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The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland
Lockdown Skeptics
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national / consumer issues / feature Friday February 20, 2015 16:29 by missing our buses already
 6 comments (last - tuesday may 12, 2015 00:10)  4 images  1 video file 2 attached files
Just three weeks ago the National Transport Authority (NTA) officially started the tendering for 2016 of initially 10% of Dublin Bus routes and a further 10% of all Bus Eireann routes with most of the routes in Waterford City, and a number of Dublin commuter routes are to be privatised. In the original plan a number of Cork City routes were to go but these will probably happen later. This process has been the culmination of a relentless effort by Fine Gael (FG) in the present government and their predecessors and fellow Neo-Liberal ideologists, Fianna Fáil (FF) in the last government where they have consistently pushed for the break up of both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann so that it can be handed over to their friends in the private sector to run on a profit basis. The NTA is used as a sort of cloak of respectability to give the impression that they will actually be a regulator with teeth of which we know very few regulators have any teeth, with the banking regulator during the Celtic Tiger coming to mind, plus many other examples and the function of NTA is really for propaganda value to convince the middle class. However this whole scheme is about ideology and is NOT about competition but about privatisation. read full story / add a comment 
international / anti-capitalism / feature Saturday November 29, 2014 17:45 by Shane Cassidy
13 comments (last - wednesday june 10, 2015 10:35) 1 image 1 video file 1 attached file
This article examines the Transatlantic Free Trade agreement and it's potential repercussions.
In 2010 the US mining and gas company, Renco, managed to successfully avoid having to pay compensation to Peruvian locals who were harmed due to pollution by their companies by successfully using a provision of the Peru-US Trade Agreement[1]. Not satisfied with avoiding having to pay compensation, the company has since demanded $800 million from the Peruvian government as they argue that one of the companies they own, Doe Run, was forced into bankruptcy due to an expensive pollution clean-up which the Peruvian government required Doe Run to conduct [2]. read full story / add a comment 
national / bin tax / household tax / water tax / feature Sunday November 02, 2014 00:07 by T
5 comments (last - monday november 10, 2014 23:40) 14 images 1 video file
Over 100 separate local demonstrations took place today (Sat Nov 1st) against the Water Charges and for the Right 2 Water. Organisers estimate conservatively that over 150,000 were out on the streets today to send a message to this government that they won't accept paying for water twice and having it privatised later. People realize that all the false promises and allowances will eventually be dropped and the long term result will be that a privatised water company will prey on the people with massive hikes in charges and big fat bonuses for themselves. There were protests from Cork & Kerry to Wexford to Dublin to Limerick to Galway to Sligo to Donegal to Cavan to Dundalk and all over the Midlands. There has never been anything like it perhaps since the foundation of the state. The people are truly fed up and are determined and will not be abused by the political technocrats of big Capital that is robbing every social gain our forebears fought hard to get over the past century. read full story / add a comment 
national / environment / feature Monday September 08, 2014 14:06 by Alan Hall
9 comments (last - friday october 24, 2014 13:27) 1 image 3 attached files
Corruption and incompetence rule in certain corridors of Dublin City Council. Coventa the company which somehow won the tender (despite not being a party to the bidding) and Dublin City Council have pushed the cost up to nearly €100 million for the land. Council Manager Owen Keegan said not one cent of the €96 million that has already been spent will be clawed back if the plan doesn't go ahead. Despite also as extra €36 million in extra costs many Councillors state that this whole thing has nothing to do with mad ideas from Bertie Ahern. Even if it does not go ahead it will still cost €600 million, and obviously this is the best interests of every else abroad who likes to sabotage Irish planning and make a few million doing so. Renewable energy is the future but not for the old school chums of yesteryear. read full story / add a comment
national / anti-war / imperialism / feature Saturday June 28, 2014 20:16 by Justin Morahan
7 comments (last - monday july 14, 2014 16:00) 5 images
SUMMARY: I arrived in Ennis without pen or notebook to support the action of Margaretta D'Arcy and Niall Farrell who protested on the runway of Shannon against the US military use of the airport. The following is a colour story of happenings on the day relying on memory only. I hope that someone else may provide a fuller report and my apologies for any errors in this report which are entirely my responsibility. read full story / add a comment 
