Republican Sinn Féin, are calling on people to vote NO in the referendum on the Fiscal Treaty on May 31. The treaty, if passed, will perpetuate austerity for decades to come.
The referendum is an opportunity to send out a clear statement of intent that people are not prepared to cede any more power to the undemocratic and un-elected bureaucratic elite that is the EU. A NO vote will be a positive step towards regaining control of our future and that of the generations to come.
Austerity has been rejected by the French and Greek people and now it is the turn of the citizens of this state to reject them also. ... read full story / add a comment

Deprived of signs and art materials, the good people of Occupy Galway came into possession of some chalk. Chalk of every colour is used by children in towns and villages across the country every day to draw the likes of hopscotch boards, noughts and crosses or just idly scribble away a sunny afternoon. It is also used by buskers in cities around the world, who draw fabulous pictures for passers-by to enjoy. One of the joys of chalk that is appreciated by Occupiers is that it causes no damage and is efficiently removed by mother nature in our frequent downpours.

It was in this spirit that we began to decorate the grey stone substation that was the back wall of our office before the destruction of the camp. Familiar slogans like “No To Austerity” and “IMF OUT” as well as more pertinent messages like “Constitutional Rights and Due Process R.I.P. Oct. 15-May 16”, began to appear. The grey and featureless substation soon became a monument to freedom of expression, as the many participants joined in the decoration. ... read full story / add a comment

Republican Network for Unity (RNU) notes with increasing concern, the growing practice of what can only be described as extortionism, being carried out by private landlords within working class nationalist areas and beyond.

When observing average rents, it is clear that private landlords here are exploiting historical housing shortages in order to demand amounts well above what is provided by housing benefit. ... read full story / add a comment

“I pay tribute to the ‘Farmers For No’ for coming together and calling for a No Vote…

…Contrary to popular belief and what the government is spouting, the sky won’t fall on our heads if we vote no on May 31st.

We will retain some flexibility and some ability to retain the control over our National finances and to be able to use those finances for the good of all the citizens of the country and not for the good of saving the financial institutions of Europe.”

- Thomas Pringle, TD (Member of Irish parliament) ... read full story / add a comment

The suspension of the German government’s ratification of the permanent austerity treaty and the ESM treaty must send a strong warning signal to the Irish people that these two treaties pose a serious threat to their livelihood and to what little remains of their democracy and sovereignty. ... read full story / add a comment

The Press Conference will officially launch our campaign for a No Vote in the forthcoming referendum on the EU Fiscal Compact / Stability Treaty and will be attended by Independent TD’s Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan and Thomas Pringle who will be our guest speakers.

Also Professor Anthony Coughlan, (Associate Professor Emeritus in Social Policy, TCD, and Director of the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre, 24 Crawford Avenue, Dublin 9), will attend as a guest speaker in his capacity as an expert on European Treaty Law. ... read full story / add a comment

The People’s Movement has opened an office in central Dublin for the duration of the referendum campaign on the Permanent Austerity Treaty. The office is at 5 Cavendish Row, directly opposite the Gate Theatre. ... read full story / add a comment

“The Member States whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality.”
- Proposed amendment to Article 136 TFEU of the EU Treaties by which the 27 EU Member States authorize the 17 Member States of the euro currency area to establish a Stability Mechanism ... read full story / add a comment

Thousands of people marched in protest at plans by Minister Reilly to close a vital Public Hospital in Abbeyleix which cares for the elderly. ... read full story / add a comment

BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF WE VOTE NO?

COULD IRELAND’S ACCESS TO A FUTURE BAILOUT FROM THE ESM RESCUE FUND BE PUT AT JEOPARDY BY THAT DECISION?

This is the so-called ‘Blackmail Clause’ contained in Article 136 of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Treaty. ... read full story / add a comment

No Fracking Ireland regret to learn that Manorhamilton Enterprise Forum have decided to take €20,000 from Tamboran Resources, the Australian/Canadian fracking company who wish to drill thousands of wells to extract shale gas in the north west region.
We understand this money is being used by the business forum to fund plans for a hotel in Manorhamilton town. Manorhamilton Enterprise Forum claim to be working at promoting tourism, fracking runs counter to this worthy objective. Only weeks prior to this announcement by the Manorhamilton business group, visiting German geoscientist and politician Helmut Fehr appealed to locals not to sell out to this highly controversial and damaging industry stating, “Don’t take the company’s money it is like selling your soul.”
... read full story / add a comment

Does the Fiscal Compact Treaty Deal with the Cause of the Crisis? What Caused the Crisis? The collapse of the Irish banking system was principally caused by a failure of regulation and the reckless lending practices of the Irish and European banking system.
... read full story / add a comment

TO:
Professor Colm McCarthy
Department of Economics
UCD
Dublin 4

Sunday 29 April 2012

Dear Colm,

I am writing to you to make some points arising from your comments on the so-called Fiscal Treaty and the referendum on it on RTE’s Morning Ireland last Tuesday morning. ... read full story / add a comment

Once again we are being asked to vote on yet another EU treaty. This time it is the Fiscal Treaty otherwise known as the permanent austerity treaty. Most of the people of Europe are against this treaty and they are once again relying on us although as usual most of the governments of Europe are for the treaty because well they represent the people in power -the large banks, corporations and financial elite in general. As we know they call the shots these days in every country and it has got to the stage where "investors" will lend money to governments and charge a nice rate of interest too and in this way they get to decide how much they will allow governments to spend on luxuries for the middle class and poor like health, education, social welfare, pensions, water and sewage etc. And since the financial crisis they have come to the realization that none of this is neccesary. In fact the only arms of government really required are the police, army, courts and prisons. Anyhow in this feature the folks from People's Association Watchdog have done a really good job in going through the Fiscal Treaty line by line and doing alot of other research and analysis to discover and explains what it really means. And don't forget if enough of us vote No, the government will be back to give us plenty of more chances to vote Yes, just like they did with the Nice Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty. ... read full story / add a comment

Legal Proceedings have taken by Thomas Pringle TD, member of the Dáil for the Donegal South-West constituency, challenging the Irish Government on fundamental aspects of a far-reaching amendment to the EU treaties. Both the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Treaty and the Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (Fiscal Compact) Treaty are under consideration. ... read full story / add a comment

A referendum on the Fiscal Treaty (‘SCG’/Stability, Coordination and Governance) is to be held in Ireland in May but the related European Stability Mechanism Treaty (‘ESM’) is not to be similarly scrutinised, much less put to the people for approval. Yet both treaties are explicitly linked and interdependent. According to the ESM Treaty both treaties are ’complementary’. The ESM Treaty is illegal under EU law as it stands and is therefore unconstitutional, being in breach of existing EU treaty principles which have been approved by the Irish people in previous referendums and are now part of our law. ... read full story / add a comment

Constitutional challenge in Ireland by Independent TD to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Treaty and the Art.136 TFEU amendment to the EU Treaties purporting to authorise this Stability Mechanism. ... read full story / add a comment

Occupy Galway took part in a protest march over the weekend along with many other groups at the Labour Party conference held in NUIG Galway. Here are some photos from the event ... read full story / add a comment

Final call for applications for 2012-13 ... read full story / add a comment

Irish working group on Food Sovereignty

***Groups across Ireland organize activities to mark 17th April, International Day of Peasant Struggle of Via Campesina
***Irish company involved in landgrabbing
***30,000 hectares of publicly owned land now privatized in Serbia by Irish investors
... read full story / add a comment