I’m working on an article for The Citizen at the moment, on the general theme of ‘Is Fianna Fáil Dead?’
It’s more of a reflective piece on the development of the party since its inception 85 years ago this week, and on the contradictions between its position as a populist party with a strong working-class base, [...]

The front page story on the Sunday Independent really says it all. Apparently, the Labour Court has awarded a pay increase to Bord na Mona workers. The Sindo no like. How dare workers get a pay increase? And in this dislike they make some claims which show how dumb [...]

Irish Left Review has heard with regret of the death of poet, playwright and memoirist Patrick Galvin who died last night. He is survived by his wife Mary Johnston and his five children. Born in Cork in 1927, Galvin was the author of numerous plays and seven volumes of poetry. A selection of his work [...]

The death of Rachel Peavoy in Shangan Flats, Dublin, on the night of January 10th 2011, a bitterly cold night in the coldest winter in living memory, stands in so many ways as a metaphor for Ireland itself. She died, according to the pathologist, of hypothermia. There is no avoiding that judgement. According to her [...]

Calling all friends and supports of Irish democracy and sovereignty.
On Monday 9th the Peoples Movement will be holding a picket on the Dail to show our opposition to the planned  special sitting of the Dail to mark what the European Unions calls “Europe Day”.
The picket will be from 12-30pm - 2-00pm outside the Dail on [...]

Thanks to Sam Nolan for sending this on.
We send greetings to workers in all lands on this May Day. We have so much in common. The economic crisis reaching across the globe has touched us all. Amidst all the wealth created by the labour of working people, who were not responsible for the global [...]

These New Years of Lean
The Elders could still recall the days
when stone ground to dust
was added to pottage
and porridge
to make them more filling.
Limestone was preferable
to granite
not only because it was softer
but better tasting.
Sandstone
both yellow and red
was sprinkled on for colour.
Things never got bad enough
to use bathstone
but slate was popular on Fool’s Day
served to others.
Beach sand [...]

What if an easily accessible paper was drawn up illustrating the following:

What may have been earned for the people if the banks were nationalised when there were profitable
What effective and efficient public utilities could have delivered for us (in money terms) if kept in state control
The benefits (again, in financial as well as the obvious [...]

Whatever happens in the coming weeks in terms of forming a coalition government, this election represents a great leap forward for the Irish Left. That’s not how the media here sees it - naturally - but it’s still objectively true.
In the last Dáil (parliament) the left vote stood at approximately 15%. After this election that [...]

When I re-tweeted Labour Councillor Cian O’Callaghan’s news statement calling on Labour not to enter coalition with Fine Gael, Brendan Ogle suggested such an eventuality was akin to pigs flying. Maybe so. But then humans don’t fly either. So let’s take a hypothetical flight with our fellow unwinged mammals and see what the landscape looks [...]