Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.
Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!
This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".
According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.
People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.
AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza
Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support
With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza
China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty
A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.
The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Public Inquiry >>
Parse failure for http://humanrights.ie/feed/.
Last Retry Tuesday October 07, 2025 06:52
News Round-Up Tue Oct 07, 2025 01:15 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Does Trump Not Realise How Globally Toxic Tony Blair Is? Mon Oct 06, 2025 19:30 | Ramesh Thakur
Trump's peace plan for Gaza might yet succeed, but why on earth does Tony Blair feature, asks Professor Ramesh Thakur. Does Trump not realise how globally toxic the Blair brand is?
The post Does Trump Not Realise How Globally Toxic Tony Blair Is? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Stupidologiology Mon Oct 06, 2025 18:15 | James Alexander
William Davies has written an article titled 'Stupidology' which Prof James Alexander summarises as: 'Trump is stupid. Brexit was stupid. I am not stupid. Neither are my friends. Why do stupid people have power?'
The post Stupidologiology appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Backlash as Nando?s Limits Customers to One Coke per Visit Under New ?Nanny State? Rules Mon Oct 06, 2025 15:11 | Will Jones
Nando's has sparked a backlash after restricting customers to a single glass of Coca-Cola Classic under new 'nanny state' Government rules aimed at cutting sugar consumption.
The post Backlash as Nando’s Limits Customers to One Coke per Visit Under New ‘Nanny State’ Rules appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Nudge? Has a New Evil Twin: ?Stochastic Terror? Mon Oct 06, 2025 13:30 | Nick Rendell
'Nudge' has a new evil twin, says Nick Rendell: 'stochastic terror'. When all else fails, the Left foments the conditions for random political violence and then sits back and waits for someone to pick off Trump or Farage.
The post ‘Nudge’ Has a New Evil Twin: ‘Stochastic Terror’ appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
national |
education |
feature
Thursday October 30, 2008 08:53
by Paula Geraghty, Andrew WSM, Richard Whelan and 1 of imc.ie
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Children play with riot horses
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Images (c)
John Carr, INTO
Text of leaflet distributed by anarchist teachers and students at last night's demo:
CRISIS! DISASTER! ECONOMIC CHAOS!
The world seems about to end. The markets are convulsing, the banks are tumbling, the entire island is about to become some sort of black hole off the coast of Europe...
Never fear though, we’ve got a brilliant political establishment to shepherd us through the economic wilderness, and in the Budget on Tuesday 14th they revealed their master-plan, carefully crafted, as Mary Hanafin said, to ‘protect the vulnerable’. Unfortunately, it seems like they’ve got a different understanding of who exactly ‘the vulnerable’ in Irish society are.
It’s not the poorest workers, who’ll get hit hardest with the one percent levy, it’s not all of us who can’t afford private health-care, and it’s not the chronically under-educated sectors of society, who are facing the loss of child benefit, class size increases etc. etc. No, ‘the vulnerable’ are those like the banks, whose deposits and stability have been guaranteed by our tax money, and the builders, who, thanks to former PD TD and now head of the Construction Industry Federation, Tom Parlon, don’t need to worry about limits on their profits from fixed-price contracts. In fact, maybe ‘the vulnerable’ means the friends and cronies of the Fianna Failers, those who have access to the decision-makers and can put a bit of pressure on to make sure things turn out alright.
It may have been the bankers and builders who gained most from the economic boom, but that sure doesn’t mean they’re willing to help pay for the bust. No, if cuts are to be made, they’ll be made where it won’t harm the government or their friends – increased taxes, attacks on an already underfunctioning health service, and the further wealth-based segregation of education.
It’s in this context that this latest round of education cuts comes. The government’s slashing of teaching posts for children for whom English is not their first language, their decision to increase class sizes and their attacks on substitute cover will have a hugely negative impact on the quality of education that can be provided in our schools, and on the working conditions of teachers.
This must also be looked at in the context of the re-emergence of fees for third-level education, with the doubling of registration fees as just the start. If you add this to the halving, and eventual cut in child benefit for 18-year-olds, it’s pretty clear that the people who’ll be hurt by this are the ones who are already struggling to get their kids to college. As for students, they’re going to be forced to take out big loans, work shitty jobs (if they can find them) to keep heads above water and finally emerge out of college into an economic wasteland.
The reason that students, teachers and all the others getting shafted in the budget, are being told to take the fall-out of the recession is that the government think they can safely push us around. The government retreat on the over-70s medical card shows that we don’t have to choose to let them push us around. But what’s needed is more than just a few demonstrations and speeches; we’ll need to develop our own power, in massive self-organisation from the grassroots level and in our willingness to take the fight to the government.
We need to build a national campaign that can fight the battle to prevent cuts at all levels of education, to demand more not less investment in our children’s future, to stop the further limitation of access to third-level and, ultimately, to push to improve the entire education system from pre-school upwards. This will require a lot of work, and means that links will need to be built between students, parents, teachers and other education staff at all levels.
Third-level students have begun the process of building an open campaign which will fight for equal access to education. The ‘Free Education for Everyone’ Campaign is organising across all colleges. If you want to join the fight for equal access to education. get in touch with Free Education for Everyone.
