Morning Ireland

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Macedonian government appeals again for aid The Macedonian government has again appealed to the West to do more to help the plight of the thousands of Kosovar refugees there. However, it is not the refugees in camps that face the greatest need, but rather those staying with relatives who can't afford to feed them. Conditions for the Kosovar refugees in the camps in Macedonia are appalling and getting worse. The UN High Commission for Refugees wants other countries to speed up their evacuations of refugees, at the moment spokesman Kris Janowski says that there are too many delays caused by too much red tape.

Reporter Ray Colgan has been speaking with Sammi Ibrahim, Under Secretary at the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who explained the situation.

Kris Janowski, UN High Commission for Refugees spokesman, explains the situation in the refugee camps.

Margaret Ward reports from Belgrade on the events overnight.

Caretaker EU Commissioners unlikely to be reappointed In Brussels, it is expected that most of the 20 Commissioners will not be reappointed to serve under the new Commission President, Romano Prodie, when he takes office in September. Last month, Jacques Santer and his 19 colleagues resigned after the publication of a scathing report on cronyism and fraud. However, they are carrying on as caretakers until the new team arrives.

Tommie Gorman, Europe Editor, explains the situation.

Central Bank Governor warns mortgage lenders are advancing too much The Governor of the Central Bank, Maurice O'Connell, has warned the country's mortgage lenders that they are advancing too much money to borrowers. In a letter to executives of commercial banks and building societies, Mr. O'Connell said that routine inspections had revealed disturbing practices by the commercial institutions in assessing the size of loans. And, he said, the ready availability of loans could be contributing to the rise in house prices.

Jane Suiter, Economics Correspondent with the Irish Times, explains the situation.

Hopes raised by tip-offs to Gardaí The families of six young women who have gone missing in the Leinster area over the past four years had their hopes raised this week by tip-offs to Gardaí which resulted in three separate searches at Creggan near Athlone, Kilsheelan near Clonmel and at Clara in County Offaly. Nothing was found however, and the searches have now been called off. One of those missing women was twenty-one-year-old Jo Jo Dullard who was last seen at a telephone box in Moone, County Kildare on 9th November 1995.

Jo Jo Dullard's sister, Mary Phelan, told reporter Valerie Cox that the search opened up old wounds again.

Superintendent Jo Shelley, who was in charge of the search in Athlone, explains the details.

UPC provoked into making statement on Cablelink controversy The sale of Cablelink is halted temporarily by an injunction granted to one of the 5 bidders, ESAT, on Wednesday night. The High Court is to hear the case in full today. The allegation is of irregularities in the bidding process. Another bidder, United Pan-European Communications, has been provoked into making a statement. "The management of UPC wishes to state that it did not collude with any other parties in the process to fix the price, nor would we ever participate in such a collusion in an auction for any asset in which we are interested".

Mark Schneider, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Pan-European Communications, explains their position.

Labour Party holds first conference since merger Labour Party delegates are gathering in Tralee for their conference this weekend, the first since the merger with Democratic Left. The most likely source of controversy was the divisions in the party over partnership for peace, but all sides will be able to back the current policy of demanding a referendum on the issue.

Labour Party Finance Spokesman Derek McDowell, looks at the conditions of the conference.

Senator Joe O'Toole criticises events in Sheedy controversy In the Seanad yesterday, Senator Joe O'Toole said that the two judges at the centre of the Sheedy case should at worst have been demoted rather than sacked. He was critical of the way they were dealt with saying they had been sacked without due process.

Michael Conway reports on the debate on the Sheedy affair.

Maggie O'Kane expelled from Belgrade Irish journalist Maggie O'Kane, who works for the Guardian newspaper, was expelled from Belgrade yesterday. This was probably because the authorities there did not like some interviews she had done with politicians who are critical of Slobodan Milosevic. Maggie O'Kane was put on a bus to Hungary, and Morning Ireland caught up with her at the airport before her plane left for home.

Maggie O'Kane explains the circumstances of her expulsion.

New Russian party style themselves on Margaret Thatcher The British Tory party is still divided by the legacy of Margaret Thatcher. Twenty years after the Iron Lady came to power in Britain, she still arouses strong emotions, from those who detested her, to those who are still proud to call themselves Thatcherites. And now Mrs. Thatcher has a new group of supporters, but not in Britain, in Russia. A new Russian party, which likes to style themselves the Thatcherites of Russia, was formed during the week.

Robert Chalmers, of the London Independent, has been reporting on the Russian Thatcherites and explains the situation.