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

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

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.”
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Shell Ireland have announced that they are to carry out more seismic surveying of the offshore pipeline which is supposed to carry raw gas from the sea bed to their valve at the landfall. The survey is scheduled to take place from June 1st 2012 and although they are vague about how liong it will take, they say the survey should be completed by the end of September. If there are protests, it might not be completed at all.

Full details here: http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/13495-MN17OF2012...1.PDF ... read full story / add a comment

****If you can't make it to the tribunal at Ft. Meade or the U.S. embassy in London, consider making a public stand for Bradley Manning on April 24th., 25th. or 26th. wherever you are - as he stands before a military tribunal that wishes to bury him alive!
Bradley has now been in military custody for over 700 days!
There are solidarity actions presently planned in Cardiff/ Wales, Fairford Base/ England, the gates of Ft. Meade /USA and 14 cities world wide
http://tinyurl.com/cxpedl5
... read full story / add a comment

Police have arrested protesters outside a Moscow court during a custody hearing for three women accused of violating public order at a cathedral. At least 20 people were detained, both supporters and Russian Orthodox opponents of the women, said to be members of a punk band, Pussy Riot. The women were arrested last month after an obscene political song was played inside the cathedral in Moscow.

Contact President Putin To Ask For Their Release. ... 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

Veterans for Peace UK held its inaugural meeting on Easter Sunday. 11 veterans attended the meeting. The meeting was started with the reading of The Statement of Purpose. We then had an extended check in where there was a good exchange of experiences.
... read full story / add a comment

In reaction to press reports of violence during the protests at the Labour Party conference at NUI Galway, Galway’s local peace group, the Galway Alliance Against War, has issued the following statement. ... read full story / add a comment

The New Yorker Magazine has revealed that the dissident Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (M.E.K.) has been trained by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) since 2005 at a secret military site in Nevada. The author of the article, Seymour Hersh, recounts how Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency told him that information supplied by the M.E.K in regard to Irans commencing enrichment of uranium at a secret underground location was given to them by Mossad.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/04/....html

... read full story / add a comment

Yesterday's prestigious Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference in the International Conference Centre (ICC) at the ExCeL Centre, London was interrupted by two London Rising Tide protesters. ... read full story / add a comment

Another thread speculated that recent attacks on RTE by the Sunday Independent were due to a generalised attack on the public sector, on relatively independent journalism in the publicly owned RTE during a period of recession, on disappointment at the election of Michael D Higgins and defeat for the right wing entrepreneur, Sean Gallagher (and the part played by RTE in exposing Gallagher). That story is here:

Sunday Independent that defended Bertie Ahern - on anti RTE, President Michael D Higgins, crusade
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101574

There could be more to it than that. ... read full story / add a comment

Ballyphehane & South Parish Campaign Against the Household and Water Tax (CAHWT) Picket Ciaran Lynch's Clinic

Members of the Ballyphehane and South Parish, Campaign Against the Household and Water Tax (CAHWT) picketted Ciaran Lynch's Bandon Road clinic, on Friday the 23rd of March at 6pm.

The Ballyphehane and South Parish CAHWT local groups expressed their outrage at being berated in the media by the government TD for their democratic preference in boycotting this unjust and regressive form of taxation. This unfair taxation is being imposed on ordinary people by the government in order to pay for the bank bailouts and the costs of the developers, bankers and big business. ... read full story / add a comment

Aer Lingus (http://www.aerlingus.com/aboutus/), the national flag airline of Ireland, has introduced language tests at check-in for foreigners flying to Ireland. The tests are stated to be a security measure intended to detect imposters travelling on fake or stolen passports from a number of European Union countries. The selected foreign nationals are required to pass a written comprehension test in English and in their own language before admission to the flight. The affected countries are stated to be Greece, Italy and Portugal.

Although targeting 'high-risk' EU nationals, the language tests are probably aimed at detecting Asian or African migrants travelling on passports from these countries. This may be a taste of things to come in Ireland, with language and civics tests on Alan Shatter's list of priorities for 2012 (http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PR12000001)
... read full story / add a comment

Friday 9th March at 6.30pm a group of two-dozen campaigners and Erris residents gathered outside the Broadhaven Bay Hotel in Belmullet, Co. Mayo where ex 'rape tape' Sergeant James Gill was having his retirement party. ... read full story / add a comment

This is a copy of an email sent to our supporters today, we are appealing for people to come down to the camp in Galway and show their solidarity, or to help in any way they feel they can. ... read full story / add a comment

Dr. John O’Connor and Jessica Ernst from Canada gave a series of talks on ‘The realities of hydraulic fracturing and associated health risks’ across Ireland. This is a write-up of their talks on fracking in Sligo. ... read full story / add a comment

Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland, have
applied for a licence to grow Genetically Modified potatoes in Ireland.
Their application arrived on 27/2/2012 and the public has until 27/3/2012
"to make representations" about the application. ... read full story / add a comment

Between the 20th and 24th of February 2012, 19 campaigners were tried at a 'special sitting' of Belmullet District Court, for alleged offences arising from protest against the Corrib gas project. Most of those tried were for Section 8 and 9 of the Public Order Act. Section 9 is obstructing 'the free passage of a person/vehicle’ in a public place and section 8 is failure to obey the directions of a Garda.

Overall the judge came down very heavily on the defendants. The hearings began only one week after public criticism from the minister for Justice Alan Shatter against what he called “protest tourism”. One campaigner received a prison sentence and three others received suspended sentences. Fines for all cases totalled €8350. ... read full story / add a comment

As new details emerge which show that eight armed undercover British soldiers were targeting Sam Marshall at the time of his death in March 1990, a book to be launched this week will reveal further details.
The murdered man's relatives say , "As a result of information and facts concerning Sam’s killing which we have discovered in recent times, we are now convinced that members of British state forces, including British military intelligence and the Special Branch, were directly involved in the planning and commission of his murder. We also believe that British government ministers are aware of that fact.
... read full story / add a comment