IRELAND joined more than 130 countries when the Dáil passed unopposed a Sinn Féin motion in early December to recognise the state of Palestine. Free article

BEFORE becoming a Member of the European Parliament in 2009 I practised as a psychoanalyst and my approach to politics has been greatly influenced by my former profession, which closely observes the use of language. So it is with great interest that I have observed Fine Gael and Labour since they took office in 2011. Premium service article

ICTU's David Begg says "The 1919 Democratic Programme represented the trade union movement’s contribution to the shaping of the new state. That moment may be on us again" Premium service article

2015 is an important year for republicanism; it could be crucial. Not only are there Westminster elections happening in May but there will possibly be a snap Dáil election this year if the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition doesn’t hang on until the last possible moment in 2016. And, of course, 2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Free article

WILLIAM ‘PLUM’ SMITH’S BOOK, Inside Man: Loyalists of Long Kesh – The Untold Story, gives a personal account of his imprisonment as a young man from the Shankill Road. Free article

They’ve supported Madness and The Wailers and played Electric Picnic . . . Bionic Rats frontman Derek Clabby talks to An Phoblacht Free article

ON Monday 29 December, the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle met in Dublin to discuss the recommendation from the party’s negotiations team that the Stormont House Agreement concluded in Belfast on 23 December (“the Eve of Christmas Eve”, as the media called it) be ratified by the national leadership. Free article

THE AGREEMENT reached at Stormont Houes on 23 December (and endorsed by the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle on 29 December) represents progress on a number of fronts Free article

TÁ AN TURCAÍ ite agus na bronntanais roinnte agus muid ag tabhairt aghaidh arís eile ar chúrsaí polaitíochta mar is ceart agus gach seans gur bliain corrach a bheidh ann. Free article

THE tens of thousands of people who gathered outside Government Buildings in Dublin on 10 December had a very clear and simple message for Fine Gael and Labour: ‘We aren’t going away until domestic water charges are scrapped.’ Free article

Peadar Whelan talks to Declan McLaughlin about the new Hi-Flats CD Free article

‘The Israeli strategy is to talk about a two-state solution but every day they seek to destroy and undermine it’ Free article