Pharmaceutical companies paid out 6.6 million euros to doctors last year. These shocking figures emerged from a voluntary disclosure made by the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, the industry body that represents the drug companies.

The money will influence how doctors prescribe drugs. There is good evidence of a conflict of interest when medical decisions are corrupted by money. read full story / add a comment

5G is being sold to us as enabling high speed internet, super quick download speeds, 'smart' devices including smart cities, smart cars etc and the 'Internet of Things' (ie where all products are connected wirelessly to the internet). In practice, this means that exposure to EM radiation will increase exponentially read full story / add a comment

This blog, my first, will in general aim to document the program and specifically my experiences on JobPath. Protecting their identities you will meet the other job seekers and staff, will there be villains and hero’s or stale biscuits and tea? The blog will be anonymous because I’m not sure how DSP or Seetec will feel about the real time, real person, review.

Why do a blog, I feel that it gives a window for the 115,000 people who will be invited to the mandatory scheme over the full 4+2 years. JobPath is discussed by politicians, by journalist and even on public forums, the vast majority of whom only get the opportunity to view from the outside in and so only see things from a superficial vantage point. My time embedded or if you like immersed in the scheme, gives a personal and unique opportunity to document my experience and is allowing me the privilege of blogging from the inside out. It requires some intrusion into my life and maybe some repetitive reading, it will require some commitment from myself and the thought of possible consequences leave me a little unhinged. However difficult it is personally, hopefully it will serve the purpose of shedding light on the truth in a way that turning up with a press pass or in a Ministerial car, never could do.

In November 2018, I received a second ‘invitation’ that I couldn’t refuse to do another 52 weeks of JobPath. Considering the amount of people who viewed the blog from all corners of the planet and the participants that the blog helped, along with the number of people who contact me for and offering me help, I’m going to do another 52 weeks of blogging under JobPath two. The aims will be the same. read full story / add a comment

Call for Oral Hearing for Galway City Ring Road

On the last day for submissions on the proposed Galway City Ring Road, environmentalists have called on An Bord Pleanala to hold an Oral Hearing.

According to Friends of the Irish Environment, the project will undermine national policy in Smarter Travel - A Sustainable Transport Future and its target to reduce work-related commuting by car from 65% to 45%. The environmental charity alleges that because the road will encourage greater use of private motor vehicles in Galway over the period up to and beyond 2050, it is also contrary to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 which set a national objective of transition to a low carbon climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy. read full story / add a comment

The Irish political establishment are rallying behind the KBC bank’s eviction of a family in Strokestown. They are shocked by the level of public support for the family and are trying to divert attention from the central issue.

Last Tuesday week, a private security company engaged in a violent attack on elderly people who were ordered to leave their house.

They punched, kicked and pulled people by the ears yet nothing was done to stop them. Instead the Gardai closed off a road to facilitate the eviction.
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“It is with deep sadness and regret that the Workers Party announces the death of Sean Garland, a life-long comrade, a member of the Party’s Central Executive Committee and one of the people who most influenced and shaped the Workers Party over many decades.

Party President Michael Donnelly has paid tribute to Mr Garland saying that he was “a unique and charismatic individual whose contribution to Irish political life cannot be overestimated”. read full story / add a comment

In a decision that will have significant repercussions for the licensing of Ireland’s salmon farms, the Commissioner for Environmental Information has found that the Minister for Agriculture’s refusal to release information in the annual Department Inspection Reports about the standing stocking rates on salmon farms was not justified. read full story / add a comment

The WSM are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the death of Alan MacSimoin, one of our founder members, a friend, and a key central figure in building the anarchist movement in Ireland for over four decades. Alan had not been a member of WSM for some years but remained politically active right to the end. His last Facebook post on November 29th was supporting the locked out bricklayers at Mary’s Mansions. Alan will be sorely missed by all in the WSM and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. read full story / add a comment

Single Parents Acting for the Rights of our Kids (SPARK) statement on recent racism by Far Right demo outside the Dail read full story / add a comment

The WSM has been having a 'big picture' discussion around the housing crisis from which the following points emerged. We are publishing them ahead of the December 1st demonstration in Dublon (14.00 Parnell square). read full story / add a comment

This article argues for the inclusion of a "None of the above" option on all ballot papers in an election. It starts by explaining the benefits of its inclusion. Then it demonstrates how its inclusion can be achieved through activism. read full story / add a comment

PRESS RELEASE: HORSECRACING IRELAND AWARDS DEMONSTRATION.
STOP RACING HORSES TO DEATH, END ALL Equine RACING , Horses deserve the right to live free of exhaustive training, pain and death.
The horse racing industry advertises itself as “glamorous,” or the Sport of Kings. However in reality, exploitation, welfare violations, cruelty, and premature deaths are an inherent and unavoidable part of this industry which is based on greed. A lot of effort is put in to covering up the true face of the industry. Dr. Holly Cheever, an award winning veterinary surgeon and expert on animal abuse prevention noted “cruelty is an inherent part of the horse racing industry.”
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The report into the activities of the former Minister, Denis Naughton, on rural broadband is a total whitewash.

