Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
The ink is barely dry on the report on Micheál Martin’s shambolic consultative forum where a rogues’ gallery of defence industry-funded “experts” decried the backwardness of the Irish public for having an “emotive attachment in some quarters to the concept of neutrality as part of our national identity.”[1] Martin, not […]
In its recent statement, the Communist Party of Ireland condemned in the strongest possible manner the Dublin riots and extended its deepest sympathies and well wishes to the victims and families of the stabbing and the subsequent violence that erupted on the 23rd of November. However, the CPI also correctly […]
First and foremost, the Communist Party of Ireland extends our deepest sympathies and well wishes to all the victims and their families of the horrendous stabbing and the subsequent violence in Dublin on 23rd November, and in the strongest possible terms, denounces the riots on the city centre’s streets later […]
The Communist Party of Ireland condemns the plans by the Irish government to abandon the “Triple Lock” on the deployment of Irish troops outside the state. The government does not have a mandate for this policy, it was not put to the public in a General Election and does not […]
Jeffrey Donaldson’s speech to the DUP annual conference last month generated more interest than is normally the case for this event. The mainstream media concentrated not only on his support for a devolved administration but also his tacit acceptance of a Sinn Féin First Minister. Nevertheless, when viewed in its […]
No historical Irish political figure sums up the politics of the Irish establishment today as much as John Redmond. The class and political interests Redmond embodied during his life have strengthened over recent decades and now appear to dominate most elements of the state, media, and political parties. Politics is […]
The rights of LGBTQI people are under attack, we have seen regressive moves across Europe the latest being Italy’s right-wing government ordering state agencies to cease registration of children born to same-sex couples and the retroactive cancellation and re-issuance of birth certificates of lesbian couples’ children, with only the gestational […]
There have been poisonous Green and Orange algae in the six north-eastern counties of Ireland for more than a hundred years. But now there are new poisonous algae making the headlines here. It’s a blue-green alga that has infected Lough Neagh. And only a few minutes ago the local Fermanagh […]
Paul Lynch’s novel Prophet Song has deservedly been short-listed for this year’s Booker Literary Award. The author spins a chillingly realistic tale of an Ireland governed by a fascistic regime in the throes of an armed conflict with its local opponents. The regime’s definition of public order is maintained by […]
What is the nature of those elements now aligned to the anti-immigrant, anti-trans, “nationalistic” and conspiratorial movements seen in Ireland recently? Do such movements mobilise from within particular and consistent segments of the class structure? Are such mobilisations evidence of a risk of far-right elements moving towards mass influence? What […]
The far right has been pushing the belief that Ireland has an immigration issue, that immigrants are replacing the Irish. While this isn’t true, Ireland has a problem with immigrants—and that is, how they are treated. The highest non-Irish population is Polish; and the largest non-English language spoken is also […]
It has often been said that the nature of a country is reflected in the state of its prisons. We should add to that by including the nature of policing in any society. Think, for example, of the Six Counties before the Good Friday Agreement and its police, the RUC, […]
The issue of Irish neutrality has begun to gain political traction. In August the Communist Party of Ireland organised a public meeting on neutrality in Belfast, took part in a protest against the pro-NATO theme of the MacGill Summer School in Co. Donegal, and held a demonstration outside the Department […]
On 22 June, RTE announced that it had overpaid Ryan Tubridy of the “Late Late Show” by a figure of €345,000. This was done through secretive deals and barter accounts, and resulted in Tubridy earning more than €500,000 each year. The following weeks saw wall-to-wall coverage of the scandal in […]
It is expected that by the time we go to press the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill will have been passed into law. The new legislation will establish what is described as an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, under the leadership of the former lord chief […]
The draft All-Ireland Strategic Rail Review is an excellent start to the changes that must be implemented if we are to reach our emissions targets and seriously tackle climate change. The review can only be published in draft form, as the Stormont Assembly is not sitting, and it will be […]