The most important aspect of the most recent Irish Times poll was not the 32% for Labour, but the combined 45% for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
Individual polls tell you very little, it’s the overall trend that counts.
Since February 2009 Labour has scored from 20% to 25% in the MRBI polls. Their recent dramatic 10-point [...]

Who has the right to comment on the Croke Park Public Service Agreement?
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore says that political parties should not ‘interfere’ in what is a matter for public sector workers. They should be left in peace, he says, to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the agreement and make their decision accordingly.
I don’t [...]

Greece is in trouble. On May 19 the government has to pay an €8.5 billion bill for money borrowed on the private markets 10 years ago.
But the Greek government is broke and can’t borrow any more from the private sector to pay its debts. It runs the risk of being the first developed capitalist economy [...]

Who is shouldering the burden of the recession? The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has this month released a report which seeks to answer this question.
The report argues that at the heart of government policy is a ‘determination to load the full cost of the collapse onto working people and the poor.’
The consequence of this [...]

Every year one of Ireland’s leading anti poverty groups, Social Justice Ireland (formerly known as CORI Justice) produces a social and economic review.
This detailed report provides both a critique of government policy in the previous year and a set of alternatives aimed at producing a more equal society.
This years report is entitled, An Agenda for [...]

On Monday night The Frontline, RTE’s flagship current affairs show, broadcast a special programme on the state and direction of our health service.
Advertised for a week in advance, the programme promised to tell us if our health system is on the right track or going backwards?
A larger than usual studio audience was given an hour [...]

Profitable companies are using the current economic crisis to weaken terms and conditions of employment and drive down wages of some of the countries lowest paid workers according to a new report published by Mandate.
‘Milking The Recession‘, launched by the retail sector trade union earlier this month claims that there is “an aggressive and determined” [...]

The latest CSO figures showing a decrease in the cost of living have prompted employer groups to renew calls for a decrease in the minimum wage. However, on closer examination, the CPI reveals several increased costs which, combined with welfare cuts, push many people further into poverty.
The cost of living has decreased by 3.9% from [...]

Poverty is set to increase in 2010 according to Social Justice Ireland (SJI). The anti-poverty group has this week published a detailed briefing paper saying that the numbers of children and ‘working-poor’ living in poverty will rise as a direct consequence of Budget 2010.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that in 2008, 615,000 [...]