dublin / miscellaneous / feature Saturday June 07, 2014 01:59 by dublin rambler
5 comments (last - monday august 10, 2015 13:22) 1 image
In 2012 public opposition forced the ditching of a plan for a "retirement village" on the side of the Dublin mountains, isolated from services and public transport and cut off by the M50, in an area normally zoned for agriculture and public amenity and widely used by the public. A previous plan for a private school on the site had been rejected for similar reasons in 2005. After the local elections the plan is back in a lightly tweaked form, with the developer's sister among a number of newly elected councillors supporting the project. read full story / add a comment 
dublin / politics / elections / feature Saturday May 10, 2014 13:20 by 1 of Indymedia
14 comments (last - tuesday june 10, 2014 00:30) 8 images 1 attached file
The Euro and local council elections take place on Fri May 23rd and nationwide there are 11 MEPs to be elected to represent Ireland Euro elections will also be taking place across Europe for a grand total of 751 seats in the European Parliament. Regrettably the European Commission which is composed of 28 non-elected and appointed commissioners and is besieged by thousands of lobbying firms working for the private sector, is probably reckoned to have more power. Yet despite this Europe matters because at least 70% of our legislation comes from there and practically most of the regulation in a diverse range of areas originates from Europe and some of the more background regulation has its origins with corporate lobbyists with the aim of using heavy regulation to put smaller competitors out of businesses by greatly increasing the relative costs for smaller businesses. The main political parties of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael constantly tell us they are pro business and for jobs and the economy. In fact they are for big business, privatisation, outsourcing of jobs, lower wages, less social safety net and their support of big business and corporations constantly results in the suffocating of small business which are the very areas that lead to most employment. read full story / add a comment 
international / environment / feature Wednesday March 19, 2014 21:53 by T
16 comments (last - saturday february 05, 2022 17:10) 24 images 1 video file 3 attached files
It was three years on March 11th since the triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011. This article attempts to try and give an picture of the situation today and to show that the accident is still an active event that will take many decades to cleanup and it is anything but over. read full story / add a comment 
international / anti-capitalism / feature Thursday March 06, 2014 23:08 by fred
38 comments (last - monday may 16, 2016 09:26) 8 images 4 video files  1 audio file
Another leaked phone call. This time between the Estonian FM and Catherine Ashton. It would seem to indicate that the same shooters on the rootops in Ukraine were shooting people on BOTH sides. People have seen this kind of thing before in previous coups by the West such as the attempted coup against Chavez. It was used at the start of the Syria crisis before foreign mercenaries invaded and escalated matters much higher. It is standard operating procedure, dirty tricks 101. read full story / add a comment 
national / crime and justice / feature Saturday February 15, 2014 02:20 by fred
11 comments (last - tuesday february 25, 2014 22:53) 4 images 2 video files 1 audio file
It was suspected that offices of the GSOC (garda siochana ombudsman commission) were being bugged. Shrouded in secrecy, they brought in specialists from the UK under advice from their equivalent body in the UK, the IPCC. These specialists did a high tech sweep of their offices under cover of darkness and a report was created which suggests that it was extremely likely that highly sophisticated bugging of the office had occurred. Government and high ranking gardai have closed ranks and are trying to spin this as a problem with GSOC instead of addressing the strong possibility that GSOC was bugged and who would want to do that and have access to do so except the gardai themselves. If true this is a grave issue. It is believed in some circles that this bugging may be related to investigations by GSOC into the case of large scale heroin importer Boylan who it is alleged has been working with gardai and has "magically" evaded conviction in the face of overwhelming evidence of trafficking huge amounts of drugs. This affair may go right to the top and has the potential to sink this government read full story / add a comment 
national / anti-war / imperialism / feature Thursday January 23, 2014 00:14 by Justin Morahan
28 comments (last - saturday march 22, 2014 22:08) 2 images 1 video file
Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway but NOT for bankrupting the country and saddling it with billions of debt, NOT for corruption and other white collar crime, but for the crime of having a conscience and actually caring about her fellow human beings. That's correct. In this country you can destroy it in all sorts of ways and you will be fine as no banker, politician, developer, bond holder or other types of people who have been involved in economically destroying this country, and causing widespread austerity, hardship and misery which in itself has led to many suicides and so forth. None of these people have come before the courts or been jailed. However for the really serious crimes of still having your humanity at 79 and doing something about it instead of shutting up and doing nothing, for these crimes, the state will bring the full force of the law against you and will always find some narrow argument to shut out the wider context of your action, to convict you and get you quickly behind bar. In that way the state quickly ensures that this dangerous contagion doesn't spread and it serves as a lesson to all as to what might happen to them. read full story / add a comment 
national / environment / feature Thursday November 14, 2013 22:47 by Fracking watch
4 comments (last - tuesday january 28, 2014 17:41) 2 images 1 audio file
The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring an invite only fracking workshop in London this Friday 15th Nov 2013 as part of its long term plan to introduce fracking in Ireland. It has already commissioned research to help 'determine best practice guidelines to regulate the shale gas industry in Ireland' (all their own words). There is no hint here fracking will NOT be allowed whatever the findings. This same body though is immune from prosecution under Irish law (See Box 1 below) making a mockery of it's regulatory role. read full story / add a comment 
national / worker & community struggles and protests / feature Saturday October 19, 2013 14:07 by T
15 comments (last - thursday june 12, 2014 07:47) 11 images
The future is not good for pensions and the further away you are from retirement the bleaker is the prospect that you will get anything like you have paid in. A number of factors have come into play to cause major trouble and nearly all of these affect the underlying basic fundamentals required for a pension system to work and along with the continual counter coup to remove the social gains of the past century by the financial elite, the prospects remain grim.
read full story / add a comment 
national / rights, freedoms and repression / feature Friday September 20, 2013 16:14 by nmn
20 comments (last - wednesday november 27, 2013 23:12) 2 images
The coming referendum on the abolishment of Seanad Éireann would, if passed, remove the existing constitutional right of the President to refer proposed Bills to the people for a referendum. It would pass the initial responsibility of passing Bills into law onto the Dáil alone - a dangerous development, particularly where any ruling party might hold an overall majority. read full story / add a comment
international / anti-war / imperialism / feature Tuesday August 27, 2013 08:58 by skeptical
53 comments (last - tuesday december 10, 2013 14:51) 2 images 1 audio file 1 attached file
Today the mainstream media are claiming that there has been a chemical attack by the Syrian government near Damascus even whilst an UN inspection team arrives. The reports have been conflicting with the initial reports claiming 280 victims and then later up-ing it to over 1,300 killed. However, the claims are predominantly coming from the so called Free Syrian Army who are backed and funded by some of the despotic Gulf States, as well as Saudi Arabia and by the Western powers principally France, USA and UK. This same group is made up mercenaries of all kinds including members of Al Qaeda who want to turn the country backwards and bring in Sharia Law and just back in May 2013 the UN accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons. What is most telling though is that it makes absolutely no sense for the Syrian government to do this. In recent months they have retaken areas held by rebels and seem to have repelled several attack campaigns in the past two year. And France in particular as well as the other powers have been consistently in the last year being trying to throw the mud of chemical weapons and then chemical weapon attacks in a clear effort to force public opinion to back no-fly zones and from there total demolition of the country and invasion followed later by a pliant regime. The end game is to clear the way for an attack on Iran which the crazies have been pushing hard for many years. read full story / add a comment 
national / anti-capitalism / feature Wednesday July 10, 2013 22:19 by dave
124 comments (last - friday february 20, 2015 08:44) 2 images 1 video file
People are getting fed up. We have had the Anglo Tapes released and the government decides to go after the whistle blower instead. Since 2008 unemployed has risen to 14% and it would be a lot higher only that 40,000 people are leaving the country every year. The government job initiative is welfare for business interests and as described here is a scam. It is time to high light this even though many have known it for months.
