Please circulate this statement far and wide within your trade union
UNI Europa, the European regional organisation of the UNI global trade union federation, has described the EU fiscal stability treaty as “anti-social, anti-democratic and anti-European.” Trade unions are mobilising across Europe to stop governments from cementing in neo-liberal austerity policies for years to come.
“With this [...]

The Government, in signing the Fiscal Treaty, has effectively committed itself to introducing up to €6 billion more in tax increases and spending cuts in the medium-term, over and above what it has already planned.  While the news in the short-term will, understandably, focus on whether a referendum will be necessary, once attention starts honing [...]

This article was originally published in the journal.ie last night.
How many speculators does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is none. They still think the broken one works.
The business model of asset price speculation - the model that broke the world - informs the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA), and it is [...]

On Saturday, the Irish Times devoted a full page to the question of whether austerity is working, on foot of the letter by 60 prominent public figures. International commentators such as Joseph Stiglitz and Nouriel Roubini and domestic commentators Terence McDonagh from UCG, Brid O’Brien from the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed and businessperson Brian [...]

There was no need for Mario Draghi’s words to understand that the crisis has already reached an irreversible threshold in Europe. A crisis of “systemic dimensions” was what Jean-Claude Trichet said a couple of months ago. Now Draghi, his successor at the European Central Bank, tells us that “the situation has worsened” (January 16th).  It is [...]

Media outlets are reporting a new crackdown on the unemployed.  Apparently, the Department of Social Protection intends to introduce new regulations whereby ‘target-dates’ for exiting the Live Register will be set for different categories of unemployed.  If someone remains on the Live Register past that target-date, they may be subject to a new set of interviews [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]