In the last two months, the dramatic and sad photographs of 3 year old Aylan Kurdi, and his brother lying dead on the shores on a beach in Turkey have finally opened the curtain very slightly on the horrors and terror of war in Syria. It is hard to conceive the trauma of this family first seeing one of their other brothers beheaded by ISIS jihadists, then to flee and then for this man's wife and two remaining young children to drown in the sea whilst attempting to escape. If you were to listen to politicans from the UK all the way up to the present prime minister, you would think they were doing this so they could scab off the social welfare but as anyone knows, this was the act of a family desperate to flee the terror in their home country and get to safety at all costs. However Aylan Kurdi and his brother and mother aren't the only ones to drown or being killed in war, there are tens of thousands dead.

The trial of two Mayo men accused of violent disorder and damaging property at the Shell Corrib gas project tunneling site in June 2013 continues in Castlebar circuit court.
On Friday four Shell security guards gave evidence to the court and were cross examined by the defence.

Related Links: ShellToSea.com | Radio reporter claims he lost his job over coverage of Corrib Gas controversy | Irish Times: Top criminologist calls for inquiry into Corrib policing | Archbishop Tutu calls for independent inquiry into policing of Corrib gas project | Court Report On “rape-tape” Sergeant Being Awarded €33,0000 | Business as usual for Gardaí – trying to smear women in ‘rape tape’ controversy | Join the continuous protests against Shell | 22 TDs gather at gates of Dail to demand reversal of Corrib pipeline consents

Baliffs, hired thugs and Garda try
to force their way in. Later they turn violent.

A massive eviction is underway in Dublin. It is at the complex of occupied houses and former factory spaces in Grangegorman. Reports indicate that at 7am in the morning a very large number of private security angle grinder their way through one of the metal gates, invaded the area en massed and are erecting barriers (pictured) inside and trying to evict the occupants.

Related Links: Squatting Eviction Underway in Grangegorman | Aljazeera: Residents resist eviction, clash with police in Dublin suburb | From May 2014: Eviction attempt defeated in Grangegorman | Squat's the Story? Political squat facing eviction in Grangegorman
See also: https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityTimes -where this story was first reported.
https://www.facebook.com/resistgg Facebook Page - Resist Grangegorman's Eviction

When government propaganda fails,
political policing kicks in...

The Anti-Austerity Alliance has today condemned the jailing of anti-water meter protestors at the behest of Denis O’Brien’s company GMC Sierra.

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy said “The jailing of these protestors and the arrests in Tallaght is an attack on the right of communities to protest against the imposition of austerity measures, in this case the water charge and meters, which are being imposed by the government despite the massive opposition to them.

Related Links: Right2Water campaign shocked at jailing of water protesters| Stop poitical policing - Stop the arrests now! | Right to Plunder the Economy, Not Right to Protest | Free the Jobstown 4! - Socialist Party Press Release | Paul Murphy TD arrested on trumped up charges designed to discredit Anti-Water Charges campaign

10% to go in 2016 and then decimation beings in earnest

Just three weeks ago the National Transport Authority (NTA) officially started the tendering for 2016 of initially 10% of Dublin Bus routes and a further 10% of all Bus Eireann routes with most of the routes in Waterford City, and a number of Dublin commuter routes are to be privatised. In the original plan a number of Cork City routes were to go but these will probably happen later. This process has been the culmination of a relentless effort by Fine Gael (FG) in the present government and their predecessors and fellow Neo-Liberal ideologists, Fianna Fáil (FF) in the last government where they have consistently pushed for the break up of both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann so that it can be handed over to their friends in the private sector to run on a profit basis. The NTA is used as a sort of cloak of respectability to give the impression that they will actually be a regulator with teeth of which we know very few regulators have any teeth, with the banking regulator during the Celtic Tiger coming to mind, plus many other examples and the function of NTA is really for propaganda value to convince the middle class. However this whole scheme is about ideology and is NOT about competition but about privatisation.

Related Links: Prices rises are on the way for public transport users... | Joe Higgins TD seeks topical issue debate tomorrow in Dáil on Bus Eireann strike | Government to fund private bus companies! - Jobs, wages & services under threat | Rivermeade residents wage war to defend the 40B bus