There is growing concern that the trial of two men for the Real IRA
attack on Massareene British Army base two years ago, currently
underway, could result in a major miscarriage of justice.
Dublin cabinet ministers have engaged in widespread leaks this week in
an attempt to ‘soften the blow’ of the worst austerity measures and to
see how palatable other budget measures were.
British military intelligence have attempted to lure a man across the
border with the promise of cut-price Christmas toys in order to effect
his arrest.
A civil-war era spat broke out in the Dail this week when Kerry
North-Limerick West Sinn Fein TD Martin Ferris sought to remove
restrictions on prisoners released under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Now that the dust has settled on the election of the ninth President of
Ireland, it is time to look back on the positives and negatives of that
campaign for Irish republicans.
It was revealed today that members of the German parliament have already
discussed details of the forthcoming 26-County Budget, including a
planned 2% hike in VAT (sales tax).
The families of 11 people killed during a 36-hour rampage by British
paratroopers 40 years ago have described a decision to reopen inquests
into ten of the deaths as “a very important step on our journey for
truth”.
A document which could free the North’s most famous female republican
from jail has been lost by the British government, its Northern Ireland
Office has said.
A pensioner who was attacked while trying to defend her son and grandson
has described being held over a railing and punched in the face by a
unionist paramilitary.
Senior Sinn Féin politician Gerry Kelly is to be paid a five-figure sum
by a Sunday newspaper which accused him of being involved in an affair
with a US diplomat in a story published 15 years ago.
The Six-County First Minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson has been
accused of contriving a “stunt” when he threatened to resign over
changes to the North’s prison regime.
The decision of the north’s Attorney General to reopen 10 of the 11
Ballymurphy cases is a landmark judgement which gives hope back to those
families that their long journey toward truth and justice may now
succeed.
The decision by the new leader of the SDLP, Alasdair McDonnell, not to
wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday will be welcomed by the vast majority
of northern nationalists.
The Irish national soccer team has qualified tonight for the 2012
European Football Championship, the first major soccer tournament it
will contest since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea.
The Executive Summary, including an itemised list of
proposed financial measures, savings and stimulus packages from Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission for the year 2012, published today.
Michael D Higgins was inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland at a
ceremony in Dublin Castle this afternoon. He was sworn in by the Chief
Justice in front of the Taoiseach, other dignatories and invited guests.
His first address as President Higgins received huge applause and a
standing ovation from the assembled guests. Here is the full
text of that address.
Over a hundred former government ministers are sharing an annual cash
pot of almost nine million euro, it has been revealed. The figures were
supplied in response to a Sinn Fein parliamentary question.
Irish human rights activists remain imprisoned by Israeli authorities
after they attempted last week to deliver aid to Palestinians trapped
behind an Israeli military blockade.
A top human rights lawyer was threatened with arrest on the eve of the
opening of the trial this week of republican Colin Duffy, one of his
highest profile clients.
The son of a notorious unionist paramilitary leader has received a
record payment of 400,000 pounds sterling ($640,000) from the British
government in a move which has angered the families of those he killed.
A sectarian parade is to be held at a troubled north Belfast
‘peaceline’ tomorrow in memory of a loyalist youth who blew himself up
with a bomb he was about to throw over the wall at Catholics.
The 26-County government has been accused of reneging on a deal struck
during the North’s peace talks after it pulled the plug on funding for
a major cross-border road link.
A profile of the three members of the Irish National Liberation Army
who died alongside seven IRA Volunteers, on hunger strike for
political status, thirty years ago this year.
It was entirely consistent with President Mary McAleese’s 14 years as
president of Ireland that one of her last engagements was to open a
gallery named after the Falls Road-born painter Gerard Dillon in
Belfast’s Culturlann.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams led a walk-out from the Dublin
parliament this week in protest over the coalition government’s
decision to hand over more than 700 million euro (more than 1 billion
dollars) to an unknown private investor in the failed Anglo Irish Bank.
The ‘Real IRA’ has claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks over
the past few months, and has warned that it will continue to target
economic interests which reinforce British rule in the North.
The trial of 22 people charged with holding a sit-down protest against a
sectarian march in north Belfast this summer was quickly enveloped in
controversy after the PSNI police admitted they had no evidence to
present against at least two of those charged, and suggested that much of
their knowledge had come from informers.
The Irish ship MV Saoirse is en route to the Gaza strip as part of its
latest relief mission and has already reached international waters in
the Mediterranean Sea.
The bailouts are for only the banks and they are deepening the crisis of
democracy at the heart of the European Union, writes Seamus Milne. For
the Guardian.