Special Features
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Government exposed with U-turn on burning bondholders
In June the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, was in Washington DC and held talks there with the International Monetary Fund and with the US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, on Ireland’s financial crisis.
Dail returns – prepare for battle
‘We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men/Leaning together/Headpieces filled with straw.’ So opens the famous poem by TS Eliot and closes with the lines, ‘This is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper.’
Paul Murphy MEP victim of Garda Brutality in Rossport
Dublin MEP Paul Murphy was part of a Socialist Party contingent on a peaceful protest organised by the community in Rossport and the Shell to Sea campaign today. At that protest he, and the other peaceful protesters were brutally assaulted by the Gardai. Here Paul Murphy reports on what happened.
Real debate needed over presidential election
Even before they start their Third Level or working lives, the 55,000 students who received their Leaving Cert results last Wednesday have done the people of the State a service. Acres of coverage of their achievements meant that, yesterday, most of the main national newspapers, including The Mail, were Presidential campaign free zones. What a relief.
David Norris – voters should have decided his fate
‘Faulty judgement and anti Israeli bias leave Norris unfit for Aras run,’ was the bald headline over an article by columnist Bruce Arnold in Monday’s Irish Independent. It began, ‘David Norris is not a suitable person to stand for election to the office of President of this country.’
Mass non-payment campaign needed to defeat household tax
‘It’s only €2 per week.’ Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, was speaking on RTE’s Six One News on Tuesday about the new Household Tax which the Fine Gael/Labour Party Government had agreed at Cabinet earlier in the day. Then in that interview of a few minutes he repeated four more times, ‘It’s only €2 a week.’ Had Hamlet been listening, he might have declared, ‘The Minister doth protest too much.’
Reclaim our natural resources
SIPTU has published a document entitled, “Optimising Ireland’s Oil and Gas Resources.” It deals mainly with the exploration for oil and gas in this state and the implication of government policy in this area. It also gives a resumé of how the state has dealt with the exploitation of these natural resources over the past forty years.
Paul Murphy Socialist Party MEP sails to Gaza
Paul Murphy, Socialist Party MEP for Dublin will shortly attempt to sail to Gaza as part of the ‘Freedom Flotilla II’ to try to deliver humanitarian aid to people in the Gaza strip. Last year’s ‘Freedom Flotilla I’ was brutally attacked in international waters by the Israeli Defence Forces, with 9 human rights activists killed. Here is an interview with Paul about the Flotilla and the situation in the Middle East.
For latest updates and photos from the Irish Ship to Gaza from Paul, as well as blog posts and analysis, check out the special feature on Paul's website available at www.paulmurphymep.eu/gaza
Historic task of the ULA
The National Forum of the United Left Alliance will offer an opportunity to put the launch of the Alliance into perspective and to discuss its further development.
“Labour is now irretrievably a party of the Right”
During the General Election campaign the Socialist Party had no illusions about the reactionary role that the Labour Party would play in a coalition government with Fine Gael. We knew that Labour Leader Gilmore’s angry speeches in the Dail against Fianna Fail policy on the banks when he was in opposition, was just so much bluster that would fade the instant he was ensconced in government.
