To help highlight the case of the Jobstown 18 we are republishing an open letter by Irish Writers.

We write as writers concerned with the impact of proposed jury restrictions in the case of the Jobstown 18 on freedom of expression in Ireland.

Related Links: Stand With Jobstown - Sat 6th May @ 2pm in Tallaght | 'March for Justice' in solidarity with the Jobstown Not Guilty campaign - Apr 22nd | Violence And The Jobstown Anti-Water Charges Protest. | Free the Jobstown 4! - Socialist Party Press Release | Hundreds protest conviction of Jobstown teen following Burton sit in |
See also: Jobstown Trial as it happens | Twitter #JobstownNotGuilty | Jobstown-Not-Guilty -Facebook

We are republishing this article by Stephen Donnelly TD who has been doing great work in exposing how Fine Gael have gone out of their away to facilitate vulture funds who are now preying on ordinary people by charging exorbitant rents and fueling the current property and are replacing the English absentee landlord of centuries past, with ruthless vulture funds capitalists of this era and essentially introducing a form of neo-fuedalism as increasing huge swaths of the population are either priced out of buying homes, or are signing up for debt that last close to a lifetime.

Related Links: Stephen Donnelly, TD submission for a detailed proposal to target €20bn in future avoided taxes. | Update on the work of NAMAleaks.com

The 1916 Proclamation

On the centenary anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising it is worth reflecting on what has happened since then and the aspirations of the proclamation to guarantee equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens and cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.

The Rising itself was doomed to failure from the start but as with life itself often the most unpredictable and unexpected things happen because despite the lack of initial public support, after the executions sympathies swung the other way and as they say the rest was history and the ripples spread out, because it has been said the fight for independence of India was inspired by the Irish Rising.

External Related Links: See also: 1916, left republicanism, anarchism and class struggle | Revolutionary Experiments In Ireland 1917-1923 | Reclaim the Vision of 1916 | Ireland 2016 | Official Centenary Programme
Historical: James Connolly - Labour in Irish History (1910)

Parties for a Left Dail

The election cycle has come around yet again it is time to take a look at some of the issues being discussed and more importantly those not discussed and have a quick look at the economy.

For this election there are more independents going up than ever before, although people should be warned that a certain fraction of them are closet FFers and FGers so if it is change you are looking for, they may not be the candidates to vote for. Sometimes people seemed to assume Independents tend to be more to the Left. There is no inherent reason this should be the case and statistically one would expect them to evenly spread to the Left and Right. So if voting for an Independent then be sure you have checked what they really stand for and their previous record if any.

Related Links: TTIP is a full frontal assault on democracy | Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Signed in New Zealand amid Mass Protests | Co. Clare TTIP Free Zone! | Over 2 million People sign European Citizens’ Initiative against EU-US TTIP trade deal | Galway meeting highlights the insidious agenda of TTIP | Lacking Trasparency: The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP) | Wikileaks Publishes Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) | connolly group TTIP video | Investor-State Attacks: Empowering Foreign Corporations to Bypass our Courts, Challenge Basic Protections | Blog of ISDS Case Summaries | Top 10 Most Pernicious Investor-State Dispute Settlement Lawsuits | Sean Kelly (FG) MEP has betrayed his responsibility to defend the interests of the Irish people - Liadh Ní Riada MEP
Party Manifestos: Green Party Manifesto | Labour Manifesto | FG Manifesto | FF Manifesto | SF Manifesto | People Before Profit -see Policies | Anti Austerity Alliance Manifesto | Workers Party Manifesto | Direct Democracy Manifesto | Social Democrats Manifesto | ReNua Manifesto | Independent Alliance
Party Manifestos: ElectionsIreland.org: For list of candidates in your constituency.

TTIP is the greatest single threat to our
democracy. Both FG and FF support it.
It is a EU-US wide corporate power grab.
Find out more before you vote !!

Trajectory of Irish Banks

Forget the official Banking Inquiry report because Joe Higgins has written a much more better one and it asks the rights questions and gets to the heart of the matter by putting the whole saga in its proper context -something which the official report couldn't thing as it would mean asking fundamental questions. Indeed the inquriy itself and official report have been steeped in controversary with allegations of coverup because of numerous reports of key officials and whistleblowers in the regulator office and central bank were ignored and their evidence never making into the inquiry. The whistleblower made a formal complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act and (Village Magazine) "outlining a range of detailed concerns about how the Central Bank and some of its legal representatives were omitting huge swathes of vital documents, redacting many of the most crucial pieces of evidence, and delaying release of vital material until it was too late to use them in briefings for public hearings – in at least one case handing them over 24 hours before a scheduled interview about them."

Related Links: Joe Higgin's Banking Inquiry Report - Jan 2016 | VillageMagazine: Cover-up upon cover-up. Banking Inquiry to be blown apart | Joe Higgins website | Indy Links: The Fake Banking Enquiry. More Cynical Theatre For The Downtrodden Irish Masses? | Inside the Anglo Irish - The secret tapes | Audio from Conor McCabe on Banker and Rancher Interests in the Modern Irish Economy