Artificial barriers of religion and politics have been used down through the years to divide our people. In the North in 1932 there was a time when there was total unity of the working class. This was during the outdoor relief (social assistance) strike, when Catholic and Protestant workers united […]
Ireland
The right to a referendum on water
Fine Gael has reneged on holding a referendum on the ownership and management of our water. This has been done with the collusion of Fianna Fáil and some of the independents—despite their pontifications on how water charges were a “red line” in the deal that was done with Fine Gael […]
No united Ireland under imperialism
Can a strategy for a united Ireland within the EU be a realistic goal while maintaining the three core tenets of socialism and republicanism, namely independence, sovereignty, and democracy? Not for the first time in Socialist Voice is it argued that, far from being the saviour and moderniser of the […]
The Peadar O’Donnell Forum in Belfast
The Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum has held another successful weekend political school, this time in Belfast, from the 22nd to the 24th of September. The weekend opened with a public meeting on “Brexit and the Irish working class.” Brexit has split much of the left and sections of the […]
Some thoughts on the privatisation of Dublin bus routes
On the 10th of August the National Transport Authority announced that Dublin Bus had lost a tenth of its bus routes to a private operator. Go-Ahead, a British company, has secured the tender to take over twenty-four bus routes. The routes in question are suburban orbital, running north and south […]
Dump the bin charges!
Ever since the privatisation of bin collection, the collectors have been looking at ways to increase their profits. This is what privatisation is about: nothing to do with recycling, efficiency, or the environment; all about maximising profits. It’s called capitalism. The best way to reduce waste is to produce less […]
Encouraging signs of growing unity
A recent feature in the Financial Times might cause some surprise among Ireland’s eight thousand homeless, or the many others struggling with the spiralling cost of renting even modest accommodation. The article reported that the Republic is now enjoying one of the most remarkable economic revivals the European Union has […]
Dublin Bus up for grabs
In August, at the end of the tendering process for 10 per cent of Dublin bus routes, two bidders remained: Dublin Bus itself and the British transport corporation Go-Ahead. It’s no surprise that, despite Dublin Bus putting in a very good tender and meeting all the criteria, the private British […]
Wolfe Tone oration
Speech by John Douglas, general secretary, Mandate at the United Wolfe Tone Commemoration, Bodenstown, 20 September 2017 Comrades, brothers and sisters, Our national freedoms were defined by the United Irishmen in terms of citizenship, the responsibility of the state to its citizens and the responsibility of all citizens to the […]
Ireland in debt
Ireland in 2017 is in a state of confusion. On the one hand the official line tells us that we are out of the recession, that government revenue and expenditure are increasing annually. The level of general government deficit is declining, and government debt in 2016 was 75 per cent […]
Apollo House: A housing crisis by design
Frustrated at the failure of governments to tackle the problem of homelessness, a number of organisations under the umbrella of Home Sweet Home, including the Irish Housing Network, trade unions, and artists and musicians, have taken on the Government in an organised act of civil disobedience. There are now 6,847 […]
Public housing—not social housing
As a solution to the housing, rent and homelessness crisis we need a massive public housing plan, with both new construction and the conversion of NAMA property into public housing. The advantages of public housing to working people are many. It would not just resolve the present crisis—a national emergency […]
Monopoly capital, the budget, and housing in Dublin
A small number of builders and developers own the land zoned for housing around Dublin. They are the suppliers of housing, and they have control over supply. As monopolists or semi-monopolists they have a vested interest in the high and rising prices for new houses. If prices rise, their profits […]