Top Issue 1-2024

30 September 2012 Edition

Pensioners in the firing line

30 September 2012

THE Fine Gael/Labour Government is firmly putting pensioners and the elderly in general in the firing line in respect of further social welfare cuts being planned in the next budget. Premium service article

Unionist parties protect minister from Assembly suspension

30 September 2012

THE DUP and Ulster Unionist Party rallied round to protect DUP Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland from a censure motion in the Assembly tabled by the SDLP — supported by Sinn Féin and Alliance — seeking his suspension for three months over his attitude to the blatantly sectarian display by a Shankill loyalist band during a Twelfth parade that McCausland had been present at. Free article

Sinn Féin intervention achieves 10-month industrial dispute deal

30 September 2012

LAGAN BRICK workers have thanked Sinn Féin after the party’s all-Ireland intervention helped to end one of the longest running industrial disputes in recent Irish history. Free article

Children’s Rights Referendum ‘significant step’

30 September 2012

THE wording of the Children’s Rights amendment to the Constitution has been welcomed by Sinn Féin as “a significant step towards enshrining children’s rights in the Constitution”. Free article

Dáil motion on Magdalene Laundries abuse

30 September 2012


A DÁIL MOTION on the abuse that took place in the infamous Magdalene Laundries has been tabled by Sinn Féin with the support of 17 Independent TDs. (The motion was under discussion as An Phoblacht was going to print.)

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD said:

“The treatment of the 30,000 women and girls of the Magdalene Laundries goes to the very core of what was wrong... Free article

Economic and social rights should be on Constitutional Convention agenda

30 September 2012

NOW, more than ever, there is a need for a radical and far-reaching reform of the current Constitution and the political system to build a New Republic. I believe that a real constitutional reform project can inspire the people of Ireland. It could be instrumental in reviving the hopes of Irish citizens for a positive future and be a catalyst for common interest, a common vision and a common purpose. Premium service article

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Tory Welfare Reform Bill resisted by Sinn Féin

30 September 2012

THE TORY-DRIVEN Welfare Reform Bill being imposed by the British Government in Westminster will be voted against by Sinn Féin “without significant amendment”, Alex Maskey MLA has said. Free article

Unionism inextricably linked to denial?

30 September 2012

IT’S CLEAR from the events of the last month in north Belfast that the issue of unionist parading has ratcheted up the levels of tension in the area. And with September’s Ulster Covenant Parade due to take place on Saturday 29 September (as An Phoblacht goes to press), with 20,000 Orange marchers and supporters with more than 100 bands passing St Patrick’s Church on Donegall Street, nationalists were holding their breath. Premium service article

G4S securing whose world?

30 September 2012

GROUP 4 SECURICOR (G4S), the multinational firm that couldn’t manage security for the London 2012 Olympics, is helping to operate detention centres in Israel and occupied Palestine which hold child prisoners. Free article

The demise of a Glasgow giant

30 September 2012

“A tale of our times, brilliantly told, of what happens when big sport, like big banks, ignores the rules and the fans. Online, on the money and now in print, the author’s been at the forefront — unlike Rangers directors — he didn’t do walking away and Rangers owe him for that.” Premium service article

Unionism’s private army

30 September 2012

IN the final part of his series of articles around unionist centenaries, TOM HARTLEY looks at the origins of the Ulster Volunteer Force – the UVF. Free article

Power to the people

30 September 2012

WELCOMING the Fermanagh Trust’s recently-published research document, Maximising Community Outcomes From Wind Energy Developments, Martina, a member of the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI), described the community dimension of renewable energy policy in the Six Counties as its Achilles’ Heel. If this weakness is not addressed we will continue to face opposition from communities. Free article


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