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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 / anti-war / imperialism / press release Friday July 03, 2020 22:20 by IAWM
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IRELAND'S UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT LETTER SENT TO IRISH BROADSHEET NEWSPAPERS Sir, Ireland’s previous stint on the UN Security Council in 2001 is nothing to be proud of in terms of promoting world peace. In 2001, under the then Fianna Fail Government with Brian Cowan as Foreign Minister, Ireland voted for several resolutions that ultimately approved the US led invasion of Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, in what then Labour TD Michael D. Higgins termed “an illegal war”. Nineteen years later with no end in sight America’s longest war has caused the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands, many of them women and children, and has created deep bitterness, division and sectarianism. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Wednesday July 01, 2020 00:08 by foie
Shannon LNG faces further challenge in High Court Judicial Review of listing as ‘Project of Common Interest’ The controversial Shannon LNG terminal proposed for the Shannon Estuary faces its second challenge in the High Court from the environmental charity, Friends of the Irish Environment today. The environmental organisation is asking the Irish Court to seek a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on whether the inclusion of the project on a list of priority European Energy infrastructure was lawful. read full story / add a comment
national / rights, freedoms and repression / press release Monday June 29, 2020 23:28 by foie
Legal Aid Board refusal to fund environmental NGO faces High Court challenge Irish legal costs ‘prohibitively expensive’ The High Court will tomorrow [June 30] hear a two-day challenge to the Legal Aid Board’s refusal to provide legal aid to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE]. The NGO sought the funding in April of 2018 to support its Judicial Review of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework. This case alleges that the Government of Ireland erred in law in failing to adequately fulfil its obligations under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Habitats Directive when approving the plans. read full story / add a comment
national / anti-war / imperialism / press release Monday June 22, 2020 18:46 by icsh
The Programme for Government produced by Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party promises a lot that is encouraging, but on the issue of US military use of Shannon Airport - which the majority of Irish people oppose - it is disappointing.
The change of government provided an opportunity to end Irish complicity in the ongoing cycles of war and occupation that have been responsible for the loss of millions of lives this century. The military industrial complex is also the single biggest polluter on the planet (see recent study from Brown University’s Costs of War project). The US. Department of Defense has a larger annual carbon footprint than most countries on earth, and with its global network of bases and logistics networks the US military is the single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world outside of nation-states themselves. [1] read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Monday June 22, 2020 18:40 by foie
High Court to hear challenge against unsustainable fishing in Ireland and the EU The Irish High Court today formally initiated a Judicial Review proceedings aimed at challenging the EU Regulation setting 2020 fishing quotas under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) because of its failure to meet a legally defined deadline of ending overfishing in all stocks by 2020. A judge will be assigned on July 15th to hear the application for leave to apply for a Judicial Review from the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Thursday June 18, 2020 20:27 by foie
Bord na Móna ‘Enforcement Holiday’ flies in the face of a High Court Judgment Semi-state accused of declaring Brexit for 80,000 hectares An ‘enforcement holiday’ currently being exercised by Bord na Mona to allow industrial harvesting to continue this year across its bogs ‘flies in the face of a High Court Judgment’, according to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE]. read full story / add a comment
national / worker & community struggles and protests / opinion/analysis Monday June 15, 2020 23:47 by 1 of indy
Today we are reproducing a press release from the Socialist Party on Covid-19 with our own comments added because the Left in general along with all the opposition parties has completely swallowed the Covid-19 is a deadly pandemic narrative hook, line and sinker. On another story soon, we will address the why. In the meantime from their perspective protecting workers rights and health is the natural thing to do but they seem confused by the sudden concern by the government for people. We offer a different perspective that explains things in a more consistent way, read full story / add a comment
national / health / disability issues / other press Saturday June 13, 2020 22:52 by 1 of indy
Last week the Irish Independent carried this scare story with the headline above. The exact same story was also carried by hundreds of mainstream news sites too. It is a very good example of the relentless propaganda that has been appearing in the mainstream media during the Covid scare operation trying to hype it up to the maximum and even now they are doing their utmost to keep it going. It is with this in mind that the story is carried here except we break it down to show at the manipulation works. The first point is that the media and those pushing this propaganda know well that most people only read headlines and the headline itself manages to link the word Coronavirus with some new strange disease. The purpose would appear to not only keep the fear going but to suggest to the population that Covid might be even more deadly and is perhaps mutating into the much promised and anticipated second wave. So it is laying the ground work for the second wave too. read full story / add a comment
national / anti-war / imperialism / press release Monday June 08, 2020 23:57 by ShannonWatch
The following is a letter to Irish media outlets from our friend, anti-war activist Tarak Kauff. Tarak spent most of a year in Ireland as a result of his non-violent action to inspect a US military plane at Shannon Airport. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Wednesday June 03, 2020 21:31 by foie
Councils must publish planning documents online within 5 days Regulations impose time frame to ensure public access to planning applications Local authorities are now obliged to put online planning applications within 5 days of their acceptance. A Statutory Instrument published May 26, 2020 and signed by Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, requires that Local Authorities must ‘publish the application and all documentation accompanying the application on its internet website within five days’. read full story / add a comment
national / economics and finance / other press Sunday May 31, 2020 01:55 by 1 of indy
It's not often, in fact never that Indymedia agrees with Michael O’Leary but in this case we do because the whole pandemic is a hoax. Now some people might think this now means that we agree with everything he had ever said, is saying and will ever say in the future. And it is not. We value our freedom and liberty first and foremost rather than submit to police state controls which have been clearly laid out. We don't agree that if Micheal O'Leary says lift the lockdown then we must automatically say the opposite but that is how people will expect us to think. However given this pandemic is a hoax it means the forces at work are far far bigger than Micheal O'Leary so he is not likely to get his way. In fact the era of tourism for the masses may have come to abrupt permanent end last March for all we know. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Sunday May 03, 2020 22:40 by foie
