There is much to dislike in the former IMF chief economists Peter Boone and Simon Johnson’s prognosis The European Crisis Deepens about the prospects for the Eurozone, particularly one of the three parts of their recommended solution being much deeper austerity for the next 10 years in countries like Ireland. Their assessment is inevitably a [...]

Statement from Repudiate the Debt Campaign
Once again the Government is handing over public money, this time €1.25 billion, to pay off the bond-holders of Anglo-Irish Bank. This callous, odious and unjust debt is taking a heavy toll on the Irish people.
This odious debt imposed on our people by the EU and ECB is simply [...]

On the evening of Wednesday 18th January, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) held a protest against an official Israeli parliamentary visit to the Oireachtas. This visit of two Israeli Knesset [Parliament] members and their entourage was kept secret by the Irish state until the evening before the two MKs arrived. With less than 12 [...]

Ireland is not Greece:  we get a lot of that from Government ministers, Troika officials and commentators.  This truism, however, says less than it purports to.  Yes, Ireland is not Greece.  Ireland is not Belgium, Romania, Brunei, the Yukon Territory or Idaho, either.  Of course, the message is that Greece is a basket-case that no [...]

Press release from Debt Justice Action today, following the ‘incendiary’ remarks from Minister Leo Varadkar. See also this very clear Q&A explaining Anglo/INBS promissory notes, Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA), the role of the Central Bank of Ireland, the ECB and the liabilities of the Irish state.
The campaigning network Debt Justice Action has today dismissed claims from Minister Leo [...]

This is a comparison between the number of vacant housing units uncovered by last year’s census, compared with the social housing needs of the state on a county-by-county basis, as provided by the Dept. of the Environment.
The excel file of this information is here.

Below is a graph of the ratio of vacant housing to social [...]

On Wednesday 21 December 2011 Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan announced that NAMA were to make 2,000 properties available to the Government for social housing.
The units, which were said to make up 20% of NAMAs residential property portfolio would be managed by local authorities and housing associations and funded via the Social Housing Leasing [...]

Ever since the crisis began, progressives have been on the back-foot, forced to react to the agenda driven by the orthodoxy.  However, 2012 has started on a more hopeful note.  There have been two initiatives that can provide the basis for a common-sense counter-agenda, not only capable of winning considerable support throughout society but - [...]

Here’s the letter published today in the Irish Times calling for an alternative to present economic policy. The letter is signed by 60 community activists, academics, leaders of advocacy groups & NGOs and writers & commentators. Conor McCabe and I have signed it too.
Sir, - It is now clear that austerity policies are not [...]

Andy Storey, as spokesperson for Debt Justice Action can be heard here on RTE’s Late Debate (18th of January). He successfully dissolves much of the fog around the Anglo debt we are all being forced to repay. While the show received almost unanimous support from those contacting it through texts, emails and tweets, some people [...]