclosed that ten people were now under threat. The information emerged as one of the men accused of the killing was refused bail. Opposing the bail application of 48-year-old David Cochrane, who is accused of causing an affray, Prosecution barrister Peter Coll said the defendant had been part of a group shouting sectarian abuse when Kevin McDaid was attacked close to his home. Free article

IMF report: Catalogue of Fianna Fáil policy errors highlighted

2 July 2009

MORE than one in six workers in the 26-Counties will be unemployed in 2010 and economic activity will fall by nearly 10% by the end of 2009 while the gap between spending and tax revenue will widen to 12%. These were just some of the findings in two reports published last week by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The two most conservative, market-driven international think thanks delivered a withering indictment of Irish Government economic polices over the last decade, as the gains of the tiger economy era were sacrificed to the expediency of Fianna Fáil's relentless drive to secure re-election. Free article

Residents say there is a win-win solution to contentious march

2 July 2009

RESIDENTS in the Springfield Road area of west Belfast have called on the Orange Order to "get real" after another Orange parade was pushed through the nationalist area without their consent. Despite hoax bomb alerts and some stone-throwing from a small number of youths, Saturday's controversial Whiterock Orange Parade passed off peacefully but, as a spokesperson for local people pointed out, not without considerable distress and disruption to residents living in the area. Free article

Derry Volunteers commemoration

2 July 2009

ON Sunday past over 1,000 republicans gathered in the bright sunshine for the annual Derry Volunteers Commemoration. This commemoration is a very important event in the local republican calendar. The march was led by a colour party and families of the patriot dead who carried floral tributes. Republican activists carried portraits of their fallen comrades from Derry Brigade Óglaigh na hÉireann and several bands from the city, south Derry and Strabane took part . Free article

Sinn Féin consistently warned of flaws in economy

2 July 2009

Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD has accused Finance Minister Brian Lenihan of lying to the media when he claimed that nobody had warned Fianna Fáil that it was overheating the property bubble in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The Louth TD said Sinn Féin is on record as continuously warning Fianna Fáil throughout those years that the economy was over-dependent on the construction sector and that there would be no soft landing for the housing market. Free article

GUE-NGL-new-Jan-2106

Progress on Loyalist decommissioning

2 July 2009

THE weapons decommissioning body has confirmed it has witnessed a "major decommissioning event, involving arms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices" belonging to the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando. In a statement released last Sunday, the commission (IICD) said the leadership of both organisations had advised them that the weapons and materials put beyond use in their presence "included all the arms under their control". Free article

International: Honduras

2 July 2009

HONDURAN President Manuel Zelaya made one fatal mistake: he genuinely believed the propaganda about 'democracy' and the 'will of the people' that is uttered most frequently by those who care least for such things. That fundamental error was enough to merit an early morning visit from the Honduran military, before Zelaya was beaten and unceremoniously bundled onto a flight to an unknown destination. As it transpired the military 'deported' Zelaya to nearby Costa Rica. Free article

Doherty calls for by-election writ to be moved

2 July 2009

DONEGAL South West Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty has called on the Government to support a Sinn Féin motion in the Dáil to move the writ for the by election to take place to fill the seat left vacant as a result of the election of Pat the Cope Gallagher to the European Parliament. Speaking on Wednesday as Sinn Féin tabled the motion Senator Doherty said, "The democratic representation of the people of Donegal South West must be restored to its full quota at the earliest opportunity. We must not see a repeat of previous situations where constituencies have been left for more than a year without their proper representation. Sinn Féin is today taking the lead in calling for this by-election to be held at the earliest opportunity. Free article


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland