In early May, I brought a motion to the regional Assembly in the north of Ireland urging all members, regardless of different political outlooks, to call upon the Irish government to fulfil its responsibility and finally extend the right to vote in Irish presidential elections for the hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens living in the northern state.

I pointed out that it is... Free article

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy gave the main address at the annual commemoration for Volunteer Martin ‘Doco’ Doherty, who was killed 31 years ago today. Free article

Republicans across the Northwest attended the annual commemoration for 1916 martyr Seán Mac Diarmada on 11 May. The niece and grandniece of Mac Diarmada were in attendance along with Sinn Féin representatives from Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Fermanagh and Donegal including former Sligo/Leitrim TD Michael Colreavy. Free article

Last July saw the Tories emphatically ejected from government in Britain. The Labour Party was returned with a large majority promising a break from a decade and a half of Tory misrule. It didn’t take long for that façade to drop.

Almost immediately the Labour Party picked up where the Tories had left off, signalling that bleak financial times were to continue. Their decision to... Free article

I started thinking about this article on the 44th anniversary of Bobby Sands’ death on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. 

The day before Bobby’s anniversary on 5 May, 2025, a spectacular statue in his honour was unveiled in his home neighbourhood of Twinbrook, west Belfast.

Bobby has come to symbolise the Irish spirit of freedom in the modern era. He was a republican... Free article

The death of Francis Hughes at the age of 25 on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh saw not the end of a legend but a new chapter in what was, by any measure, the story of one of the most fearless and tenacious guerrilla fighters of the 20th Century and of the Irish Republican Army. Free article

As the childcare crisis deepens, Claire Kerrane TD sets out how government inaction, broken promises, and failure to invest in a publicly led system is pushing families, providers, and staff to breaking point. Free article

‘Burn Them Out! A History of Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland’ by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, published by Head of Zeus. Free article

5 May 1981 was one of the most defining days in Irish history. It was the day that Bobby Sands, the 27-year-old Member of Parliament for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh as part of the republican prisoners’ campaign for the restoration of political status. Free article

This feature first appeared in An Phoblacht/Republican News on March 28th 1991 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising Free article