The Department of Transport has revealed that in 2014 a total of 272 flights were given permits to take weapons or explosives through Shannon Airport. In response to a freedom of information request by Shannonwatch they confirmed that the majority of the flights were taking US troops between military bases and locations in the Middle East. The information also shows that US troop carriers and aircraft with machine guns, rocket motors and other war material are routinely allowed to fly through Irish airspace. Again the majority of these are flying to or from US military bases around the world. read full story / add a comment

The Anti Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit are seeking to establish a unified parliamentary group in order to maximise the left vote in the general election and the socialist voice in the next Dail.

PBP and the AAA have notified the Registrar of Political Parties to formally register ‘Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit’ to contest the General Election with the intention of getting enough TDs elected to be an official Dail group/party in its own right. The Registrar has accepted our proposal for a merged Dail party and it is expected to take effect in three weeks after the period of public notification, at which time we will formally hold a press conference with further details. read full story / add a comment

The ongoing Irish water crisis has seen the emergence of a sustained mass movement of people, protesting the imposition of these punitive charges. read full story / add a comment

In the IT security world this might be known as ‘Phishing’ – you get directed to an authentic looking payment/banking site (for example), where you enter your login details and account information. However, you are unknowingly on a fake website cleverly designed to imitate the original and fool you into believing that what you see is the real thing. read full story / add a comment

Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean weekend will be taking place on the 18th, 19th & 20th September. This year they are teaming up with the International Ocean Conservancy again for the International Coastal Clean-up event. Last year 560,000 volunteers in 91 countries removed 7,257 tonnes of marine litter from the world's oceans. read full story / add a comment

Bord na Mona’s right to extract peat for horticultural use is being challenged by an environmental group.

Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] have written to Offaly County Council stating that ‘unauthorised development has been, is being and may continue to be carried out near Derrinboy, Co. Offaly, comprising the drainage of peatland and extraction of peat without planning permission or environmental impact assessment.’

The site, located north of Birr, is more than 200 hectares in size. It was previously an Area of Scientific Interest and a proposed Natural Heritage Area. read full story / add a comment

An analysis of the reports revealed that the number of Adverse Reaction Reports for the HPV Vaccine Gardasil (839 reports) are almost double those of the second most reported injection (the '4-in-1' shot with 428 reports) over a 5 year period.
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Regret.ie has published personal testimony from one 15 year old girl from Dublin.
She is not the only one..
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Anti-water charge campaigners had a major moral victory over government plans to make the people pay for the financial crisis when Eurostat determined that Irish Water had failed the Market Corporation Test.[1] read full story / add a comment

The Department of Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries’ refusal to release the accident report on the loss of 230,000 salmon in a February 2014 storm has been annulled by the Information Commission, Peter Tyndal.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney’s Department had refused to release the report on the grounds that it was an 'internal communication' and that the public ‘interest would not be served by the disclosure’.

In its appeal to the Information Commissioner, FIE claimed the release is ‘a matter of extreme public importance not only in the light of the circumstances of the Gerahies incident, but also because of the failure of the Department to carry out its regulatory functions properly in ensuring compliance with aquaculture licensing conditions aimed at preventing the escape of fish.’ read full story / add a comment

The controversy over NAMA's sale of the Nothern Ireland loan portfolio, Project Eagle, has not gone away. It suited the Government just fine when the PAC said they would bring NAMA before the committee. - It also suited NAMA, whose polished performance was always going to give them some breathing space, given that the PAC, - no disrespect to any of it's members - just doesn't have the wherewithal to hold them to account. Here is a part of my piece on the workings of NAMA from last Tuesday, when we were debating a Housing Bill . - read full story / add a comment

As Shannon Airport prepares to stage an air show on July 18th to celebrate its achievements in the world of aviation, peace groups in Ireland issue a reminder that its recent history is not one to be proud of. Since 2001 the airport has been used by the US military as a gateway to wars in the Middle East. These wars have resulted in the death of innocent men, women and children, left millions of people homeless, and destroyed communities and entire countries. read full story / add a comment

