CLAUSES in the Fine Gael/Labour Government’s proposals on legislation for the X Case could see a pregnant woman who says she is suicidal brought before a six-person panel of psychiatrists and doctors to assess whether there is a “real and substantial risk to her life”. Free article

Potographs from the May 2013 edition of An Phoblacht Free article

THE campaign by unionist councillors to have the Union flag permanently flown at Belfast’s Cenotaph is being opposed by the British armed forces charity that stages commemorations for the war dead, the Royal British Legion. Free article

FIANNA FÁIL leader Mícheál Martin – ever-present as minister in the disastrous Cabinets of Fianna Fáil leaders such as Bertie Ahern from 1997 right up to 2011, when he switched allegiance to Brian Cowen – devoted a large slice of his party’s 1916 Rising commemoration at Arbour Hill on 21 April to attacking Sinn Féin. Free article

EAMON DUNPHY used to play soccer with Millwall, a club with its origins in London’s docks and whose fans’ notoriety has led them to sing: “No one likes us, we don’t care.” You might think it could have been custom-made as a motto for Eamon Dunphy. Free article

MAY DAY – marked across the world as International Workers’ Day – should be a rallying point for trade unionists and progressives to celebrate, to honour the sacrifices of the past, and to reinvigorate those struggling in the present. Premium service article

SÍLIM GO BHFUIL am na cinniúna tagtha don Lucht Oibre. Ní dócha go raibh súil acu go dtréigfeadh na ceardchumainn iad ar an gcaoi a tharla le cúpla seachtain, ach thréig. Go traidisiúnta, bhíodar fréamhaithe go smior sna ceardchumainn agus cuid do na h-oifigigh ar feidhmeannas an pháirtí fiú. Ach, tá géarchéim anois acu agus éirí amach na gnáth bhaill ag féachaint sa straois orthu. Premium service article

PICTURE THE SUN splitting the trees. Winds gusting strong enough to catch your breath. The fresh April air still cold enough to whisper with conviction that winter isn’t long past. Picture throngs of people, milling around, mingling together, weaving in and out like bobbins on a loom. All shapes and sizes, ages and genders, people of every ethnicity. Picture the expressions on their faces from trepidation to exhilaration. Fun-seekers and record-breakers, all gathered together in an open-air communion that is one of the uplifting qualities of many outdoor sporting events. Free article

JUST a short time ago, I was sitting with Peadar Tóibín in the most boring conference ever held when both our phones started to come alive with a Twitter feed. Now it wouldn’t have taken much to distract the two of us from the monotonous, grey-suited, grey-haired, grey-everything speakers at the top table but here was something interesting. Premium service article

I MEET Danielle Ryan and John Sweeney at their home in Belmayne, near Donaghmede, in north Dublin. Their three-year-old daughter, Ellie, has progressively lost her hearing and is now profoundly deaf. A simple operation that comes as standard in many other European states – and also in the North of Ireland – could help change Ellie’s life but Health Minister James Reilly won’t engage with families who just want the best medical treatment for their young children. Free article

THE two-year statute of limitation barring survivors of the barbaric medical practice of symphysiotomy from pursuing personal injury claims must be lifted. The Fine Gael/Labour Government’s 11th-hour acceptance of legislation brought forward by Sinn Féin, in a Private Member’s motion with all-party support, has moved that day closer. Premium service article

GERRY ADAMS rounded off Sinn Féin’s first Ard Fheis ever in Connacht with a speech to a packed audience of 1,450 on Saturday 13 April and in a live, prime-time broadcast on RTÉ TV that posed challenges to many sections of society: to the governments, the trade unions and communities, and – not least – to unionists and republicans. Free article