Irish, EU & international politics & economics
By Marie Sherlock. Looking from the outside in, the Irish economy is performing really well at the moment – on course to have the second-highest GDP growth across the European Union (EU) this year. Malta and Ireland have alternated positions at the top of the EU28 scoreboard for GDP growth […]
By David Gibney. Ireland has a very serious low pay problem, and a corresponding problem with poverty. We have the highest prevalence of low-paid jobs in the EU. Only a matter of weeks ago St Vincent de Paul stated that almost 800,000 people live in poverty, including 230,000 children. Finding […]
Ailbhe Smyth has been fighting to repeal the eighth amendment banning abortion since it was inserted into the Irish Constitution in 1983, and has been fighting for women’s liberation and LGBTI rights since the late 1980s. More than any other individual, she has provided the consistent leadership, energy and commitment […]
By Ruairí Creaney. Irish unity is on the agenda. Across Ireland, it is being discussed in the media, at dinner tables and workplaces on a daily basis. While the endless calamity of a Brexit led by hard-right Tories, and the possibility of a hard border being imposed on our country […]
By Damien Thomson. On Tuesday 16 April, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the Environment Committee in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, calling for “Cathedral Thinking” on climate action – a reference to the huge and immediate mobilisation of empathy, panic and money at the sight of the Notre […]
By Bernard Sweeney. Since the formation of the Irish state, Travellers have been subjected to a sequence of oppressive policies, much the same as those that were weaponised against all Irish people prior to 1922. Since the creation of the Free State with the liberation, albeit partial, of the Irish […]
By Brigitta Balogh. Below is an open letter from Brigitta Balogh to British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Faith, with responsibility for Gypsy and Traveller equality policy Lord Bourne. Dear Lord Bourne, Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brigitta Balogh and I am a Hungarian-born […]
By Emma Clancy. In his open letter to Europeans last month, French President Emmanuel Macron revealed that he feared Europe “has become a soulless market” in the eyes of its citizens. Twenty years after the introduction of the common currency, and more than a decade after the global financial crisis, […]
By Denis Rogatyuk. The scenes of six Metropolitan police officers dragging Wikileaks founder Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he was clutching a copy of the History of the National Security State by Gore Vidal have sent shockwaves of horror and an avalanche of condemnation from […]
By Andy Storey. Trawling through the website of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP) – the group calling for Irish exit (Irexit) from the European Union (EU) – is a strange experience. Amidst the xenophobia and often crude and puerile attacks on left-wingers, there are moments where those same left-wingers might […]