No sooner had the government come out with its proposal for a referendum on the rights of children it announced that they are planning cuts to child benefit. This is an exercise in sheer cynicism and hypocrisy if ever there was one!

If you were still maintaining “hope” that the economic crisis will soon abate the additional €3.5 billion in austerity at the next Budget will result in potentially another 30,000 job losses according to the Nevin Institute.

Paul Murphy MEP has launched a new website, ScamBridge.org to expose the JobBridge expoloitation scheme.

The JobBridge scheme has been used as a scam for the government to massage the unemployment figures and for many companies to cynically exploit unemployed people. The ScamBridge.org website has been launched to expose this scam and give people an opportunity to share their stories of exploitation. The latest figures suggest that just 400 people who finished their JobBridge internships received jobs with the companies that provided the internships. This is not a scheme that is seriously addressing the crisis of youth unemployment. We are calling for an immediate investigation and review of this scheme, with proper monitoring being introduced.

Protests sparked by an anti-Islam movie trailer made in the US have spilled over more than 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia, countries with important Muslim communities, as well as a few other parts of the world. While a number of these marches - mostly aimed at American embassies and symbols - were peaceful, in several places they turned violent, leaving around a dozen people dead and hundreds injured.

Young people in Northern Ireland are angry and it's not surprising. We face a jobs crisis, with almost 25% of 16-24 year olds not in employment, education or training. The only jobs that are available for most are low-paid call-centre, retail and service positions, with long hours, poor conditions and no job security.

Rather than being part of the solution to mass unemployment, JobBridge is part of the problem.

The eruption of sectarian rioting and attacks over several weeks in Belfast recently has demonstrated that the so-called “peace process” and the establishment of a power-sharing government have failed to end sectarian division.

As part of a genuinely free and accessible education system, from pre-primary to fourth level, the student grant system should be open to all students, regardless of means.

A sum of money the size of the US and Japanese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) together is being held in offshore tax havens. This enormous hoard could immediately pay off most of the deficits and debt that are being used to justify austerity, and create millions of jobs. Instead it sits in places like the Cayman Islands, making the tax dodgers that put it there even richer.

On 21 July 1972, 22 bombs planted by the Provisional IRA exploded over a ninety-minute period in Belfast. Nine people died and more than 100 were injured. The day became known as Bloody Friday.