Irish Examiner view: Possibilities that demand our attention

Local elections scheduled for May are expected to consolidate the Scottish National Party's position and deliver an outright majority for Nicola Sturgeon in the Edinburgh Assembly.

The death of hunger striker and Cork Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney in London's Brixton prison 100 years ago yesterday was marked by various events, all of which recognised his, and many others, great sacrifices. 

Those sacrifices are some of the foundation stones of this Republic, a Republic far beyond anything those in the vanguard of Irish independence a century ago aspired to. Neither could they have imagined that the issues that defined their lives, and all too often their deaths, would be relevant today.