Top Issue 1-2024

24 September 2009 Edition

Lisbon - still all to play for with a week to go

24 September 2009

With opinion polls showing similar results to pre-polling day surveys in the last Lisbon referendum when the 'No' side was victorious, it is still all to play for with a week to go in the campaign on the Treaty which will determine the future of the EU. As polling day approaches the supporters of the Treaty have been getting ever more desperate in their efforts to scare the people into voting Yes, focusing not on the alleged merits of the Treaty itself but threatening dire economic consequences if we vote No. This was epitomised by Pat Cox's unveiling of a signpost offering the choice of 'Ruin' or 'Recovery'. Free article

NAMA is bailout for greediest and most corrupt in Irish society

24 September 2009

Sinn Féin's detailed position on NAMA was set out in the Dáil by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD and we carry here the text of his speech as delivered, setting out the party's analysis and proposals as agreed by the Ard Chomhairle. ... I want to begin by urging the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government to do its duty to the people and make a commitment, here and now, that if this legislation is passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas it will support a petition to the President under Article 27 of the Constitution to put the NAMA Bill before the people in a referendum. Free article

Spotlight on RUC cover-up conspiracy

24 September 2009

A Belfast coroner has ordered the PSNI to hand over secret reports into the RUC killings of six people in North Armagh during 1982. The call made by Coroner John Leckey is being seen as the first serious challenge for the new PSNI Chief Constable, Matt Baggot, who took over from Hugh Orde this week. Orde, in line with his predecessors, refused to make the Stalker/Sampson findings public. Baggott's first weeks in office will be dogged by the shoot-to-kill issue as the coroner ruled that the PSNI must hand over the Stalker/Sampson reports by November. Relatives For Justice, which campaigns for the families of people killed by the state was at the Coroner's Court last week to support the families of the dead. Here they outline the background to the shootings and the measures taken by the British to cover them up. Free article

Sinn Féin at National Ploughing Championships

24 September 2009

At the Ploughing Championships in Athy on Wednesday Sinn Féin Agriculture and Rural Development spokesperson Martin Ferris TD launched a report on the future of farming and fishing in the West of Ireland which he says highlights a "huge level of anger" around the country. Free article

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'Government must fall' - McDonald

24 September 2009

Speaking at a rally against NAMA and Fianna Fáil/Green cutbacks in Dublin on Saturday Sinn Féin Vice President Mary Lou McDonald said the Government must fall. She said any Government which prioritises greedy bankers over the welfare of children can no longer have the support of the Irish people and should be ashamed. Free article

DUP's solo run is road to nowhere

24 September 2009

Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister and Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness has said he is 'disappointed' with the DUP's recently published proposals to fundamentally change the working of the Good Friday Agreement institutions, undermining the equality basis of the Agreement. McGuinness was writing in the Belfast Telegraph on 18 September and we reprint his article here. Free article

EU approves €54.5 million for Dell to slash 1,900 jobs in Limerick

24 September 2009

The European Commission has given the green light to the Polish government to grant €54.5m in aid for a factory to which giant US company Dell is moving production from Limerick with the loss of 1900 jobs. The EU Competition Authority claimed the aid was compatible with EU rules. The Polish plant, located in Lodz, is to employ up to 3,000 people to produce desktops, notebooks and servers. Free article


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