"it shall be for the house (Dail and Senate) to determine the appropriate balance between the rights of persons and the public interest..." Okay this is pretty basic - A referendum is needed every time a government wishes to change our constitution - this is because the constitution theoretically exists to protect people from the excesses of any government i.e. any elected government can only work within the confines of what the constitution sets out. This means the constitution belongs to the citizens (i.e. us) not the Government. Whatever government is in power has to get our permission to change it. Lots of things in our constitution are outdated and need to be changed BUT and it's a big BUT we should be really careful of letting it be changed for trivial issues. read full story / add a comment

NEW YORK TIMES: Updated, 3:35 a.m. Sunday | In a tense showdown above the East River, the police arrested more than 700 demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests who took to the roadway as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon. (After a 2 week corporate media blackout, #occupywallstreet direct action is now front page news) read full story / add a comment

On this 10th anniversary of 9/11 attacks there are many things to reflect on and in this article we are going to focus on the relationship between 9/11 and the political 'Left'. Today 10 years later, the public particularly in the US seems quite dividved as numerous polls show that a majority of US citizens don't accept the official story and a significant portion believe the government was involved in one form or another. The mainstream media though is still very much on page with the official version of events. The details of the topic itself are divisive and two clear camps have arisen with opposing views and very little common ground between. At this stage many people are simply tired of discussing it and wish to move on. This article does not intend to dwell on the mechanics of the event itself but examine the wider political effects. read full story / add a comment

The situation in Libya is not what it seems as reported by the mainstream press -the same press that has promoted all the previous wars with some lame excuse or another. The MSM media likes to teach the public to think only in black in white. So if you oppose NATO, you love Gadaffi. Actually it possible to see both as bad. But the long and short of it all is that it really all just amounts to a modern form of the Class War. Notice how our liberties in the West are disappearing along with the social gains achieved over the last century of labor struggles. The Libya things is mainly an oil grab. It is also because Gadaffi was not an obedient dictator and it is also because it had the highest standard of living in Africa and very generous welfare and last but not least it was not adhering to the NeoLiberal agenda and the free market. The same ideology that has ruined all our economies and is being used as the excuse to take away all our gains and make us worker far longer and for less.

So the purpose of this feature is to present the alternative and to provide some background analysis to what is going on and happened so far

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Over the past week at Giuseppe Conlon CW House in Harringey London, we have recieived calls of concern, and requests for explanations, following the rioting and looting over the weekend that started in our borough of Harringey and extended across London and then to regional towns in England.

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Maghaberry jail is where Irish Republican prisoners in the Six Counties who did not agree with the Good Friday Agreement remained while the Provisions walked out under the terms of the Agreement. Subsequently their numbers have been swelled by others also opposed to the GFA. Although the British and the Northern Ireland Executive's Justice Minister deny they are political prisoners, they call them "Separate" because they are separated from non-political prisoners within the jail. After broken agreements, ongoing harassment and violent and physically intrusive body searches, the prisoners now escalate their protest campaign.

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Friday 22nd July Shell brought a digger and a port-a-cabin into the existing temporary compound in Aughoose. This is in preparation to start building a permanent compound in Aughoose from which they hope to start digging the tunnel for the pipeline which will connect Ballinaboy refinery to the 70 kms of offshore pipeline. They will come in full force on Monday 25th July, please come up to Mayo and show your support! A mass day of action is planned for Friday 29th July, but come up any time. read full story / add a comment

It has been said that we live in a business run society which is characterised by business parties masquerading as political parties and a 'political class' that implements policies which more often than not puts the interests of 'big business' ahead of the well being of the general populace. The unprecedented nature of bank bailouts in this country along with continued and debatable payments to bondholders with an apparent absence of serious public consultation let alone a referendum on matters with such wide-ranging and generational consequences seems to lend some credence to this characterisation of modern society. read full story / add a comment

