Meeting the challenge of climate change
Climate change is one of the defining challenges facing our society today. Consequently next Monday’s climate change conference in Paris, which will see representatives from almost 200 states across...
View ArticleThe murder of Seamus Ludlow
During the recent negotiations to secure the future of the political institutions the British government successfully thwarted efforts to put in place the legacy elements of last December’s Stormont...
View ArticleDelivering an effective Housing plan
Last Friday Sinn Féin unveiled a policy document to address the housing crisis that has been created by successive Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour governments. The policy will deliver 100,000 new...
View ArticlePlanning corruption rears its ugly head again
I sat through the RTE Prime Time programme last Monday night amazed at how far greed will drive individuals to engage in corrupt practices. The southern state has a long history of political...
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REVOLUTION 1916: Molly O'Reilly and the Rising
We are on the eve of a momentous year. This time a hundred years ago republican men and women were planning the overthrow of the British Empire in Ireland.REVOLUTION 1916: Molly O Reilly and the...
View Article2016 a year for National Renewal
Next Thursday – January 7th 2016 – Sinn Féin will begin our commemorative year of events to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising. The first of these will take place in the Mansion House where the...
View ArticleHair today. Gone tomorrow.
Isn’t it funny that women get their hair done. Men get their hair cut. I hate getting my hair cut. But I wouldn’t mind getting my hair done. The problem is that no matter what you tell them most...
View ArticleDundalk Traveller families evicted by Louth Council
Last Friday, and with only 48 hours notice, Louth County Council began a process to evict 23 Traveller families from a halting site at Woodland Park in Dundalk. Those evicted included at least 22...
View ArticleElection promises last only as long as the campaign
Sinn Féin will be fighting two major elections on the island this year. An assembly election in the north, and a general election in the south. Elections are funny things. Not funny ha ha. But funny...
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My Little Book of Tweets
I feel an adventure coming onThe internet and social media have revolutionised how we communicate. Not just politically but personally too. I have friends who spend hours on their Facebook accounts...
View ArticleAnd the election is ON!
The starting pistol has been fired; the referee has blown his whistle; the starting gates have been thrown open; and we are off the blocks. And at the end of all those sporting metaphors I’m sure you...
View ArticleCandidatitis
In the general election in the south which is now entering its second week Sinn Féin is standing 50 candidates in all 40 constituencies. It is a great honour to represent Sinn Féin in any capacity and...
View ArticleRight2Change – A time for change
This column comes to you from Dublin, via Kilkenny, via Clonmel, via Cork City, Tipperary and before that Limerick and Birr. It was the second week of the election bus. It has put in some miles and so...
View ArticleThe article the Sunday Indo refused to publish
On Sunday February 14th the Sunday Independent carried an article from Labour Leader Joan Burton in which she claimed that I didn’t understand this state. I wrote a response. The Sunday Independent...
View ArticleAll brought on by their own actions
By the time you read this column/blog the election will be all but over bar the most important bit – the peoples vote on Friday. Today it’s over to the electorate in the 26 counties to decide which...
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A historic election
Tuesday was the 35th anniversary of the first day of Bobby Sands’s hunger strike. Much has been written about the traumatic events of that time; of the death of the hunger strikers, and the political...
View ArticleSee you on the Falls Road on Sunday - Easter 1916 Centenary
In 1966 Nelson’s Pillar was blown up in O’Connell Street in Dublin. It was a hugely symbolic and largely popular act which took place four weeks before the 50th anniversary celebrations of the 1916...
View ArticleSee you in Dublin on April 24
Easter Sunday on the Falls Road in west Belfast last weekend had the four seasons in the space of a few hours. As we gathered in Conway St. the sun was shining. It was cold but the air had the feel of...
View ArticleMicheál Martin could play a leadership role in the necessary process of...
Micheál Martin is a man with a mission. To trample on the politics of those whose roots are in the radical republican tradition of Tone and Emmet and Pearse and Connolly and to rewrite Irish history in...
View ArticleThe Challenges Ahead - Five for west Belfast
Against the backdrop of a crisp beautiful Sunday morning in Dublin the raised voices of thousands echoed in song along O’Connell Street.“When boyhood's fire was in my bloodI read of ancient freemen,For...
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