GAELS are set to take to the city centre this week to show their support for Belfast City Council's new Irish language policy, which will see visibility of the language increase throughout the city.
IN less than five weeks’ time the next Uachtarán na hÉireann will be elected by the people of the 26 counties. Election day is October 24. That the people of the North and of the diaspora will be denied a vote is a disgraceful consequence of the efforts over recent years by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael (FFFG) to prevent the extension of the Presidential franchise. Both parties are frightened by the prospect of people who have never voted for either party voting in Presidential elections. They want to retain the status quo, not change it. This partitionist approach also influences the resistance of Micheál Martin and others to the growing potential for a referendum vote in favour of Irish unity.
IF we were to listen to and accept at face value those in the media who criticise the Assembly and the Executive as ineffective, and who question their value or use, we would mothball both institutions and sack the MLAs.
WELL done to all of those who planned, organised, participated in, or generally contributed to this year's hugely successful Féile an Phobail. It was a colourful, imaginative, informative, entertaining, empowering and exhausting couple of weeks.
OVER 50 Irish language and Gaeltacht organisations from across the country gathered in Belfast on Wednesday to discuss and agree the next steps in the north-south funding RAIC campaign.
SQUINTER’S seen a lot in his three-plus decades in conflict journalism. With a nod to his Andytown News debut as a movie reviewer, he has to admit he hasn’t seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, or C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. But he’s seen some pretty out-there things.
