Taoiseach Enda Kenny is the focus of mounting anger in the 26 Counties
after criticising the Irish people for their “greed” and “mad” borrowing-- just days after he paid one and a quarter billion euros of public
funds to international bond speculators.
Researchers employed by Boston College to conduct interviews with
former IRA members -- the subject of a British government subpoena --
have said they are not surprised at the latest court ruling against
their efforts to prevent the interview transcripts falling into the
hands of the PSNI.
A Sinn Fein delegation of Stormont Assembly members -- Raymond
McCartney, Sean Lynch and Jennifer McCann -- met with the Six-County
Justice Minister David Ford on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing crisis
at Maghaberry prison.
The ‘Hooded Men’ were a group of internees who were systematically
tortured by the British military in 1971. We carry a statement
from several of the surviving ‘Hooded Men’ on the subject of the 40th
anniversary Bloody Sunday march, to take place in Derry on Sunday 29th
January, as well as a program of events for the weekend.
The recent publication of British government papers from 1981 have
reminded many people of the negative role played by British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher at that time.
Prominent republican Colin Duffy has today been found not guilty of the
Real IRA attack on Massereene British Army base in 2009, although there
was disbelief at the court when his co-accused, Brian Shivers from
Magherafelt, was found guilty.
Former RUC Special Branch police who were forced to retire as part of
the policing reform process have been rehired as civilian contractors
for the PSNI, it has emerged.
Two explosions in Derry last night [Thursday night] appeared to target
government offices and have again ratcheted up concerns for the political process
in the North.
Over 80,000 children in the Six Counties are living in poverty,
according to a new report published this week, with nationalist areas
such as west Belfast experiencing the highest figures.
The wife of a Derry republican prisoner has appealed to the city’s
political leaders to do something about the crisis at Maghaberry prison
before someone dies.
British prime minister David Cameron has dramatically attempted to
hijack moves towards a referendum on Scottish independence. The move has
accelerated a British constitutional crisis which could have profound
implications for London’s rule in the north of Ireland.
Both the Dublin government and the Six-County executive have been
accused of turning their back on cross-border co-operation, one of the
cornerstones of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Lawyers for prominent republican Gerry McGeough argued for his
entitlement to release under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement for more
than four hours this week.
The family of murdered Belfast defence lawayer Pat Finucane has been
granted a judicial review of the decision by the British government not
to hold a public inquiry into his death.
Tensions are deepening at Maghaberry as riot squads take the place of
regular warders. A look at the current situation and the history of the
current prisoners’ protest.
Participants in Boston College’s ‘Troubles Archive’ project have
demanded the return or destruction of all of its taped interviews after
parts of the archive were delivered to the British Crown forces.
A republican prisoner on dirty protest in Maghaberry jail has warned the
North’s highest security prison is fast deteriorating into a cesspit of
disease.
Papers released under the 30-year rule reveal a prime minister refusing
to deal with the substance of the Irish prison protests, writes Sinn
Fein president Gerry Adams TD.
The recently-released British state papers from 1981 are certainly not infallible nor full accounts, but they do reveal the mindset that the prisoners, their families and supporters
had to overcome.