SINN FÉIN’S OBJECTIVES throughout the recent negotiations that led to the Stormont House Agreement were very clear: To agree a comprehensive deal to protect the most vulnerable in society; To safeguard the rights and entitlements of citizens; To deliver on outstanding agreements; To grow the economy; To enhance the working of the institutions. It wasn’t an easy negotiation. Premium service article

THE Stormont House Agreement strived to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our society were protected from the ravages of British Government welfare cuts pursued by the Tories. Premium service article

SO NOW we can talk about freedom of speech. It is shocking that it took the brutal, terrifying murders of 17 people (including the 11 Charlie Hebdo workers) to headline press freedom in the international news cycle. Premium service article

THE TRUMPETING by the Fine Gael/Labour Government of the right to freedom of speech in the wake of the massacre of Charlie Hebdo magazine staff stands in stark contrast with their own parties’ history of censorship and repression here in Ireland. Taoiseach Enda Kenny told reporters that the killings were an “attack on the basic values of freedom of speech and tolerance”. This was the message from all Government representatives but apparently Labour Party Dublin City Councillor and former Mayor Dermot Lacey didn’t get the message. Lacey’s democratic mask slipped when he took to Twitter to reveal that he wished the Section 31 broadcasting ban against Sinn Féin had never ended. Free article

IT WAS ‘INTERESTING’ that Stephanie Roche’s second place in FIFA’s Puskás Award for 2014 Goal of the Year against competition such as Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez (an amazing achievement in itself) was celebrated in the same way on the front pages of most papers. Free article

THE Fine Gael/Labour Government’s programme of austerity and Labour’s total capitulation to the interests of bankers and EU policy makers has brought home to more and more working people that a decent society can only be built with a decent economic system – one that puts the interests of the mass of the people first, above the bankers and investors. Free article

Funded by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) – Aontas Clé na hEorpa/Na Glasaigh Chlé Nordacha Crúpa Paliminta – Parlaimimt na h Eorpa Free article

IT IS POSSIBLE to look at the west of Ireland and not see what the dispossessed feel in their bones, in the lightness of their heart, in the dark night of their soul. Premium service article

BHÍ RIALÚ an-spéisiúil ag an mBinse Comhionannas le déanaí maidir le cás a thóg Micheline Sheehy Skeffington in aghaidh Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh, gur déanadh leithcheal inscne uirthi. Agus, tá misneach faighte anois ag riar-mhaith mná eile sa gcoláiste céanna ag rá go bhfuil leatrom den chineál céanna déanta orthu féin agus iad ag lorg cothrom na féinne anois freisin. Free article

MARCH will be the first time the Ard Fheis has ever been held in Derry City. It is expected to attract more than 2,000 delegates and guests over the weekend. Premium service article

Sinn Féin National Chairperson calls for formal discussions on Irish Left alternative Free article

THE ELECTION LANDSLIDE achieved by SYRIZA in Greece represents a vote for hope over fear. This result opens up the real prospect of democratic change not just for the people of Greece but for citizens right across the EU. Sinn Féin has backed SYRIZA’s call for a European debt conference which is so clearly in Ireland’s interests. Free article