Workers Solidarity Movement

800 delegates representing Irish National Teachers Organisation members from across the country have voted overwhelmingly to reject a government scheme which would have seen unemployed teachers working for free in our schools.

An Irish general election fever grips this place, where promises flow like water running off a mountain, and where the sun, the moon, and the stars are laid at the feet of the people, all for the sake of a no. 1 on the day itself.   From looking around us now you witness the desperate scramble of prospective candidates to get into power, into the Dáil, to receive their €100,000 PA salary plus expenses.  Jobs and Reform appear to be on top of the agenda, yet no one appears to be responsible for the transgressions of the past. 

In an initiative launched by the Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, about three million 'Public Services Cards' will begin to issue in the coming months to 'people over 16 years of age who can access public services'. The 'Public Services Card' will include security features such as laser engraving personalisation similar to that used in the latest Irish passports, a contact chip, a signature, photograph and an expiry date.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has announced a campaign of opposition to plans by the government to cut the pay of 4th year student nurses and midwives.  Describing the government’s plans as “devalu[ing], to the level of slave labour, the nature of the essential direct care given during this 36 week rostered placement” INMO general secretary, Liam Doran said “We will fiercely resist this attack on these young professionals which amounts to nothing more than gross exploitation.”

Social Justice Ireland has revealed in new research that the gap between the Rich and Poor is widening in Ireland. The gap has got significantly wider in the last twenty years so that now the top 10% of population get 25% of income, while the bottom 10% get only 2.2%.

As the health budget is cut, a worsening health service will predictably result in higher national morbidity and mortality. Are we prepared to allow this to occur?

This film brings to the big screen the dramatic story of Shell’s blundering, sometimes violent, attempts to impose a high-pressure raw gas pipeline on a small North Mayo community. The documentary features footage taken over three years, from 2006 to 2008, by Risteard O’Domhnaill. It has all the ingredients, stunning landscapes, riveting action scenes and the real-life stories of local people who found themselves on the front line of the drama. The film is short on background to the whole issue and mentions very little on the actual dangers posed by the pipeline and refinery, as well as the giveaway terms the oil companies ‘extracted’ from Irish state.  However, in Willie Corduff, and particularly in Pat O’Donnell, the filmmaker has struck cinema gold. Through the words and, especially, the actions of these figures we get a good picture of just what’s at stake here and what it takes to engage in effective resistance.

The election campaign has hardly begun in earnest but already the Labour Party is in the running for the Most Ridiculous Policy Announcement award. While everyone was distracted by the Fianna Fáil/Green Party circus on Sunday last, Labour’s Education spokesperson Ruairi Quinn launched the party’s new policy on tackling Ireland’s Literacy problems ‘Reading As A Right’.

In what is clearly a concerted effort to smash their union organisation, over 170 Aer Lingus cabin crew have been ‘removed from the payroll’ by management in a dispute about rostering arrangements.

Fine Gael and the Labour party are engaged in a desperate attempt to pass the Fianna Fail/Green party budget into law. A budget containing billions in cuts attacking the poorest sections of Irish society. A budget they loudly opposed only a few weeks ago.