The following was sent to me by a Greek comrade with strong ties with the comrades in Spain, can you please read it and address it as you feel fit. thanks in advance. read full story / add a comment

Very interesting discussion on Today PK (RTE Radio One) of how media misinformation, most of which originated during the 1981 H Block hunger strikes resurfaced during the release of state papers in 2012. Allegations that: - Bobby Sands told the Pope's representative that he would come off the hunger strike; - that Raymond McCreesh's family forced him to remain on hunger strike; - that the British agreed the substance of the prisoner's demands between the death of the fourth and fifth hunger striker; are discussed, by journalist Eamon Mallie, historian Eamon Phoenix and 1981 prisoners' spokesperson Danny Morrison. read full story / add a comment

Broadcasting from Damastown, Mulhuddart, Dublin, and supported by Irish broadcast technical services provider A.V. Broadcast Ltd, Betania FM, the first Romanian Christian Community Radio Station in Ireland, received its’ FM radio license and began broadcasting on 17th December 2011 for 30 days. read full story / add a comment

Two exciting poets round off Galway's poetry season at the City Museum read full story / add a comment

A new image from Hartigans bar on All-Ireland day 1995 has emerged depicting an apparently innocent scene of a trio enjoying a chat. Innocent that is until the lady is identified as none other than Mother Ireland herself and the chat in question was about how much she cost! read full story / add a comment

Shell to Sea has revealed that RTÉ is being compelled to broadcast an apology ahead of Wednesday's Six-One and Nine O’Clock TV news programmes, as a result of RTÉ's biased coverage of Shell's attempt to build an experimental gas pipeline and refinery in Erris. In this specific case, RTÉ chose to ignore the facts as explained to them by Shell to Sea around technical issues concerning the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) investigation into the conversation Garda had about threatening to rape two women Shell to Sea campaigners they had arrested in April this year. RTÉ instead reported as fact the false suggestions of Justice Minister Alan Shatter, that part of the recording of the arrest had been deleted read full story / add a comment

RTE broadcast an unforgivable and totally unjustifiable libel on Fr Michael Reynolds. They broadcast on air an untrue allegation that he fathered a child with a child in Africa - despite his offer to undergo a paternity test. He took them to court and rightfully to the cleaners. Now RTE are subject to a Broadcasting authority of Ireland enquiry as well as one undertaken by the Press Ombudsman, Professor John Horgan. Who has ridden over the ridge to to proclaim all that is holy in journalism? None other than Eoghan Harris, and his newspaper, the Sunday Independent. Harris wants Ed Mulhall, RTE's head of news, sacked (20th November). Harris has been attacking Mulhall for years. Who knows what for and who cares, just for the moment. read full story / add a comment

I had one of the best seats in the concert hall; in the upper balcony where I could see the soloist clearly including his hands and his feet. The quality of the sound last night in the concert hall was amazing. Anyway I am saying no more. I have already written my comments which you can read below. Just to tell you I drove home like the hammers of hell to Jenkinstown in my white 2010 Toyota iQ and I sat down to eat some cold past in pesto sauce at the kitchen table shortly after mid-night last night. read full story / add a comment

On Friday November 18th Near FM will host a birthday party in the Grand Social for its long-running Dublin bands show The Near FM Sessions. read full story / add a comment

The Trash Culture Revue is set to return to Cork with an eclectic mix of art, literature, theatre, gigs, slam poetry, film, food and workshops. It’s like no other arts festival in the country as it’s all produced on a zero budget by members of Ireland’s only free online arts skills exchange, mutantspace.com. read full story / add a comment

Another bomb exploded outside the British City of Culture offices in Derry city last night, an hour after a warning had been given but the British paramilitary disposal police, did not once again bother to turn up until after the explosion.. read full story / add a comment