Naughton held eighteen meetings, and five dinners with representatives of Granahan McCourt. Minutes of these meetings were not kept and there were often no civil servants present. Yet the company was a bidder for the lucrative broadband contract.

But aside from Naughton’s unusual behaviour, there is an even bigger scandal looming.

Rural broadband was originally supposed to cost some hundreds of millions. But the latest estimate puts that figure at a staggering €3 billion. read full story / add a comment

OPEN LETTER: A call for more funding for walking and cycling is needed, but that call to date has lacked clarity on the quality needed and that is having practical effects. read full story / add a comment

The Integrity Initiative is now trying to smear and attack Seumas Milne, Jeremy Corbyn's communications director and a key voice on the anti-war, anti-capitalist left, tweeting a Times article that appears to have been contributed to by them. read full story / add a comment

This essay was written by Manuel Garcia, Jr under creative commons license and is republished here as it's message needs wider circulation.

Climate change action would kill imperialism, and that is why we can’t have it in America.

American political power is based on fossil fuels, and the US military is the engine that consumes those fuels to produce that power. So long as there is an American political elite that craves lucrative personal prestige and the ability to dominate internationally, the US economy will be fossil-fueled capitalism that maintains the military colossus that enables and protects those elite ambitions. read full story / add a comment

London – Dublin – Copenhagen – Berlin – Stockholm – New York – Madrid. All over the world, on November 17th, people are preparing to take back their futures and stand up for the living planet. In solidarity with Extinction Rebellion in the UK, we are calling on the citizens of Ireland to become ‘conscientious protectors’ of people and planet; to stand up to climate inaction; and to stand together with a coalition of environmental groups, conservationists, activists, trade unionists and political parties at Dublin’s iconic Dead Zoo. read full story / add a comment

LookLeft Magazine on Nov 2nd have published an article on the recent election of the far-right president in Brazil and it is high lighted here to draw attention to this sinister development

The election of the fascist Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil marks the beginning of an intense period of reaction. It also signals the definitive end to the social democratic experiment that began in 2002 with the election of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. read full story / add a comment

Today saw another hearing, this time in Court 5, Dublin Circuit Court - Judge Melanie Greally presiding - in a case involving peace activists Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling. The case relates to the alleged writing of some graffiti (DANGER DANGER DO NOT FLY) on a US war-plane at Shannon Airport on 25 September 2017, and a charge of trespass relating to the same incident which the Ennis District Court has arguably being trying to hold in reserve (or park as they describe it) so that if we are acquitted in the Circuit Court they might have second go at us in the lower District Court. read full story / add a comment

LOOK BACK IN ANGER THIS SUNDAY AND REMEMBER ALL THE DEAD OF WORLD WAR 1
Supported by:
Sinead Cusack Actor, Felim Egan Artist, Frank Mc Donald Journalist & Writer, Raymond Deane Composer, Stuart Dunne Actor & Artist, Sean Harrington Architect, Rev. Patrick Comerford President CND, Patricia Mc Kenna former MEP, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Clare Daly TD, Aengus O Snodaigh TD, Brid Smith TD, Joan Collins TD, Eamonn McCann former MLA for PBP, Councillor Tina Mc Veigh, former Councillor Enda Fanning, Goretti Horgan Ulster University, Marcin Wojcik Lecturer DIT, Ms. Deirdre Judge and more.

The Irish Anti-War Movement will hold a dignified vigil at the entrance to the Irish National War Memorial in Island Bridge, Dublin on this Sunday morning 11 November from 10am to 11am.

This is to coincide with the World War 1 Armistice People’s Remembrance organised by the Royal British Legion that is taking place in the Memorial Garden from 10.45am.

Our vigil will remember all the dead of WW1 – Irish, British, German, Turkish, soldiers from the colonies etc. and the millions of civilians that died – and we will ask one simple question - What did they die for? This is the title of our pamphlet published four years ago at the centenary of the beginning of the war along with a statement signed by many prominent Irish people. We encourage people who attend to wear white poppies as a symbol of peace. read full story / add a comment