The Force Research Unit (FRU) was a covert military intelligence unit set up by the British Military of Defence sometime between 1979 and 1981. Its motto was ‘Fishers of Men’. Its remit was to recruit and run double agents in the paramilitary groups in the 6 counties. At its peak the FRU had up to 80 officers and about 100 support staff dealing with hundreds of informers. The FRU were in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries during the 1980’s and 90’s that led to the murder of dozens of catholics including high profile solicitor Pat Finucane. Despite having been exposed in British Tribunals and in the press of collusion with loyalist paramilitary gangs, a rebranded FRU has been involved in illegal operations in Iraq and Libya showing that the British establishment not only knew about the collusion but also actively encouraged it and rewarded those of its officers who were engaged in these activities.
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Below is the first in a series of articles relating to social welfare within the twenty six counties. Amongst the specific issues dealt with will be cutbacks, 'fraud' and the broken promises and hypocrisy of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition less than 100 days after taking office read full story / add a comment

Sunday Independent journalist Jim Cusack has a consistent track record of writing highly dubious stories, based solely on anonymous Garda sources. In the June 19th edition of the newspaper, he makes a lame but insidious attempt to mitigate the behaviour of the Gardaí in Co Mayo who recorded themselves talking about raping women in their custody last March. He claims to have been shown new video footage, supposedly of the incident on March 31st, and this forms the basis of his article. Unfortunately for him, this footage, if it exists at all, is clearly not a recording of the incident in question. read full story / add a comment

In letters to Joe Costello TD and Bethany Home Survivors Chairperson, Derek Leinster (attached), Ruairi Quinn TD, Minister for Education, turned down the survivors' request to have the Home included in the Schedule to the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme.

They met the Minister on 24 May last, accompanied by other survivors from the home, and by Niall Meehan from Griffith College Dublin. Inclusion is necessary in order for survivors to apply for compensation for the neglect they suffered in the home that the state was aware of but ignored. read full story / add a comment

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The Robin Hood Tax will stage a global day of action on June 22nd. As a fledgling group, Robin Hood Tax (Ireland) will initiate an email campaign aimed at our TDs asking them to support a Robin Hood Tax in Ireland. read full story / add a comment

They don't represent us! Rights are won, not given! We are not commodities! It is not a crisis, it is a con! If you take our future, we will take the city! We are the children of comfort but we will not be parents of conformity! read full story / add a comment

As Elizabeth Windsor's visit moves into history it is time to analyse the reasons for the visit and what happened during it: the small protests, the massive restrictions on movement in Ireland's capital city, the huge violations of the right to protest, read full story / add a comment

Yesterday was a beautiful beautiful day and a very very important one. 10 days after the "Spanish Revolution" kicked off peacefully all over Spain, it has been replicated massively in the homeland of Democracy, Greece. Yesterdat, M25, 20,000 people took to the streets and squares all over Greece... 7,000 alone and absolutely peaceful in Constitution square in athens. They have been inspired by Spain and the simple core idea of the movement; That we have had enough, that we are "indignant", we will not take it any more, its time to stand up, take to the streets, occupy squares, create a "true democracy"... and hope that the Spark of peaceful Revoution spreads all over this little planet...

Follow the #GREEKREVOLUTION as it unfolds and spreads...

Real democracy Greece - http://real-democracy.gr/
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The country yesterday was abuzz with the visit of Obama to Ireland and the mainstream was aglow covering the event. There is no doubt he is popular in Ireland as evidenced by the tens of thousands who queued up and turned out to see him and went through airport type security to get a closer look. I would suppose there are two reasons for this and one is that everyone wants to be seen and associated with success and the other is that Irish people seem to get very proud of their country and want to show it off when important people or visitors in general show up. read full story / add a comment

The official Garda response to the release of the ‘rape tape’ last month was contrite and sympathetic, in accordance with the public mood of outrage. But behind the scenes, familiar tactics were deployed: Gardaí used the media to try to divert attention from the recording by maligning the women who released it. And while there was a lame attempt to blame the women for delaying the investigation in the first week, it now transpires that the Sergeant at the centre of affair still has not been interviewed by the Garda Ombudsman. read full story / add a comment

Pissed off with very high unemployment, a political system which is not working, a feeling that banks and the markets matter more than life itself, the youth, unemployed and precarious of Spain launched their revolt last Sunday. Three days on and many squares in the country are occupied and movements are building up under the banner of "Democracy Real, Ya! (Real Democracy, Now!) read full story / add a comment