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Apple’s 0.005% tax rate in Ireland endorsed by EU court
By Emma Clancy. The verdict of the General Court of the European Union – which overturned the European Commission’s finding that Ireland illegally granted state aid to Apple – is a win for the second-wealthiest corporation in the world. It is a win for Ireland’s tax-haven economic model, and for ...
The toxic impact of neoliberalism on young people’s mental health
By Diarmaid Twomey. As someone who has worked with children and young people in various capacities for some time, I have been fascinated by the focus on their mental health in recent years. More specifically, I have focused on what society deems responsible for their mental health problems, and how ...
Greenwashing austerity
By Emma Clancy. Members of the Irish Green Party voted overwhelmingly to enter a coalition with the two traditionally dominant centre-right parties on Friday. Coming less than a decade after the Greens were decimated for their last stint as a junior partner in government – propping up Fianna Fáil and ...
Programme for Government rewards wealthiest with yet another tax cut
By Michael Taft. It is not the biggest issue in the Programme for Government. But sometimes small proposals can speak volumes. So what are we to make of the following commitment in the PfG? “The 3% USC surcharge applied to self-employed income is unfair and proposals will be ...
This is not a Green New Deal – it is greener business as usual
Below is an open letter to Green Party members in the Midlands, North East, West and North West on the Programme for Government, published by four of the party’s young and rural General Election 2020 candidates, Tate Donnelly, Julie O’Donoghue, Seán McCabe and Saoirse McHugh, on 20 June. As candidates ...
Neasa Hourigan warns Greens of ‘most fiscally conservative’ government in a generation
Below Irish Broad Left reprints the speech made by Dublin Central TD Neasa Hourigan to the Green Party’s online special convention on the Programme for Government held on Thursday 18 June. Just as in 2007 our party has come together for a special convention that will shape the party, the ...
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26 women a week forced to travel from Ireland to Britain for abortion care last year
Below Irish Broad Left publishes the joint statement from Alliance for Choice, Abortion Rights Campaign and Abortion Support Network, issued in response to the release of British Department of Health statistics reporting the number of women that travelled from Ireland to England or Wales to access an abortion in 2019.
Occupied Territories Bill: It’s time for Ireland to ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements
By Kevin Squires. As the new Israeli government moves to illegally annex yet more Palestinian land, anyone who has been following the fate of the Occupied Territories Bill will have seen it emerge as one of the principal sticking points in the ongoing Irish government formation negotiations. If made law,
Coronavirus will not destroy neoliberalism – only we can do that
By Lisbeth Latham. Triumphalist comments about the end of capitalism or neoliberalism abounded in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, just as there are many people today who believe that the current crisis is the end of neoliberalism or capitalism. Unfortunately, neoliberalism and – more importantly –
Behind the spin on the EU’s recovery plan
By Emma Clancy. Addressing members of the European Parliament on 27 May, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the creation of a ‘Next Generation’ European Union recovery fund worth €750 billion, to be raised by the Commission – a temporary Eurobond. The funds would be disbursed as €500bn in
Uniting the Left to fight for an ecosocialist united Ireland
By Cian McMahon. After December’s Westminster general election, which returned a majority of nationalist MPs in the North for the first time ever, it’s clear that the entire Brexit debacle has dealt a potentially fatal blow to political unionism. As DUP MLA Edwin Poots commented, reflecting on the historic and
The language of the unheard: Outrage spreads across US over racist police murder of George Floyd
By Emma Clancy. Protests against institutionalised racism have spread to cities across the United States in response to the horrific murder of black man George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on Monday. Police have responded to three days of protest in the city by pepper-spraying and baton-charging crowds. Minnesota’s
Why is the EU so interested in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa?
By Mick Wallace MEP. The Sahel region consists of those countries lying to the immediate south of the Sahara Desert, stretching in a strip from the west to east coast. The region is semi-arid, part desert, part savannah and it links the Sahara to more fertile lands further south. From
‘A Worker’s Guide to Historical Capitalism’ – a political economy podcast
By IBL team. A new podcast series aims to provide an overall view of the historical development of the capitalist system – a ‘people’s history’ of the world. Trademark Belfast is the anti-sectarian unit of the Irish labour movement, which has carried out political education for trade unionists and workers
After the shutdown: A just transition and Green New Deal for Ireland
By Conor McCabe. This is the fourth and final article in a series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. The current crisis is an interplay between Covid-19 and the deep-rooted inequalities and structural
The EU’s Stability and Growth Pact must go – or we face a future of austerity and pain
By Emma Clancy. A decade of austerity imposed by the European Union institutions and EU member state governments has caused significant deterioration in healthcare services across the EU. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the EU’s healthcare and public sectors to be ill-equipped to respond to the outbreak in accordance with
Government protects banks and landlords instead of jobs and small businesses
By Conor McCabe. This article is the third in a four-part series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. In its response to the Covid-19 economic challenges faced by businesses – particularly micro and
Pandemic hits Ireland’s social infrastructure, already at breaking point
By Conor McCabe. This article is the first in a four-part series adapted from the Unite union’s policy document, Hope or Austerity: A Road Map for a Better, Fairer Ireland After the Pandemic, written by Conor McCabe. The Irish government’s initial response to the outbreak of COVID-19 was somewhat slow