Irish, EU & international politics & economics
By Veronica Ocvirk. The free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc of Latin American countries will benefit EU multinationals but pose serious disadvantages for local industries in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. “President, we have an agreement!” This WhatsApp audio message went viral in Argentina with […]
By Cian Prendiville. Our world is burning. Climate change, economic recession, political crisis and on top of it all a pandemic. However, from all corners of the world, we see signs of resistance. The recent uprising against racist police violence is a harbinger of things to come. The new ecosocialist […]
Pádraig Ó Meiscill discovers his own personal lesser spotted Belfast at the start of the lockdown. When the silence came, caused by a cough, only a few were expecting it. Many had predicted an uproar over borders. A cacophony of bile about the difference, or lack thereof, between Derry and Letterkenny, […]
By Zack Breslin. Neoliberalism has been exposed as a failed doctrine, first by the financial crisis that erupted more than a decade ago and now by the Covid-19 pandemic. What replaces it? The seismic events of the financial crash of 2008 revealed the consequences of allowing rampant financial capitalism to […]
By Carlo Sands.When mining giant Rio Tinto blew up two sacred Indigenous sites dating back 46,000 years in the Pilbara in Australia’s north-west earlier this year, it was with the consent of the state Labor government. It shows that while the Western Australian (WA) Labor Party sometimes pays formal respects […]
By Mairéad Farrell TD. Last Wednesday, July 15, there was a collective sigh of relief from the government. The European Union’s General Court had ruled against the EU Commission in Ireland and Apple’s appeal against its state aid ruling. The Court found that the 0.005% corporate tax rate that Apple […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 [Universal Social Charge] surcharge applied to self-employed income is unfair and proposals will be […]