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Neasa Hourigan warns Greens of ‘most fiscally conservative’ government in a generation
Below Irish Broad Left reprints the speech made by Dublin Central TD Neasa Hourigan to the Green Party’s online special convention on the Programme for Government held on Thursday 18 June. Just as in 2007 our party has come together for a special convention that will shape the party, the ...
Occupied Territories Bill: It’s time for Ireland to ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements
By Kevin Squires. As the new Israeli government moves to illegally annex yet more Palestinian land, anyone who has been following the fate of the Occupied Territories Bill will have seen it emerge as one of the principal sticking points in the ongoing Irish government formation negotiations. If made law, ...
The language of the unheard: Outrage spreads across US over racist police murder of George Floyd
By Emma Clancy. Protests against institutionalised racism have spread to cities across the United States in response to the horrific murder of black man George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on Monday. Police have responded to three days of protest in the city by pepper-spraying and baton-charging crowds. Minnesota’s ...
This is not a Green New Deal – it is greener business as usual
Below is an open letter to Green Party members in the Midlands, North East, West and North West on the Programme for Government, published by four of the party’s young and rural General Election 2020 candidates, Tate Donnelly, Julie O’Donoghue, Seán McCabe and Saoirse McHugh, on 20 June. As candidates ...
Capitalism’s accumulation crisis prompts attacks on wages and organised labour
By Lisbeth Latham. The central driver of the capitalist system is the drive for capitalists to constantly increase profits – failure to do so can be a trigger for a crisis within the capitalist system. Since the end of the long boom in the early 1970s, capitalism, particularly in the ...
Behind the spin on the EU’s recovery plan
By Emma Clancy. Addressing members of the European Parliament on 27 May, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the creation of a ‘Next Generation’ European Union recovery fund worth €750 billion, to be raised by the Commission – a temporary Eurobond. The funds would be disbursed as €500bn in ...
Uniting the Left to fight for an ecosocialist united Ireland
By Cian McMahon. After December’s Westminster general election, which returned a majority of nationalist MPs in the North for the first time ever, it’s clear that the entire Brexit debacle has dealt a potentially fatal blow to political unionism. As DUP MLA Edwin Poots commented, reflecting on the historic and ...
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Coronavirus will not destroy neoliberalism – only we can do that
By Lisbeth Latham. Triumphalist comments about the end of capitalism or neoliberalism abounded in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, just as there are many people today who believe that the current crisis is the end of neoliberalism or capitalism. Unfortunately, neoliberalism and – more importantly –
Protests across Ireland in solidarity with asylum seekers in Direct Provision
By Memet Uludağ. United Against Racism (UAR), in cooperation with the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), held a day of solidarity with asylum seekers living under the Direct Provision system today, 21 May. It was a day not only to stand in solidarity with asylum seekers during the
After the shutdown: A just transition and Green New Deal for Ireland
By Conor McCabe. This is the fourth and final article in a series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. The current crisis is an interplay between Covid-19 and the deep-rooted inequalities and structural
The EU’s Stability and Growth Pact must go – or we face a future of austerity and pain
By Emma Clancy. A decade of austerity imposed by the European Union institutions and EU member state governments has caused significant deterioration in healthcare services across the EU. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the EU’s healthcare and public sectors to be ill-equipped to respond to the outbreak in accordance with
Government protects banks and landlords instead of jobs and small businesses
By Conor McCabe. This article is the third in a four-part series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. In its response to the Covid-19 economic challenges faced by businesses – particularly micro and
Do Not Resuscitate Capitalism: Science in a time of pandemic
By Helena Sheehan. Of the many dimensions of the present pandemic that is swamping our lives and suspending our normal reality, one of the most central has been the role of science. Every report on our all-virus-all-the-time news references science. The new media stars are epidemiologists, virologists, mathematicians, physicians and
Solidarity is the cure: Radically reimagining post-pandemic Europe
By Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan Covid-19 has brought the world to a standstill, claiming thousands of lives and bringing economic hardship to millions. As EU governments now take steps towards reopening, the need to avoid the mistakes of the past and reimagine the European project is greater than ever.
Pandemic hits Ireland’s social infrastructure, already at breaking point
By Conor McCabe. This article is the first in a four-part series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. The Irish government’s initial response to the outbreak of COVID-19 was somewhat slow
No going back – the future of our health system must be public
By Niamh Ní Bhriain. Back in February, when murmurs of Coronavirus seemed irrelevant to most of us, people came together in Ennis, Co. Clare, for a hustings event in advance of the general election. The sense of anger was tangible in the crowd. There was a chorus of outrage that
Three reasons why the Greens shouldn’t prop up FFFG
By Damien Thomson. The Green Party elected representatives agreed to enter formal talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail for a programme of government. Entering government requires the thumbs-up from two-thirds of the Greens’ party membership. Here’s three of many reasons why the Irish Greens should not go into government
Eurogroup condemns EU to perpetual austerity
By Emma Clancy. After the Eurogroup meeting concluded last night, Eurogroup President and Portuguese Finance Minister Mário Centeno tweeted: “The Eurogroup answered the call from our citizens for a Europe that protects. We agreed to 3 safety nets (for workers, businesses & public finances) adding up to half trillion euro, and
European Parliament fails to block fossil fuel projects
By Damien Thomson. Just as always, they think we are not watching. Just as always, their voting record shows where they stand. Today an extremely important vote took place in the European Parliament – an objection to the EU’s publicly funded fossil fuel infrastructure projects – and I needn’t name the