The Irish Ferries' dispute provides a dramatic warning of the kind of onslaught we face on workers' pay and conditions if the proposed EU Services Directive goes through in anything like its original form, SIPTU General President Jack O'Connor said earlier this week. Free article

"We had no overtime pay. We got Bank Holidays and Annual Leave but they were unpaid. We have no contracts so we can't say what our hours or what type of work we should be doing. The employers told us only Irish workers need payslips."

- Arek, Construction worker from Poland.

"Bad employers were replacing Irish workers on minimum wage with foreign workers... Free article

Journalist and Executive Director of the Centre for Public Inquiry Frank Connolly has hit back at what he says is a campaign of vilification against him. Connolly was reacting to controversial comments by Justice Minister Michael McDowell who claimed Connolly travelled to Colombia on a false passport and accompanied by a known IRA activist. Free article

Following a Swedish parliamentary investigation into 'extraordinary renditions' and information obtained by RTÉ under the Freedom of Information Act, Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD said Sinn Féin had called repeatedly for Garda inspections of planes identified by human rights' groups as possibly being involved in transportation of prisoners by the CIA to locations where they could be tortured. Free article

Sunday 26 November will be a day many republicans from the Upper Springfield area of West Belfast will not forget. Free article

A garden commemorating deceased republicans was opened in Dowra, County Cavan last Sunday. Some 250 people gathered for the event which also marked the area's contribution to the centenary of Sinn Féin. Free article

South Armagh Céad Bliain celebrations

A Céad Bliain celebration which took place in the Tí Chulainn Centre, Mullaghbawn last weekend was in many ways and emotional night with mixed memories for those in attendance.

The huge numbers who gathered to take part were there to see ten recipients from throughout the South Armagh area receive special Céad Bliain ... Free article

Human rights' groups and family members of people killed by British forces and unionist death squads in the Six Counties took their quest for justice to the European Parliament in Brussels this week. Free article

Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew MP, Thomas O'Reilly MLA and Councillor Breege McSorley recently met shoppers on the Diamond, Enniskillen with a petition opposing the British Government's Education budget. Free article