Ruth Coppinger speaks at pro-choic rally at the Dail

Unsurprisingly, the Bill proposed by Socialist Party / United Left Alliance TD, Clare Daly to legislate for the X Case, was overwhelming defeated in the Dail. The establishment fail yet again; women suffer, and working class and economically deprived women who can’t or find it difficult to muster the money to travel to access a termination, and migrant women and women trapped in abusive relationships who have restrictions on their travel, suffer most acutely.

Easter Monday night’s vigil in Tyrrelstown, west Dublin, for the slain 15 year old Nigerian lad, Toyosi Shitta-bey, was as uplifting as it was desperately sad.

The attendance of about 1,500 braved the unseasonal, biting cold to pay their tributes and make a powerful statement about the kind of society in which they want to live.

"Please sir, may I have some more?" It’s not just Dickensian orphans who have to fight for the most basic staple - food. Even in the ’advanced’ capitalist countries, the profit system is incapable of providing people with a balanced diet. socialistparty.net looks at the effect of capitalism on food and socialist solutions.