Free Education for Everyone
Open group fighting for equal access to education
stopfees@gmail.com
This leaflet is being distributed by anarchists who study or work across the education
sector. We’re working together to build a democratic and open campaign that can fight education cuts, challenge the imposition of fees and push to improve access to, and quality of, education. We want a society where access to wealth and power is equally distributed, and we start by pushing for improvements in our everyday lives. If you want to find out more about anarchism, or just work with us in the fight against education cuts and fees, check out our website at www.wsm.ie, or contact one of the below addresses.
UCD Anarchists
ucdanarchists@gmail.com
TCD Anarchists
anarchist@csc.tcd.ie
NUI Maynooth Anarchists
maynoothanarchists@gmail.com
People need to start piling on the pressure. This should begin with pickets on government party clinics asap. The People Before Profit Alliance will hold a picket next Tuesday at FF offices in Drumcondra (see: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89688)
This government needs to feel the anger locally from both parents and teachers. Fight the cuts!
Protest outside Leinster House
Photo essay from last nights rally outside Leinster House
Photo essay, from last nights large demonstration outside the gates of Leinster House.
Images copyright 2008
Photo essay from last nights rally outside Leinster House
Images copy right 2008
more images.
Copyright 2008
One Day I Will Be A TD
And You Will Be Very Old.
Here's a few more=
Battman Robin Our Kids Future
FF Fled to China Like Batt out of OUR Hell
Crowd Me Out and I Will Shout
28:1 Not The Right Sum
and the old reliables:
GREENS AND FIANNA FAIL
OUT OUT OUT!
THEY SAY CUT BACKS
WE SAY FIGHT BACK!
The teachers are right, the kids should not be the ones to suffer but the permanent teachers are not so quick to point out that they are overpaid, immune from dismissal and enjoying a level of job security that none of the private sector have at this point in time, and have secure pensions for the future unlike the rest of us.
Instead of having a go at the Government, why dont they themselves put the kids first. Take a pay freeze for 2 years and that will help the country out. It amazes me how much of a neck the public sector have. They give out about all Government measures while they are the ones crippling the country.
No to medical card cuts, no to education cuts, YES to major public sector reform!
Ah gruffalo
how right you are - how can we make the shift from recession into full blown depression unless we make every worker and citizen as miserable as the oppressed private sector worker.
Not only should we seize the pensions they have bought for themselves but we should make sure that any public sector workers who are within walking or cycling distance of their workplaces are shipped out to a field in Carlow where they can be made do the same planet destroying commute that the oppressed private sector workers do.
What a neck they have, standing in the cold and the rain and the dark in their thousands trying to protect the education of our children. In the most tightly packed crowd I've encountered at a demo the overpaid, job secure workers in a system that we all know will be the end of us became the latest in the successive waves of anger to wash up on Kildare street. One thing though - if even the teachers, who have it so good are angry enough to come out as Revolutionaries on Kildare street - can you imagine how pissed off the oppressed private sector workers are - those whose pensions are disappearing into market bullshit and whose jobs are more precarious by the day and whose children need their teachers to march on power to try and protect their education.
Gruffalo - yes we need public sector reform. We also need private sector reform and financial reform and economic reform and social reform and, dare we say it, maybe a bit more than reform, maybe some real changes.
Poor teachers - unlike Gruffalo they just don't have a clue.
More power to them and lets join them all on Molesworth Street and party like its 1929.
Great pics btw.,
C.
so much cardboard, so many slogans
Gruffalo,
Us teachers have taken a pay freeze, as have all public sector workers. Have you not followed the latest round of pay talks? Pay freeze for ALL for the next 11 months. You suggestion has been noted and implemented, while myself and my wife (another teacher) struggle away to pay the mortgage, car loan, childminding, bills, food, etc.
Our pay is not that good; teachers make the average industrial wage (or thereabouts) - that'd hardly count as being "overpaid", and don't get on to me about pensions and permanent jobs, we don't all have them, and they are not too easy to get (I, for one, will more than likely lose my job this year because of the cuts announced in the budget (as will two or three others in my school (which is a lot in a school of only 25 teachers))).
We're all in the same sea of struggle I'm afraid.
_____________
Paula, Andrew, Richard,
Great reporting, great photos, well done.
Mark.
the reason for the education Cuts...in all quarters...is to do with the fact, that the Department of education has (just) recieved the Annual Residential Redress Boards (compensation for victims of Institutional abuses) report...(which it refuses to release) and the figures are STAGGERING....(victims compensation-to date...=€2.4 BILLION) with further costs, for Legal Fee's...=(€768 Million) the grand total €3 Billion, 100 and 28 Million.....
Today up to 8,000 teachers and parents marched through a wet and windy Galway city. The mood was angry and determined. There was a call for unity among teachers and parents in the wake of attempts to wipe up anti-teacher sentiment around the issue. The march included teachers from INTO, ASTI and TUI and the Socialist Workers Party, Labour, Sinn Fein and WSM were also present.
The SWP (Galway) have a picket organised on Fianna Fail Sean O Neachtainn's Office, Prospect Hill, Galway @ 2pm Sat 15th Nov, followed by a meeting "But whats the alternative?" upstairs in Richardson's Bar, Eyre's Square afterwards.
Also this week the People Before Profit Alliance held a serious of picket on FF and Green TD offices. Around 100 teachers and parents took part in a picket called by the People Before Profit Alliance outside Sean Haughey's clinic. The picket was addressed by parents, teachers and members of the People Before Profit Alliance and Sinn Fein.
Further pickets are planned and the INTO have further rallys planned for Tullamore, Cork and Dublin in the coming weeks (See www.into.ie).