The “Irish Bulletin” was the official newspaper of the Irish Government during the War of Independence. Its aim was the provide those outside Ireland with the Government’s case and the facts of the war that it had to wage. This information could not otherwise be obtained because of the suppression of all other outlets by the British authorities that put the Irish Government‘s case. It was produced with minimal resources and under constant threat of suppression. It was therefore an undergrounds publication despite being the paper of a legitimate government.
It was unadorned with any other content except straightforward factual and irrefutable information. This is what made its reputation and because of that it became one of the most powerful weapons in the war that eventually proved successful.
It deserves an honoured place in Irish history yet it has never been republished and it is hardly referred to by our contemporary historians - and when it is - it is almost inevitably in disparaging terms.
This is the third volume of the paper reproduced as faithfully as possible to the original. Other volumes will follow.

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On Saturday 18th July the East Wall History Group will host the inaugural Sarah Lundberg Summer School. Held in conjunction with the Alternative Visions Oral History Group, the event is in honour of our friend and colleague Sarah Lundberg, an archivist, historian and publisher who tragically passed away last year.

The topic of Kathleen Lynn was chosen because this remarkable woman was the subject of a major publishing project that Sarah had begun at the time of her death. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Kathleen Lynn in September of 1955. read full story / add a comment

Shannon Airport will host what they call an "air display extravaganza" on July 18th, to mark the 70th anniversary of the first commercial transatlantic flight at the airport. They say the airshow will provide a visual treat from leading aerobatics performers, parachutists, helicopters, jet fighters and stunt fliers. read full story / add a comment

The very clear lessons on coalition with the right that now must be re learned by the left in Ireland all over again. The failure so far to rule out a coalition involving Fianna Fail, Labour and Fianna Gael is a failure to learn the lessons of historical compromises of the past. The left in Ireland must set out to build a real alternative to the narrative of austerity propagated by the capitalist parties in Ireland and supported by Labour.
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The drip feed of questionable deals carried out by NAMA is well under way. Regularly now, we see information reaching the public domain whereby NAMA have sold stressed assets at less than their real value and the purchasers are turning them over within 2 years, at profit ranging from 30% to 40%/ The purchasers are mostly foreign investment funds – ‘vulture funds ‘ – who have picked on the carcass of the stressed Irish property market. Many of them have retained the assets, and become serious players in the residential rental market in Ireland, especially Dublin, and have developed a controlling influence, managing to drive up rents astronomically in our capital city. This all doesn’t make them evil people – they just do what they do, it’s called unfettered Capitalism - our problem as Irish citizens is that our Government have allowed a situation to develop whereby the vulture funds win and the Irish tax payer loses. And our present Neo Liberal Government think that this is all fine. I believe otherwise. Here’s my Leader’s Questions with Taoiseach Enda Kenny this week, who knows that all is not well. - read full story / add a comment

Issue 60 of
Red Banner: a magazine of socialist ideas
is out now
€2 / £1.50 from shops or the address above read full story / add a comment

Privatisation of Postal Services - A great little neoliberal country to do business in…

Yesterday afternoon in the Dáil, we discussed the Communications Regulation (Postal Service) (Amendment) Bill 2015 – a piece of legislation that represents the latest push by this Government to further its neoliberal agenda through the privatisation, or “outsourcing,” of public services in this country. Under this new legislation, our new national postcode system – Eircode – will be privatised and administered by Capita Ireland, which is part of the £7bn Capita multinational corporation, a global conglomerate with vast experience of snapping up lucrative state contracts around the world.
I asked the Minister why at least €27m of taxpayers’ money is being pumped into a postcode system that many in the delivery industry have described “lacking vision” and utterly useless, while at the same time, rural post offices are being closed down, further isolating the communities they serve. Rural Ireland, and in particular those most vulnerable, are being abandoned in favour of big business. Here’s my contribution in the Chamber. – read full story / add a comment

The REGRET Group recently received a list of all the adverse reactions
reported to the Irish Health Regulatory Authority (HPRA) following
vaccination with the HPV vaccine Gardasil. read full story / add a comment