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Invasive Australian flatworm reaches west Cork Sellers of plants should warn public of dangers of contaminated garden matter The invasive Australian flatworm has reached the Beara peninsula in west Cork. Flatworms from New Zealand were first recorded in Ireland in the 1960’s but the Australian flatworm was not recorded until 1981. Flatworms are top-level predators of soil organisms. They eat earthworms and appear to have met no natural enemies of their own in Ireland. According to the National Biodiversity Centre, the implications of its indefinite spread for the drainage and fertility of our soil ‘pose a threat to Ireland’s biodiversity and economy’. Japanese knotweed and the zebra mussels are examples of invasive species now out of control in Ireland. read full story / add a comment
national / rights, freedoms and repression / news report Saturday May 02, 2020 12:27 by 1 of indy
On April 18th Clare Daly highlight the hypocritical actions of the government where they had imposed a severe lockdown everyone and closed many businesses because of their concern to stop the spread of Covid. Yet in the middle of all this they flew in hundreds of workers from Bulgaria to work for a company that has had very favourable treatment from Fine Gael. Her statement appeared on her facebook page and received many comments. The statement in presented in full here and an attempt is to made to reconcile the what is going on. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Friday May 01, 2020 11:30 by no to fracking gas
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130 national and international groups have today written to all Irish Party leaders requesting them to remove support for fracked gas infrastructure in Ireland. The letter comes as negotiations for Government intensify and requests an explicit policy statement to be included in the next Programme for Government against the development of all new fossil fuel infrastructure in the form of LNG import terminals that could facilitate the entry of unconventional fracked gas into the Irish energy mix. Two fracked gas terminals, or - LNG - terminals are currently proposed, in Shannon and Cork. The terminals would be developed as import hubs, allowing fracked gas into the European market from the USA where there is currently an oversupply of this controversial fuel. The terminals would play an important role in the shale gas supply chain, the market for which is currently very unstable. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Friday April 24, 2020 17:17 by foie
High Court to rule Friday on challenge to National Development Plan ‘Project Ireland 2040’ will lock-in fossil-fuel dependent infrastructure The failure of the State to properly assess the impact of the National Development Plan and National Planning Framework (‘Project Ireland 2040’) and to fully examine the alternatives will be the subject of a High Court Judgment to be published electronically this Friday, 24 April, 2020. Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] was granted leave to challenge the Irish Government’s adoption of ‘Project Ireland 2040’ in May 2018. Mr. Justice Barr presided over four days of hearings beginning on 10 March, 2020. read full story / add a comment
national / consumer issues / other press Monday April 13, 2020 22:34 by tasc
Why a more widespread comprehension of debt relief and interventions for households with non-mortgage debt are essential both now and after COVID-19 Ireland has the fifth highest rate of personal indebtedness in Europe, and living with debt is a daily reality for over half of all Irish households. According to the recently published Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), nearly a third of all Irish households (30.5%) have non-mortgage debt read full story / add a comment
national / anti-war / imperialism / press release Monday April 13, 2020 22:06 by sw
Shannonwatch are appalled at the continuing use of Shannon Airport by US military troop carriers, despite the issuing of a stop movement order to the US military by US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on March 25th. This was intended to halt travel and movement abroad for up to 60 days in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. However, troop carriers have been landing at Shannon as recently as April 10th, 11th and 12th. “We are astonished that in these times of national emergency, our leaders continue to permit the landing of foreign troops at Shannon Airport” said Shannonwatch spokesperson John Lannon. “Facilitating the movement of troops half way across the world to invade and occupy other countries is never good. But now more than ever it is absolutely unconscionable and unacceptable.” read full story / add a comment
national / crime and justice / press release Monday April 06, 2020 09:59 by foie
High Court refuses State’s request for Covid-19 adjournment in Shannon LNG Judicial Review Administration of Justice Can Not ‘Grind To a Halt’ The High Court has issued a Judgment refusing the State’s application for a delay in hearing an environmental challenge to the inclusion of the €500 million Shannon LNG fracked gas terminal on the fourth EU Projects of Community Importance (PCI) list. Inclusion on this list makes a project eligible for up to 50% funding and requires ‘the most rapid treatment legally possible’. read full story / add a comment
national / health / disability issues / opinion/analysis Tuesday March 31, 2020 22:14 by wsm
The Covid-19 global health crisis is one that required a global response led by health workers but with the consensus of almost everyone. Instead we face a piecemeal response, often in the form of repressive policing solutions that are not even particularly effective and where the borders between the states have undermined collective action and allowed the virus to multiply in the gaps. Fear has led many to wish for harder state clampdowns as if a policing apparatus had any hope for substituting for collective solidarity between neighbours. The very ideology of neoliberal capitalism and its mantra of everyone looking after themselves has cut into the sort of community solidarity essential to popular enforcement of physical distancing. Thankfully in Ireland we discovered this process was not complete and a sufficient sense of solidarity remained that almost everyone implemented physical distancing measures before the state backed that process. read full story / add a comment
national / environment / press release Monday February 24, 2020 22:31 by foie
Climate Case Ireland, brought by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), is a legal challenge to the Irish government’s 2017 National Mitigation Plan, a key plank of the State’s climate policy. FIE argues that the government’s decision to adopt a Plan that allows greenhouse gas emissions to increase by about 10% between 1990 and 2020 (instead of decreasing significantly over this period as the government has accepted is necessary to help avert dangerous climate breakdown) constitutes a violation of citizens’ constitutional and human rights and Ireland’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. read full story / add a comment |
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