It seems like everytime I view the FAS website more and more real jobs are disappearing from it and being replaced with free labour internships. When I search for specific sectors now all I seem to find are internships. This scheme is absolutely sickening me as it has potentially destroyed several thousand entry level jobs. I can't believe that Joan Burton and the Labour Party have completely ruined the youth labour market with a scheme which is: 
national / crime and justice / feature Thursday June 27, 2013 23:00 by ciara
31 comments (last - sunday september 29, 2013 13:31) 3 images 1 video file
The astonishing tapes show senior manager John Bowe, who had been involved in negotiations with the Central Bank, laughing and joking as he tells another senior manager, Peter Fitzgerald, how Anglo was luring the State into giving it billions of euro. Mr Fitzgerald had not been involved in the negotiations with the Central Bank and has confirmed he was unaware of any strategy or intention to mislead the authorities. Mr Bowe, in a statement last night, categorically denied that he had misled the Central Bank. The audio recordings are from the bank's own internal telephone system and date from the heart of the financial crisis that brought the State to its knees in Sept 08. Anglo itself was within days of complete meltdown – and in the years ahead would eat up €30bn of taxpayer money. Mr Bowe speaks about how the State had been asked for €7bn to bail out Anglo – but Anglo's negotiators knew all along this was not enough to save the bank. read full story / add a comment 
dublin / anti-capitalism / feature Wednesday June 05, 2013 18:20 by dubaltg8
68 comments (last - monday december 02, 2019 19:18) 18 images 1 video file
This year's G8 promises to be different for a number of reasons. G8s and G8 protests have, by now, become something of a ritual. One where each side already knows the rules of the game. The great and good come together to discuss how they might set the world to right, and the protestors outside condemn them for not doing it quickly enough – or not really intending to do it at all. Charity is promised to Africa, and folks like Sir Bob Geldof will proclaim that a successful G8 has been had. Other folks will throw bricks and bottles at the police, and feel that they have stuck a blow for the cause. What cause exactly is not always clear. The media have a field day – a morning glimpse of presidents and prime ministers, and then spend the rest of the day with the unwashed outside; hoping that they will start a riot – or, at least, do something that looks good on camera and will fill thirty seconds on primetime news. And the general public have a little bit of entertainment to lighten the daily drudge of work, or more and more commonly, unemployment.
So why should the G8 Summit on the 17th and 18th of June 2013 be any different? read full story / add a comment 
mayo / environment / feature Friday May 10, 2013 17:26 by Rossport Solidarity Camp
5 comments (last - tuesday july 02, 2013 22:33) 4 images 1 video file
Call Out: Come to the Rossport Solidarity Camp, Pullathomas, Co. Mayo for a week of action in June against Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. This week has been called to coincide with one of Shell’s busiest work times. Come to act in solidarity with the 13 year old campaign in Mayo against Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. The week will be jam packed with a wide variety of actions! There will be something useful for everyone to do, regardless of your experience and skills. The Rossport Solidarity Camp is being erected specifically for this week, and will be taken back down when the week is completed. So if you are planning on traveling to Mayo this summer – make it this week! read full story / add a comment 
national / housing / feature Wednesday April 10, 2013 01:08 by andraiocht
2 comments (last - tuesday july 09, 2013 18:43) 3 images
The central bank is planning changes to the Code of Protection on mortgage arrears, these changes will mean it will be easier for people to be counted as non co-operating and thus make repossession easier, please send the submission below to code@centralbank.ie or make your own submission and send before April 10th to ensure your opposition to this is taken into consideration, with 95,000 people in arrears because of this banking led recession, the people who are bailing out the banks need fairness, there is nothing fair in all powers of discretion, supervision and appeals being with the banks who will not consider the good of the person or common good of the country. read full story / add a comment |
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