This is an edited version of an article written for the latest edition of the Scottish Left Review
The situation that the Irish Left finds itself during the largest recession in the history of the Irish state, and the greatest crisis in global capitalism since the Great Depression, is not that different in terms of [...]

When The Internationalists were first set up in Trinity College Dublin in November 1965, it was not as a fully-formed Marxist-Leninist party, but ‘as an exercise in better staff-student relations.’(1) Prominent among the initial group was Hardial Bains, a lecturer in bacteriology who was originally from India, but who had left for Canada in 1959 [...]

This article is an edited version of a presentation I gave at the “Equality in a time of crisis” conference organised by the Egalitarian World Initiative and the UCD School of Social Justice (May 6 - 7).
View as a PDF (select Save As to download)
Introduction: youthful mistakes
I was asked to talk for this paper about [...]

We are not Spain, we are not Italy, we are not Portugal. Repeat. We are not Spain, we are not Italy, we are not Portugal.
In one sense, that’s correct. In terms of the ‘market’ view of the Irish economy, we’re worse. But don’t expect commentators who have been demanding public spending cuts to point this [...]

First of all, the caveats.
The Quarterly Household Survey (QHS) is a sample survey, compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the details of which are outlined in Tuesday’s post which looked at broad occupations.
There are 21 economic sectors in the NACE Rev.2, and for its purposes, the CSO has amalgamated some of these to give [...]

You may have noticed a report launched by TASC yesterday, Mapping the Golden Circle, which shows how few people, mainly men, held so many directorships on the boards of Ireland’s major private and state-owned companies between 2005 and 2007.
The report is available on the TASC site here; it was discussed extensively on Tonight with Vincent [...]

From A resurrection in Charlesland
All the golden nest-egg rows changed back to brick.
The hoardings’  painted sunrays sprouted teeth
and claws.
In the online brochures the blue computerised skys
were recoded
as nets that are
thickening over us.

It would really help if some analysts took the time to read the reports they comment on. Take the EU Commission’s recent Spring Forecast - there was a titter of excitement that the EU revised upwards its projections for Irish growth (from its Autumn Forecast published before the last budget). Surely this, along with recent [...]