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At a book launch in early March Minister Pat Rabbitte apparently joked that he had spent another heavy day reducing the living standards of the Irish people! Despite being drenched in cynicism, for once he spoke the truth.

History repeats itself for the Labour Party in the Meath East Bye Election 2013. Just under thirty years ago the Labour Party was humiliated in a Bye election in the Dublin Central constituency against a political background uncannily reminiscent to the present day. The vacancy was occasioned by the sudden death of former Fianna Fail Minister, George Colley.

The Irish government has made much of the fact that it now holds the EU Presidency, chairing meetings of the European Council. It has been proudly proclaiming success in negotiating a new EU budget for 2014 to 2020 (the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework – MFF). What they don’t say, however, that in the position of Presidency, they are pursuing the same austerity policies that they implement in Ireland – imposing unprecedented levels of cuts to the EU budget.

“I know one or two women... who probably don’t make very much money at all from working but they do it to keep their position on the career ladder, if you like. That’s a legitimate thing to do but if you can’t pay your mortgage as a result or you can’t buy your groceries as a result well then that’s something that needs to be taken into account in any insolvency arrangement.” This is the backward position of Minister Leo Varadkar commenting on upcoming insolvency legislation.

The annual list of billionaires produced by Forbes Magazine has again seen records smashed by the world's hyper-rich. There are now 1,426 billionaires in the world, 210 more than 2012, with a collective wealth of $5.4 trillion, up nearly a trillion dollars from last year.

"It is an unpalatable fact, in light of the severity of the crisis, that repossessions must be expected to rise significantly." These were the chilling words uttered by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Matthew Elderfield. He wasn’t speaking about luxury cars that some people may have bought and couldn’t keep up their repayments when their wages were cut or they lost their jobs. He was talking about people’s homes, the roof over their heads, the refuge where they and their families find respite when everything else – income, jobs, their children’s welfare – might be crashing around them due to the economic crisis.

Josephine Freehily launched the Revenue Commissioners campaign on the Property Tax by announcing, “you cannot hide from Revenue.” The Campaign Against Home & Water Taxes will not be hiding anywhere – we will be launching a massive campaign of opposition to this hated tax over the next three months.

On Tuesday 12 March, the audio recording of a former United States Army soldier’s speech to a military court, in which he gives his reasons and motivations behind disclosing over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks, was released.

From this week the latest bitter austerity pill will be administered to our hard pressed low and middle income earners as letters arrive in every home from the Revenue Commissioners demanding the new property tax.

For over a hundred years, March 8th has been the day on which to commemorate the great struggles of working women for a better deal at work and in society. It is also the day to celebrate the contribution of women – some famous, many unknown - in the fight against oppression and for socialism.