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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link China Cancels Christmas in Hong Kong ? Leaving Churches Fearing for Their Future Wed Dec 18, 2024 11:22 | John MacNab
China has cancelled Christmas in Hong Kong this year. Officials have ordered that the usual celebrations be 'toned down'. It's part of a creeping intolerance that leaves churches fearing for the future, says John MacNab.
The post China Cancels Christmas in Hong Kong ? Leaving Churches Fearing for Their Future appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Brits Could Face Up to ?20 a Year Extra on Energy Bills to Fund ?Carbon Capture? Technology Wed Dec 18, 2024 09:00 | Will Jones
Brits could face an extra ?20 a year on energy bills to fund unproven carbon capture technology as the Government proposes to spend ?21.7 billion on projects to capture the gas from the air and store it underground.
The post Brits Could Face Up to ?20 a Year Extra on Energy Bills to Fund ‘Carbon Capture’ Technology appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Curious Links of Led by Donkeys Wed Dec 18, 2024 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
Led by Donkeys, the group behind anti-Brexit and assorted other Left-wing stunts, was set up by four Greenpeace activists who have a lot of curious links to the Blob, says Charlotte Gill.
The post The Curious Links of Led by Donkeys appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 18, 2024 00:46 | 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.

offsite link Musk Backs Reform After Meeting Farage at Trump?s Home Tue Dec 17, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
Elon Musk has backed?Reform U.K.?after meeting Nigel Farage at Donald Trump?s home in Florida, tweeting his agreement that "Britain needs Reform".
The post Musk Backs Reform After Meeting Farage at Trump’s Home appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

offsite link Israel Passes Law Allowing Four-Year Detention Without Trial or Evidence Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:27 | en

offsite link Jihadist Mohammed al-Bashir, new Syrian Prime Minister Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:24 | en

Voltaire Network >>

dublin / miscellaneous Tuesday March 01, 2005 14:45 by kevin

Does the introduction of PPP schemes into prison building also signal the introduction of private prisons? Security companies like Wackenhut and Group4 operate prisons in the UK and USA. Private prisons are routinely condemned by human rights groups. But what are the alternatives to building a new superprison in north Co. Dublin? What other options are open to the Minister for Justice?

In this short film, Joe Costello from the Labour Party (a regular commentator on prison issues and prisoners rights), Rick Lines from the Irish Penal Reform Trust, and Seanie Lambe from ICON (Inner City Organisations Network, a community organisation based in the Summerhill area) give their opinions on the closure of Mountjoy. Issues discussed include the implications of private companies' involvement in the construction of the new prison, what will probably happen with the existing site, and different initiatives that could be put forward to combat crime at its source, rather than continually incarcerating people & building bigger prisons.

Click on the Feature Continued Link for Full Intro and Infromation on how to Download

international / rights, freedoms and repression Sunday February 27, 2005 03:02 by Brian Nugent

From the newswire: Some thoughts on reading the book 'Stasiland' on a society dominated by the secret police.

Extract: The first thing to note about Irish intelligence agencies is that it might be a naive assumption to think that they are controlled by Irish people in Ireland. It turns out that the control of the main domestic intelligence agency 'Security and Intelligence' , then known as C3 , was formally handed over to the British government in the form of MI5 at a secret meeting at Baldonnel airport in early 1974.(7) The reason given was naturally the suppression of terrorism. Turns out that at that time the main terrorism in the state was being carried out by the British intelligence agencies themselves , including the attacks that lead to the passing of the 'Offences Against the State" act.(8) It seems that this agreement is still in force.C3 in turn controlled Garda Special Branch and some army officers from Irish army intelligence known as G2 found themselves unpromoted because they were 'cautious of the apparently unquestioning alliance between some senior Garda officers and British intelligence.' An interesting phoenix article that discusses this subject notes this information given from a legal source who has seen the evidence given to the Barron enquiry on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings:

"For years, a cabal of senior Garda officers, controlled by a foreign intelligence agency (MI5) directed state policy in many crucial areas, often against the better interests of citizens who were quite unaware of what was happening.”

Maybe people wouldn't stand for the kind of practices that occurred in East Germany, but they aren't likely to be objecting to something they know nothing whatsoever about. The article goes on to state that army intelligence officers from G2 believe that one senior garda, in cooperation with MI5, had tried to oust the then taoiseach Jack Lynch. MI5 in the UK meanwhile are known, as the article points out, to have bugged 10 Downing Street and broken into the private home of Harold Wilson, one of the few recent British prime ministers to question the atlantic consensus. Not long ago I read a report of an Irish business man who wanted to speak to somebody in charge of security at Dublin Airport as he wanted to question some point about the ID he had shown. The person he was introduced to turned out to be English and admitted that he worked for a British intelligence agency .A statement from the Gardai , I think , was issued later claiming he had been on some 'training exercise' in Ireland.(9).

