While loyalists continued their relentless attacks on nationalists over the Christmas period, the RUC also continued their harassment of the nationalist community. Free article

North Belfast Assembly member Gerry Kelly was awarded £9,000 plus costs in an assault case taken against the RUC. Kelly sued RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan for damages after he was batoned on the head by an RUC officer during a protest against an Orange Parade marching through a nationalist area of Belfast. Free article

On 22 October 2000, as plans were being made for the 1 December International Day of Action around the case of murdered Belfast teenager Peter McBride Free article

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has scrapped school performance league tables in the Six Counties, saying they were bad for teacher morale and were divisive. Free article

An Phoblacht's 1999 Christmas edition may have been a bit premature in its front page headline: `New era of hope'. Free article

The Dublin government had a bad year indeed on the equality agenda. There was a miserable performance in terms of compliance with international standards of human rights, on implementing the rights of all to accommodation, to health care, and to securing accountability of the police. Free article

Waste disposal and charges were at the core of local politics throughout 2000. The issue has now reached crisis point, with Environment Minister Noel Dempsey threatening to close down Dublin Corporation this Friday if councillors do not vote the way he wants. Free article

Gerry Adams has said that the openly racist attitudes of the Immigration Control Platform must be challenged and that the claim to represent the silent majority in Irish society ``is a challenge to all of us - to stand up and have our voices heard''. Free article

Saturday 30 December was the tenth anniversary, to the day, of the killing of Fergal Caraher. The 20-year-old South Armagh republican was shot dead by British Royal Marines on Sunday 30 December 1990 as he drove from the car park of the Lite and Easy pub in the South Armagh village of Cullyhanna. Free article

After years of protest and lobbying, the Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Bobby Molloy, announced last week his `reform package' for tenants of private landlords. Free article