I’m not disposed towards conspiracy theories - the world is, after all, a wide world. So, no, I do think the antics in Fianna Fail are a well-planned ruse to take our attention away from the crisis coming down the line. Still . . . .
The Citigroup’s global head of credit believes Ireland is heading [...]

It is just over a month since the ULA was launched and the paucity of organised resistance to the deepening economic crisis has made the alternative offered by the ULA all the more urgent. So the formation of the ULA is very welcome. Also welcome is the public commitment to the ULA by PBP, the [...]

History suggests that there is a limit to the degree of income inequality that is sustainable in society. For example, gross levels of income inequality is believed to have been one of the causal factors of The Great US Depression in the 1920’s and there are many reasons to believe that inequality is [...]

The bookies and pundits are putting Fine Gael and Labour together as the new government. Fair enough, the figures add up.
But, would Labour really be using their political strength to make the required difference. The prospect of partnership must be seductive to the Labour leadership. In previous coalitions they did manage to introduce some [...]

DEMONSTRATION TO SAVE THE MINIMUM WAGE

OUTSIDE DÁIL EIREANN

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER - 1:00pm
A delegation of minimum wage workers will present our petition to TDs asking them to vote against proposals to cut the minimum wage to €7.65. (www.claimingourfuture.ie)

The proposed cut is contained in the Financial Emergency Measures In the [...]

The Human Rights In Ireland blog has a ‘blog carnival’ on at the moment around civil disobedience and its policing in Ireland that should be of interest to readers of ILR.
Vicky Conway provides an introduction and the context for the carnival:
“There are many reasons for hosting a blog carnival this week on civil disobedience and [...]

If yesterday’s Paddy Power opinion poll is anything to go by, the result of next weeks Donegal South West by-election could herald a greater degree of electoral and political change than previously anticipated.
500 voters from across the constituency were asked to state their preferences for the by-election, for a future general election and for [...]

Sinn Féin is the first party in Dail Eireann to launch their pre-budget submission.
A copy of the submission can be found here. The following are press statements from Finance Spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD, Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Party President Gerry Adams.
Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD today launched his party’s [...]

Dan O’Brien argues that abandoning the four year plan to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014 would be insanity (Irish Times Oct 21 2010). He is wrong.
The cosy policy consensus that Dan shares with Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour, if implemented, will damage our economy and society. Ironically it will also [...]

Claire Hanna is International Secretary of the SDLP and chairs the Balmoral South Belfast Branch. She works for the development agency Concern Worldwide.
You come from a political family. When did you start to get involved in politics yourself?
Yes, my father was a Civil Rights activist and General Secretary of the SDLP in the 1980s and [...]