Over 30 years of anarchist writing from Ireland listed under hundreds of topics
What else could the Anglo 25 billion be used for?
Date: Thu, 2010-08-19 12:19
The NAMA bailout of the property speculators bank, Ango Irish Bank, is now costing the rest of us 25 billion euro. Twenty five billion euro is a figure that is almost meaning less to almost all of us. A worker earning the minimum wage would have to work for 1.4 million years to earn 25 billion (before tax). The economist Ronan Lyons listed 100 things that 25 billion could have been spent on in, some flippant but others which give a real sense of just what the real cost of the 25 billion that the richest 1% have robbed off the rest of the population through NAMA is.
HSE plans €90m cuts in the West of Ireland
Date: Wed, 2010-08-18 16:36
Talks are underway at University Hospital Galway between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and union officials representing HSE staff in the west. The unions claim €90 million worth of cuts are being planned by the HSE, a claim which is denied by the Executive. IMPACT trade union spokesman Padraig Mulligan said there are very real fears that the HSE will cut jobs and reduce services.
Report from the Activist Fleadh in Kilbarack
Date: Wed, 2010-08-18 16:22
On Saturday (14th Aug), around 60 people from different organisations, parties and community projects plus some individual activists gathered in Kilbarack community development centre for a 2 day activist workshop. The whole event was pleasantly very well organised with a lovely lunch provided.
87% believe wealth in Ireland is unfairly distributed - almost half in favour of establishing a maximum wage
Date: Wed, 2010-08-18 14:55
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The 2010 Inequality Survey published by independent thinktank TASC has shown that 87% of respondents believe that wealth in Ireland is unfairly distributed. This is up from 70% in the equivalent survey carried out in 2008. 91% of respondents believe that active steps should be taken by Government to address this inequality and reduce the income gap between low and high income earners.
The DE-ENERGIZER – the truth behind policy or who is REALLY Paying for this Crisis
Date: Tue, 2010-08-17 16:34
The news has emerged over the weekend that 900 homes a month are being disconnected from the electricity grid because they were not able to pay their bills. (1) A further 11,000 bill payers a month are entering into special re-payment options because they’ve already contacted the Electricity Supply Board to say that they are having difficulty making the payment.
The newspeak word that was used in the press release by the ESB was ‘de-energizing’ customers.
Response to Pakistan floods shows barbarism of system
Date: Tue, 2010-08-17 14:31
Radio, television and newspaper reports of the recent devastating floods in Pakistan are at last beginning to refer to the sheer scale of the problems faced by the victims. Figures for the number of people affected vary widely. According to the Irish Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power, reported in today’s (Tuesday) Irish Times, “the United Nations estimated that 40 million people had been left homeless; that eight million of those were in urgent need of immediate food and shelter; and that the combination of rising water and humidity had made a cholera epidemic a real danger”. RTE’s website says “Aid agencies are saying that the world does not fully understand the scale of the flooding disaster ….. One fifth of the country has been hit by severe flooding, with more than 20m people affected…..The UN believes up to 3.5m children are now at risk of contracting water-borne diseases….”.
More job losses but no further slump for now? NTMA sells 1.5 billion in bonds
Date: Tue, 2010-08-17 11:00
In what was described ahead of time as the most "important bond auction of the year" the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) sold 1.5 billion in bonds, a result which may steady the international markets at whose whims workers in Ireland have discovered their employment and living standards are subject to. There was nervousness ahead of the sale due to the rise in the cost of servicing Irish debt in bond sales last week. Meanwhile thousands of bank workers are losing their jobs.
ESB Cuts-off 30 Households a Day
Date: Mon, 2010-08-16 15:52
It has been revealed that the ESB (the Electricity Supply Board, a State-owned company) has been cutting off an average of 30 people a day from the electricity supply due to their inability to pay the bills.
Resistance continues as Shell to Sea campaigner freed after 118 days in prison
Date: Mon, 2010-08-16 14:11
A still defiant Shell to Sea campaigner, Niall Harnett, has been released after spending 118 days in Castlerea prison. On his release Niall announced that "I am going straight back to the Rossport Solidarity Camp to be with my fellow activists and Shell to Sea friends in the local community. We seem to bring out the best in each other, unlike Shell and the Irish government, who bring out the worst in each other." Niall's release today means that for the first time in many months no Shell to Sea campaigners are in prison, however resistance to Shell still continues in Erris.
Electricians at St James hospital strike against outsourcing
Date: Mon, 2010-08-16 13:41
Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) members at St James are on strike today against management breaking agreed procedures in out sourcing work that includes the resetting and repair of fire alarms. The electricians have already held two half day stoppages with todays actions following the failure to reach agreement at the Labour Relations Commission last week.