This rag-tag coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and a motley crew of Independent TDs continues to show absolute loyalty to the needs of imperialism and the interests of capital over those of the Irish people. This is best understood in relation to the foreign policy of this state and the housing question.
The foreign policy of this state is shaped and controlled by the needs of imperialism: the genocide in Gaza is just the latest critical issue to have exposed this subservience. The government has issued many pious soundbites regarding Gaza and done the absolute minimum in regards concrete action to halt the genocide. It continues to hide behind their repeated mantra that they have and can only take action in line with and alongside our “European Union partners”.
Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are compliant and willing servants to imperial interests. This subservience is best expressed in their approach to the question of the enactment of Occupied Territories Bill and the Irish Central Bank’s selling of zionist (Israeli) war bonds. Their own material interests and their dependency on imperialism are not served by taking serious, meaningful action.
The original Occupied Terrirories Bill would have banned all goods and services originating from stolen Palestinian lands. The coalition government claims that the Bill as previously passed by the Dáil was not fit for purpose and needed a complete rewrite. Their proposed redraft excludes services from any form of sanction. They want to exclude “services” which make up over 70% of Irish trade with zionist economic entities in occupied/stolen land.
The Irish state hides behind the European Union – Israel Association Agreement, which forms the legal basis for the EU’s trade relations with Israel and which came into force in June 2000. That agreement laid the legal and institutional structures for political “dialogue and economic cooperation” between the EU and Israel. They sold it then on the basis that it would give them influence with the zionist state.
The Irish government continues to turn a blind eye to the regular over-flights by aircraft carrying military supplies to rearm the genocidal zionist army in Gaza. In 2024, trade with Israel was worth $3.2 billion, of which 13.5% of our trade with Israel is dual-use, including military drones from manufactures like Elbit Systems and Aeronautics Defence Industries which currently have active contracts for maintenance and support.
The sham that is the Irish government’s complicity with the apartheid regime is best expressed by its actions in 2024 when its investments in 11 companies in zionist companies based in occupied terrorities (stolen land) was exposed. The then Minister Michael McGrath (before he got the big job with the EU) stated that the Irish government intended to withdraw investment in 6 of these companies. This would still leave 5 violating businesses within the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund’s portfolio. In addition, the UN database contains a number of countries who have offices in Ireland such as AirBnb, Booking.com and Trip Advisor.
Every action taken by the government has stemmed from the mass pressure asserted by the Irish people forcing them to take small actions. They have been dragged kicking and screaming to do the very little they have done.
It is this subservience to the interests of imperialism, to the big monopoly corporations, that lies behind the headlong rush to remove the Triple Lock, further abandon neutrality and move towards ever closer and ever deeper commitment to cooperation and integration with EU militarism and the NATO war alliance.
In relation to the Irish state’s housing policy, this is clearly shaped by the needs of those who own and control capital. They continue to push for the removal of all rent controls arguing that it is preventing “investors” entering the housing market, and that we need both external and national private capital investment to increase the supply of housing.
They are in the process of removing all planning controls on builders and speculators, to reward land-hoarding and the drip-feed of homebuilding in order to maximise profits for private developers and financial speculators.
There will be no solution to demand for housing under the conditions of capitalism and the over-arching rights of private property above the needs and interests of the common good.
The Irish ruling elites will do everything and anything to protect private capital interests. They will turn Ireland into a military outpost for the EU/NATO and see Irish youth die in foreign wars in the interests of the big imperial blocs.
Housing will remain in the grip of private speculators both native and foreign. The limited democracy that we experience continues to be exposed as a hollowed out shell with very little substance.
