The full extent of the crisis in child protection in the 26 Counties was exposed with two startling admissions this week. The Health Service Executive (HSE) admitted that they are still unaware of the number of children who have died in State care over the past five years and Children's Minister Barry Andrews admitted that the HSE is refusing to hand over files on these children to the investigation team that he established. The government says it will now rush through legislation to allow the HSE to hand over its files to the government inquiry. Free article

Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has called on all Ministers in the Executive and civil servants on the highest paid grades to take a 5% pay cut as a result of planned Tory/Lib Dem cuts. Free article

Last week, the Euro Area Loan Facility Bill was pushed through the Dáil by Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Fine Gael and Labour Free article

The Health Service Executive has been accused of falsely using a HIQA Report to close Loughloe Nursing Home in Athlone as part of its public healthcare cutbacks, even though the report does not recommend closure. Sinn Féin Health spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the HIQA Report on Loughloe House in Athlone raises major concerns and is an indictment of the running of Loughloe House by the Health Service Executive. Free article

Setting aside the initial trauma of the Westminster election results, which left the leaders of both main unionist parties unelected and saw the failure of their unity candidate in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, the call for unionist unity as a way forward has been raised once again. Free article

Sinn Fein hosted a delegation from Cuba at the annual Cairde Sinn Fein in Belfast at the weekend. The delegation joined over a thousand guests at the Europa Hotel for the evening event. Free article

A hundred reported incidents and repeated death threats, one year after the killing of Catholic Kevin McDaid, sectarianism continues to blight the lives of the people of Coleraine. News of heightened tensions in Coleraine came as PSNI statistics reveal an 25% increase in sectarian crime in the north last year. Free article