A special select committee of the Seanad to investigate the use of Irish airports by so-called "rendition flights" is to be established in early 2006.

Five Catholic Worker peace activists, accused of causing $2.5 million worth of damage to a US navy plane at Shannon Airport, are back in court on Monday 24 October, after two and a half years on bail.

Luis Posada Carriles, a 77 year old Cuban exile, freedom fighter, ex-head of Venezualan police, may be extradited to Venezeula from the United States of America on 13 June next, Michael McCaughan reports

The race for the Tory leadership is on with up to a dozen MPs possibly vying for Micheal Howard's position. But do any of them have an idea what the tories stand for anymore? By Kevin Maguire

Enjoying the freedom of being an Independent, still having a zest for politics, Beverly Flynn is not fazed by the disbandment of Mícheál Ó Móráin's cumann in Castlebar. She talks to Eoin Ó Murchú

It was so much easier when you were a kid. Every gift you gave your mother at Christmas was the perfect gift. Whatever tacky, made in Taiwan, plastic ornament you gave her brought a beaming smile to her face. The Bet Lynch dangling "gold" earrings you gave her when you were eight, she wore with pride all through Christmas day. Even when her earlobes turned green, she persevered and insisted they were just what she would have chosen for herself.

Age Action Ireland,

On January 1, 1972 Ireland secured membership of the European Economic Community. In a specially commissioned piece Garret FitzGerald examines our role in Europe and sets out his belief that to a greater extent than any other of the nine countries that have joined the community in the past quarter of a century, Ireland has made good use of, and has benefited from, membership.  The political strategy we have adopted, the industrial and educational policies pursued with great consistency by successive governments, and the diplomatic skills we have deployed have all paid off handsomely.

IT IS PLEASANT to record that not everyone has collapsed into Evening Herald/Irish Times-style hyssteria over the supposed "crime crisis": pleasant not only because the heighhtened emotion of recent times has militated against rational consideration of the issues involved and obstructed sober assessment of the measures which do need to be taken, but also - and more importantly - because this style of reportage has significantly hindered the work of probation offiicers and of the welfare services geneerally in their efforts to break down the barriers of prejudice against those _ who, for wha

The Sinn Fein electoral wagon is slowing down. As a result, the IRA is likely to begin stepping up its war against the Northern state. Gene Kerrigan reports from Belfast and also interviews Sinn Fein's Danny Morrison on the party's recent successes and failures.