Tháinig Gaeilgeoirí ó gach cearn den tír le chéile do Chomhdháil Náisiúnta Ghaeilge Shinn Féin i mBaile Átha Cliath ar an deireadh seachtaine seo caite. Bhí ceithre príomh-ábhar á phlé - na meáin Ghaeilge, an Gaeloideachas, feachtasaíocht agus Gaelú an Pháirtí. Bhí plé bríomhar ar gach ábhar chomh maith le tuairiscí ar obair Fhoras na Gaeilge agus Udarás na Gaeilge. Tugadh cuntais ar obair Shinn Féin maidir leis an Ghaeilge san Oireachtas, sa Tionól agus sna comhairlí áitiúla. Free article

THE Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (GRRC) has called on the Portadown Orange Lodge to accept the rerouting of their annual parade to Drumcree away from the nationalist Garvaghy Road as "a perfectly good alternative". The annual Orange march passed off peacefully last Sunday, 5 July as Orangemen were once again stopped from marching through the nationalist district. Free article

A SINN FÉIN motion calling for the writ to be moved for the Donegal South-West by-election to take place was very narrowly defeated in the Dáil last week by 69 votes to 72 when the Government parties shamefully voted against restoring the voters' democratic entitlement at the earliest opportunity. Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty, who is based in Donegal South-West, described the Government's refusal to support the motion as "a slap in the face for the people in my constituency'. Free article

SPEAKING on Monday as 26 County Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe prepared to present his proposals on college fees to the cabinet this week Sinn Féin Education Spokesperson Senator Pearse Doherty described as 'ridiculous in the extreme', the Minister's notion that fees will not affect the less well off. "As predicted O'Keeffe has waited out the local and European elections before moving on his plans to reintroduce fees to third level students", Doherty said. Free article

SPEAKING during the Dáil debate on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the Irish economy Sinn Féin Economic Spokesperson Arthur Morgan said, 'whilst the reports substantive historic analysis of how the government, the banks and the developers brought Ireland into recession is broadly correct, the IMF's recommendations going forward will make a very bad situation worse. "Fianna Fáil led governments were warned for years in advance of the recession that measures needed to be taken to curb the dangerous over-inflation in the housing market and the dangerous over dependence of the exchequer on taxes generated from consumption and construction. Free article

SINN FÉIN Justice Spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD has called on the Government to respond to the killing of Wayne Doherty in the Hartstown area of Dublin last Saturday by lifting the bans on Garda recruitment, promotion and overtime and by making appropriate training and technologies available to the Gardaí. Wayne Doherty was shot outside his parents' home in Hartstown last Saturday night. Gardaí say it appears that a group had arrived at Oakview Way to attack another person who lived on the road but shot Doherty when he confronted them. The 32-year-old married father of two died in hospital. Free article

AS the protests have mounted against the June 28 military coup that deposed the elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, the role of the US in supporting the coup leaders has become increasingly exposed. The coup "government" has been rejected by every Latin American government, the Organisation of American States (OAS), UN and EU, and while the Obama administration has refused to acknowledge the coup regime, the State Department has also failed to classify the violent military takeover as a "coup" - which would mean the US government would be forced to cut off all aid to the regime and suspend all diplomatic relations. Free article

ON Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning the plinth around the newly erected statue to Seán Russell in Fairview Park, Dublin was sprayed with slogans implying that Russell himself and the National Graves Association who erected the statues, were Nazi supporters. Russell was a veteran of the 1916 Rising and IRA Chief of Staff during the bombing campaign in England, launched in 1939. The statue, which was badly vandalised four years ago, was only replaced with a bronze sculpture in the past two weeks. Free article

THE National Hunger Strike Youth Weekend 2009 is taking place in Tyrone over the weeknd of 14 -16 August. The weekend of events is being organised to coincide with the National Hunger Strike March, and will also fall on the actual 100th anniversary of Fianna Éireann, Sunday 16 August. The main themes of the weekend will be the 'The 1981 Hunger Strike', and 'A Century of Youth in Struggle', with public talks, a republican tour, a Fianna Éireann dinner dance, mural and plaque unveiling, a rebel night, and the National Hunger Strike March helping bring people together and educate them on both. Free article

IMPACT oppose centralisation of medical card scheme and Frontline ambulance services cut Free article