THE Hillsborough Agreement is not the end of all difficulties but a significant staging post along the path towards equality. So said Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, speaking just before the British Prime Minister and Irish Taoiseach arrived at Hillsborough Castle to announce that after over 100 hours of around-the-clock negotiations an agreement had finally been brokered. Free article

There were statements in the Dáil on Tuesday on the Agreement reached on 5 February. Speaking on behalf of Sinn Féin, the party's Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Agreement represented progress for all the people of Ireland. Free article

Well one thing is for sure - no one comes out of the George Lee debacle looking good. Between allegations of Lee being a petulant, egotistical maniac, to speculation that his departure sounds the death knell for Enda Kenny's leadership, a rabid media didn't know which way to swing this week, or where to level more accusations. It was a win-win day for journalists and a lose-lose situation for the former Mr. Popular and Fine Gael. Free article

THE 26 Counties haemorrhaged almost a thousand jobs in the space of 24 hours on Tuesday. Bank of Scotland Ireland announced it is to close its Halifax retail banking business, with the loss of 750 jobs, by July. Earlier, US healthcare giant Boston Scientific said it is to cut 175 workers from its Galway workforce. Free article

"THE success of the Sinn Féin strategy was clearly illustrated in the outcome of the Hillsborough negotiations," leading republican Sean 'Spike' Murray told hundreds of party activists at an upbeat and confident Cúige Uladh AGM on Saturday 6 February in County Tyrone. Free article

A large crowd of dedicated republicans converged on Mallow GAA Complex early on Sunday morning last for the annual general meeting of the Munster Cúige. Free article

Following the SDLP's 40th national conference at the weekend, which saw Margaret Ritchie elected over Alasdair McDonnell to replace Mark Durkan as party leader, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, writing in his online blog leargas.blogspot.com, addressed the SDLP's negative stance following the Hillsborough Agreement. Free article

A republican source in a briefing to the media this week confirmed that the IRA had executed and secretly buried Belfast man Joe Lynskey. An Phoblacht has been told of the sequence of events that lead to the arrest, court- martial and execution of Lynskey for breaches of IRA Standing Orders. Free article