One of the main criticisms of the status quo in Iran is the relegation of women to second-class citizens, something which had been explored by Iranian filmmakers repeatedly in the previous years. Many of these filmmakers were involved in the Green Wave, and this season attempts to select work which represents both these artists and their concerns on the rights of women in contemporary Iran. As the regime cracked down on protesters, the punishments imposed on many of the names mentioned in these notes make for chilling reading: Pegah Ahangarani and Mahnaz Mohammadi, repeatedly arrested and imprisoned, currently on release; Mohammad Rasoulof, imprisoned for six years; and most cruelly, Jafar Panahi, imprisoned for six years, and prohibited from filmmaking for 20. read full story / add a comment

rabble is a non-profit, newspaper from the city’s underground. It’s collectively and independently run by volunteers. rabble aims to create a space for the passionate telling of truth, muck-raking journalism and well aimed pot-shots at illegitimate authority. We stand within, and with, Dublin as it struggles from below against the ghost of the Celtic Tiger and the state it left us in. We support those who fight with a new world in their hearts and encourage those who create cultures that seed hope in bleak times. Those involved know each other from alternative media and street mobilisations, from raves, gigs and the football terraces, or by just living in the village that is Dublin. We range from people living and raising their families in the city, to community and political activists, to artists, messers and mischief-makers. We Are rabble. read full story / add a comment

The performance of The National Chamber Choir of Ireland in Carlingford yesterday afternoon was an object lesson in the calm interpretation of words and music combined. A very stimulating concert free of musical bombast. And very very musical. Admission was €8 and the program which was essential reading cost €3. The theme of the recital was Autumn Landscapes. It involved roads, fields, clouds, lost love, time passing, death, lost youth. Even so it proved one thing at least. Brahms still lives. read full story / add a comment

Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan TD to Launch Luaithreach Angela.
Luaithreach Angela is a limited edition, Irish translation of Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Angela's Ashes
It will be launched by the Minister for the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan TD, at the Frank McCourt Museum, Hartstonge Street, Limerick, at 4pm on Monday Oct 10th.
The translation was commissioned by The Limerick Writers’ Centre, from writer and translator Padraic Breathnach. read full story / add a comment

Two innovative Creative Writing courses kick off at the Western Writers' Centre, Galway, from the 4th October: 10am - 12 noon (10 weeks - €114/€95) and 1.05pm-1.55pm (8 weeks - €80/€60), tutored by writer and critic Fred Johnston. Details at 091.564822 ext 312 or westernwriters@eircom.net Courses designed for beginners and enthusiasts who may not have spare time in the evenings. read full story / add a comment

Visual Artists Ireland, the All-Ireland representative body for professional visual artists, today announced preliminary findings of their recent survey The Social, Economic & Fiscal Status of the Visual Artist in Ireland 2011. Based on the survey undertaken in December 2008, the 2011 survey has found that the income of professional visual artists in Ireland has collapsed. Of the 292 artists surveyed, 82.25% earn less than €10,000 from their creative practice. This is a sharp decrease when compared to 67% in 2008. The number of artists relying on finding alternative sources of income has increased, but the overall income figures remain low. 55% of professional visual artists earn less than €10,000 from their total income (creative and non-creative). This is a sharp decrease from 33% in the 2008 survey. read full story / add a comment

Nonprofit network is being developed with a focus on local news from locally-based independent reporters and citizen journalists. read full story / add a comment

28 acts take to the stage in Sweeney’s for Love Music Hate Racism’sElectric Picnic Fundraiser this Friday 19th August. The event is splitinto two parts with the early show being Love Music Hate Racism’sfirst underage show featuring 7 teenage bands, kicking off at 2pmupstairs on the 1st floor.The underage gig was organised by JordenBukspan , a young student at Stratford college who approached LMHRwanting to get involved. read full story / add a comment

Over the past number of weeks Eoghan Harris has been uttering more than the usual amount of drivel in relation to the 1919-21 War of independence. Contemporary events have been dragged in week on week to promote the moronic view that the IRA systematically attacked Protestants during the War and after it.

No notion is too ludicrous in pursuit of the deeply reactionary and frankly sectarian campaign aimed at undermining the IRA’s anti-sectarian pursuit of independence between 1919-21. read full story / add a comment