For Article In Full Click Here
Wikipedia Article about The Stasi

national / bin tax / household tax / water tax Friday February 25, 2005 20:13 by cdot

When the anti bin tax campaign went quiet after the Autumn / Winter of 2003, they were expected by the pundits to return after the local elections in June 2004. Despite a flurry of activity around the estimates the fact that the Council was biding its time meant the campaign focussed on the courts and the council chamber. All the bins were being collected and the courts at least were of some use - with a precedent set that threw the council into legal quandaries as it seemed to imply that 2 years bin tax (2001 / 2002) were invalid and people could claim it back.

Joan Collins, in this Audio interview gives her take on whats happening as the city campaign returns to the streets to deal with bags left behind. They're marching this Saturday at 2pm from the Garden of Remembrance and txt msgs are floating around encouraging bags and wheelie bins to be brought along for the spin. There have been protests around the country in Cork and the Newswire reports bizzare sightings of anti dumping helicopters in Kerry. The reality of dirtier towns, burning rubbish and the disappearing waiver for pensioners is becoming apparent.

Report on the March in Dublin, 26th Feb 05

national / worker & community struggles and protests Friday February 18, 2005 22:24 by James R

Hands up who remembers back in the day, at the height of hype on the IT economy, when every half witted career guidance counsellor in the country did their best to pilfer leaving cert students of their dreams by forcing them into dead end computer courses in preparation for a career in call centers? The mass media cheer-led us into a new millennium and we awaited the collapse of work as we knew it Jim, ready to lap it up in the leisure society, with dreams of flexible working from home wearing headsets and tapping keyboards. Then the repetitive drone of the dot com boom was suddenly slapped aside and the realization dawned that while Gates may have got his millions - millions of others were left with nothing but repetitive strain injury and flexiploitation. It’s admirable the myriad of ways they make us swallow their bullshit. They repackage it every once and awhile in a never ceasing effort to make old lines of conflict and tensions once spotted, less obvious.

Related Links:
Class Struggle in the New Economy A Ballad Against Work
Prol Position, home of the Hotlines inquiry into resistance in call centres.
Slavery Calling
The Simon Jones Memorial Campaign a campaign against the casualisation of labour, named after a man killed in a 'workplace accident', due to casualisation and workfare.
Video games on the theme of precarity
Working in a Music Store Interview with a HMV worker.
Green Pepper interview with Chainworkers

international / racism & migration related issues Tuesday February 15, 2005 19:21 by ramor ryan - IMG

Once this was a place of great hope. During the late 1980’s, the Sandinistas were consolidating the revolution in Nicaragua, the FMLN were on the brink of overthrowing the government in El Salvador and the radical movements in Guatemala and Honduras were gaining ground. Today it is a region convulsed by massive delinquency and chronic state corruption whose economies are surviving tenuously on remittance money sent by migrants. The defeat of the revolutionary movements has ushered in an era of social disintegration resulting in a veritable neo-liberal dystopia.

Diary Extract: I scurry over to barrio Martha Quezado – Gringolandia - where once there was a scattering of bars and cheap hotels, the main hang for all the international solidarity activists, Central American guerillas and various renegades and desperados. Today it’s a curious mix of back-packers and local hipster hangouts. The infamous Sara’s bar, where once you could sit around a merry table of quite serious international revolutionaries plotting all kinds of trouble, there is a bunch of ubiquitous students of Spanish and a group of Australian tourists talking about new age spirituality. Up the street, I can’t find the Bobby Sands Bar. Maybe it’s that cell phone dealers store. Or maybe it’s the cobblers. The barrio is unrecognizable. I am quite lost in a place where once, 15 years ago, I spent many days and nights of intrigue and adventure.

I stumble upon an Irish bar called The Shannon. Now here’s a pleasant surprise! Lured by the prospect of a cead mile failte (big welcome), I take a peep. But this new bar is fancy, and populated by a hip crowd. Its reminiscent of a typical Irish theme bar you encounter anywhere across the globe, corny Guinness posters and soccer paraphernalia decorating the walls. I’m disappointed to be told by the standard gorgeous barmaid that they don’t actually serve Guinness. It’s not like the ramshackle Bobby Sands Bar of yesteryear, filled with provos on the run romancing heart-wrenching Salvadoran political refugees.

So I decide that this place, this pastiche representation of a global Irish bar is a symbol of all that has changed in Managua. A neo-liberal outpost trading a cultural brand, profiting upon other peoples misery. I’m appalled: so this is the new Nicaragua, where once there was authentic international solidarity as people shared a common purpose, coming together in the bars at night to exchange experiences of struggle and plot. Now there’s a bunch of random trendy people gathered in a commercial space to have vacuous fun. Revolutionary Nicaragua is dead and gone; it’s with the Bobby Sands Bar in the grave.

Read The Complete Diary Here

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