“The gift that keeps on giving” reported on the closure of Clery’s department store in Dublin in June 2015 with the loss of 130 jobs and about 300 operators of franchises. The background is as follows. Gordon Brothers had bought the store in 2012 when it had bank debt of €20 million. They got a write-down on the debt to €12 million. The company was also…
Ireland
Ireland is not an island!
SINCE THE 1970s the mainstream media, led by the Irish Times, have been using the term “island of Ireland,” and such variations as “this island,” when they need to refer to the whole of Ireland.
A tax-dodging economy
RECENT RESEARCH on the profits declared in Ireland, and the subsequent taxes paid on those profits, should surprise no-one. It has exposed the fact that American transnational corporations made $83 billion (€74 billion) in profits here
Veterans for Peace: Let them home for Christmas!
Veterans for Peace: Let them home for Christmas!
Peter Daly Commemoration
Monagear, Co. Wexford7 September 2019Address by Gearóid Ó Machail, Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum A chomrádaithe, I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom buíochas a gabháil le Cumann Pheadair Uí Dhálaigh as an chuireadh labhairt libh anseo i Móin na gCaor, Contae Loch Garman, inniu mar ionadaí d’Fhóram Pheadair Uí Dhónaill […]
National debt: an unsustainable burden
When the latest phase of the global crisis of capitalism manifested itself through the financial markets in 2007–09, the “Celtic Tiger” collapsed. The Irish establishment, under direct pressure from the European Union, took responsibility for 42 per cent of the total of European banking debt. We bailed out German, French […]
The gift that keeps on giving
The November 2015 issue of Socialist Voice reported on the closure of Clery’s department store in Dublin in June 2015 with the loss of 130 jobs and about 300 operators of franchises. The background is as follows. Gordon Brothers had bought the store in 2012, when it had bank debt […]
Student accommodation – Purpose-built for the rich
On the night of the census in 2016 there were 429 homeless students in Ireland, making up over 8 per cent of the total homeless numbers. When the Government’s student accommodation strategy was launched in July 2017 there was an excess demand in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) of over 23,000 […]
Building the mass movement
Have you ever wondered why the Fine Gael government, supported by its Fianna Fáil bedfellows, decided to publish the budget a few short days before it was expected that Britain would leave the European Union? Let’s face it, who in Dublin could have anticipated the mess Boris Johnson created for […]
Ireland: No. 1 tax haven for American corporations
The results of recent research on the amounts of profit declared in the Republic, and the tax subsequently paid on those profits, should surprise no-one. It has exposed the fact that American transnational corporations made profits of $83 billion (€74 billion) here. A third of these corporations have their head […]
Awareness of risk is not enough
On 5 August, Bank Holiday Monday, the Government published The National Risk Assessment, 2019: Overview of Strategic Risks. This is a 92-page document that sets out various risks facing Ireland, under five headings. The first such report was produced in 2014. This report was produced after a public consultation. There […]
Seize the time
The Brexit storm-clouds are gathering, and the political class in Dublin is in a tizzy. Having placed almost all its emphasis on the mantra of the “hard, militarised border and return to violence,” they will be deprived of any coherent argument when this fails to materialise. The problem for the […]
OPINION How I became a republican
I am a Republican, but I haven’t always been. I was born into a Protestant and Unionist family post Good Friday Agreement. Before this I had family in the British Army and the RUC. I believed these people were defending the North from terrorists. I would look around and see […]
Hyde and Seek – Not even children are excluded from exploitation
The investigation into the the Hyde and Seek corporate creche chain revealed the appalling conditions experienced by both the children and the staff. The priority of these private corporate bodies is to make a profit, and the needs of children and the staff are only a means to secure that profit
Hyde and Seek – The Jekyll and Hyde of capitalism
The scandalous situation exposed by the RTE programme “Prime Time Investigates” about abuses in the Hyde and Seek creche is just another in a long line of catastrophic failures by private businesses.
Pensions: The attacks continue
Regina Doherty’s latest proposals are designed to further undermine the state retirement system as it now stands. In effect the minister, and the bourgeois commentators, regard anything with the word “state” as being tainted and bad.