When the clocks go back this weekend (29th), the Dublin based charity, Making Connections are challenging everyone to give their extra hour to the older people in their lives. The Charity sees this as a chance for the whole country to help tackle isolation and loneliness – and inspire others to connect the generations, all with just one hour of your time. read full story / add a comment

The Irish banks are repeat criminal offenders. Back in the 1980’s, the banks helped thousands of wealthy customers to avoid their taxes in what became known as the DIRT scandal. Brian O'Boyle writes.

The DIRT scandal involved bank managers telling staff to pretend their customers were living overseas. AIB were particularly guilty of this offence eventually paying €90 million back to the Revenue Commissioners. Even when they were caught the banks illegally moved tens of millions of pounds to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. read full story / add a comment

More than 130 faith communities across the United States are praying and acting for hurricane victims ‎during religious services this weekend. read full story / add a comment

Maureen Gallagher wins Hanna Greally Award. read full story / add a comment

High Court challenge to Dublin Airport extension to conclude. First case to test new climate legalisation

Today is scheduled to be the last day of the challenge to the new runway proposed for Dublin airport.

The new runway, if built, will significantly increase the capacity of Dublin Airport and lead to increases in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions. read full story / add a comment

Pavee Point welcomes the hard evidence in Census 2016 figures released Thurs 12th Oct of the continuing inequalities faced by Irish Travellers.

“These inequalities cannot continue to be ignored,” said Ronnie Fay, Co Director Pavee Point.

“These figures show the huge gaps that continue to exist in Traveller health, education, employment and accommodation.”

“Travellers are dying 6 times younger and are poorer educated than the general population. With low education achievement it’s no surprise we’re living with an 80% unemployment figure,”ť said Martin Collins Co Director, Pavee Point. read full story / add a comment

Recent discussions about the safety or otherwise of having the US military flying in and out of Shannon Airport gave us reason to recall an incident in March 2008 in which a Murray Air aircraft was involved in an emergency landing at Shannon. This was after it was seen flying over Askeaton, which is across the River Shannon estuary from the airport, with flames coming from one of its engines. Residents of the County Limerick town described their windows rattling and houses shaking as the cargo plane flew low over a housing estate in the town. read full story / add a comment

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank begin their annual meetings which run between October 13th and 15th. read full story / add a comment

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) releases its biannual report on global economic stability and presents new indicators it says can help predict financial crisis. read full story / add a comment

Friends of the Irish Environment is celebrating our 20th anniversary in the High Court which is currently hearing two of our Judicial Reviews as we launch our 20th anniversary €20 fund raiser.

We’re inviting the public to join us and see our challenges unfold. read full story / add a comment

This week in the Oireachtas workers on insecure hour contracts became collateral damage in a cynical game of power play politics by the government. A disgraceful ploy to block the David Cullinane TD sponsored Banded Hours Contract Bill was concocted by raising a spurious money message mechanism which government conveniently uses to halt the progress of opposition bills that have a genuine chance of succeeding in the Dail. read full story / add a comment

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, President Trump called for Puerto Rico's debt to be wiped out. read full story / add a comment

As President Trump visits Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, island religious leaders are calling for aid, debt relief and measures to end child poverty. The statement is issued by San Juan's Catholic Archbishop, Roberto González Nieves, St. Thomas' Catholic Bishop Herbert A. Bevard and Evangelical Bible Society Head Reverend Heriberto Martínez. read full story / add a comment

A little over a week ago the Spanish state attempted to take control of the Mossos d'Esquadra the Catalan national police force whose men and women have sworn an oath of fealty to Catalonia and answer to the Catalan government "la Generalitat". The Mossos sidestepped all such attempts.
The Spanish ministry of the Interior ordered the Mossos to cordon off with "do not cross police" tape and guards all potential 6000+ electoral centres. A civil rights movement emerged intent on protecting those centres. Friday afternoon parents and teachers as well as children stayed on.at
At 06h23 this morning I went to the school in my area, known to some as the "Forat". A neighbourhood which has a long and sometimes difficult history of confrontation policing (lives lost or ruined), and is considered by some the anarchist heart of the city. I joined the civil rights movement there. read full story / add a comment

October 1st, tomorrow at time of writing shall see the "illegal referendum on Catalan independence and conversion to a republic". On September 20th the central Spanish state launched an extraordinary campaign of intimidation and criminalisation. Ministers of the regional government were arrested. Printers were searched and ballot papers confiscated. Websites were closed down. 3 cruise liners hired by the Spanish state provide accommodation to police and paramilitary police drafted in to prevent voting, counting and disemination of information related to the referendum.
I shall later provide more information drawing on the wealth of archived articles on this node of indymedia which I hope and always hoped would explain the route from the fringe to centre of the process of Catalan self-determination. For the moment, the final opinion poll published today shows the intent of 63% of the enfranchised wish to vote & of those 83% will vote yes. read full story / add a comment

Between Monday 23rd and Saturday 28th October 2017 the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is honoured to host Irish journalist David Cronin as he tours Ireland to launch his new book, ‘Balfour’s Shadow: A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel’ (Pluto, 2017). Come along to one of the talks to hear from David – copies of the book will be available to buy at the event and the author will be happy to sign them after his talk. read full story / add a comment

ONLY THE NAMES of individuals convicted of fraud in excess of €5,000 will be published under the new Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017.
The names will be published on a quarterly basis on the Department of Social Protection’s website. The list of names will be removed after three months.
The actions of current government are contrary to European law. read full story / add a comment

This is a repost from Thierry Meyssan site and it discusses how the US military-intelligence industrial complex has co-opted the far Left, largely unrealized to themselves in the fight for US imperialism. The story of Kobane and Rojava got a surprising amount of coverage in the mainstream and that in itself is often a red flag because they don't give publicity for nothing unless there is a propaganda reason for it. While maybe a surprise to some, the US via it's pawns like Saudi Arabia and up to recently Turkey, were and are the main backers of ISIS in all it's forms, from support, logistics, weapons, oil-purchase, it is all part of a greater goal to destroy Syria, and use the Kurds to carve out their own state and in the process to give the US a bridgehead to attack Iran, break up Iraq, and permanently cripple Syria. The US will also ensure that if the Kurds manage to form their own state, they will setup it up to Balkanize it and leave it in a permanent state of war so they can play the old divide and conquer game. Over the previous decades the US has previously backed and then dropped the support for the Kurds many time and betrayed them. So while the Kurds may well deserve their own state, these things do not occur in a vaccum.

When the Russians were invited by Syria to support it in crushing ISIS in 2014 and so far they have gone along way and block the US's plan A for Syria, they came up with plan B to use the Kurds to achieve the goal. There is no doubt that there was and is a pre-existing left leaning movement within the Kurds and even with Anarchist tendencies or elements to it but it just seemed all too good to be true and the immense resources and budgets of US imperalism and it's NATO allies, has the means to control the show as outlined in Meyssan's article read full story / add a comment

Dear friends, in case you missed this shocking news last week, while en route to occupied Palestine four Irish people were seized by Israeli authorities in Ben Gurion airport and deported. Below is a statement issued by the four deportees which includes a call for you to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney (minister@dfa.ie) voicing your concerns about this arbitrary expulsion of human rights activist to stop them from bearing witness to the effects of Israel’s apartheid regime read full story / add a comment

A major “coursing trials” event due to be organized by the high profile Kilflynn Coursing Club in County Kerry, on Saturday (September 23rd) was cancelled after a tip-off anti blood sports campaign groups read full story / add a comment