Fifty years ago on 17 January 1972 seven Republican internees escaped from the British prison ship, HMS ‘Maidstone’, moored at the coal wharf in Belfast docks, and swam to freedom. They achieved fame in news headlines across the world as ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Free article

Speaking ahead of a vigil outside Leinster House in memory of Ashling Murphy, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said: in memory of Ashling Murphy, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD said: “Violence against women and girls, and the fear of it, is far too common and blights the lives of women and girls across the country” Free article

Declan Kearney writes on the need to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into law. Free article

One hundred years ago this week Dáil Éireann voted on the Treaty and divided just as the Cabinet had already divided and as the IRA was shortly to do also. It was a division that would lead eventually to armed conflict, but not for another six months, with many other factors contributing to the outbreak of the war. Free article

Dáil Éireann debated the Treaty in December 1921 and early January 1922. One of the most enduring speeches is that of Liam Mellows, senior IRA officer, former envoy in the United States, 1916 Rising leader in Galway, former Fianna Éireann organiser. He argued that the Republic existed and that the Treaty surrendered it. He warned prophetically of what would happen when politicians took power in the Free State and his message was strongly anti-imperialist, pointing to the crimes of the British Empire across the globe. The speech was delivered 100 years ago on 4 January 1922 and we carry key extracts here. Free article

Republicans across Ireland were saddened by the recent death of committed and dedicated republican Pat Rehill. Free article

In a landmark victory, Britain’s highest court has ruled that the PSNI decision to not investigate the torture of fourteen men in 1971 was “wrong”, and “irrational”. Free article

Writing in his latest blog, Declan Kearney said the British government's amnesty legislation will make legacy a permanently toxic issue. Free article

Martina Anderson was a guest speaker at a commemorative event for Máire Drumm in Scotland last weekend. In her speech Martina remembers a “republican visionary”. Free article

The ‘Articles of Agreement’ commonly known as the Treaty were signed in London in the early hours of the morning of 6 December 1921. They were signed by a divided Irish delegation under threat of an immediate resumption and escalation of the British government’s war of terror in Ireland.  Free article