Month: January 2013

20 posts
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EU youth guarantee – what is it worth?

Almost one in four young people in the European Union are currently unemployed. In Greece this figure hits 57%, in Spain 56%, in Ireland it is 29%. In total 5.5 million young people are unemployed across Europe and emigration is rife, with people leaving Ireland in numbers not seen since the Famine. In the face of this crisis the European Union has no solution to offer, its latest proposal a ‘Youth Guarantee’ is nothing more than wishful thinking.

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The murder of Rosa Luxemburg

On 15 January 1919, 94 years ago today, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, the finest brains of the German working class and its most heroic figures, were brutally murdered by the bloodthirsty, defeated German military, backed to the hilt by the cowardly social-democratic leaders Noske and Scheidemann. On this important anniversary, it is vital to look at Luxemburg’s inspirational, revolutionary legacy.

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Turmoil over flag dispute continues

Turmoil over the issue of the flying of the union flag has now continued across Northern Ireland for six weeks. The protests, blocking of roads and frequent rioting began on 3 December when Belfast City Council voted to fly the flag over City Hall on seventeen “designated days” only rather than 365 days a year. Since then there have been protests almost every day-including a small protest on Christmas Day itself.

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Trade unions must fight the property tax

Trade unions have to take a stand against the property tax. This is an austerity tax being brought in for no other reason than to fund the ongoing bailout of bondholders . It will tip thousands of families into poverty. How can the unions, as representative organisations for workers, stay silent about that?

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Starbucks pays 35k tax in five years, Google 0.14% tax…

The disgracefully nominal amounts of corporation tax being paid by some of the largest multinationals (MNCs) based in Ireland have come to the forefront of the news in recent months. The right-wing rag The Irish Independent even has had to adopt headlines such as “Google chief: 'I'm proud of tax we pay – it's called capitalism” such has been the incredibleness of the figures.

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EU Presidency: A government of austerity driving it across Europe

The boast by Enda Kenny that Ireland’s presidency of the European council is one of “a country of recovery driving a recovery across Europe” is empty rhetoric. Working and middle class people are not feeling Kenny’s ‘recovery’ , with 2012 marking the fifth year of domestic recession in Ireland and a return to recession in the eurozone.