The Great Mortgage Swindle

A generation in the Republic has been left in hock to the banks by one of modern Ireland’s biggest cons. Conor McCabe explodes some of the myths that drove the property bubble.
There are those who will tell you that Irish people have a unique love-affair with property, that home-ownership is part of our DNA – [...]

Unemployment as a Policy

Rather than placing job creation to the fore, right-wing governments in London and Dublin are intent on pushing hundreds of thousands more people into the dole queues, reports Conor McCabe.
Northern Ireland is currently experiencing a ‘second wave’ in unemployment. The initial job losses in construction and manufacturing, and subsequent reductions in consumer spending, have had [...]

Slash and Burn Economics Must End

As the Tories plan a massive onslaught on Britain’s public expenditure the evidence mounts that indiscriminate cut backs only further damage the economy, but Europe’s ideological diehards will not listen, according to Aidan Regan.
The Spanish government introduced a massive austerity package on 27th May 2010 amounting to €15 billion, the deepest budget cuts in the [...]

A Fresh Start for the Roma Community in Ireland?

Paul Dillon writes that education and representation must be the starting point for integration of the Roma community. 
Anita Elena is a Romanian woman, who has lived, worked and studied in Ireland for 7 years. As part of her postgraduate work in Trinity College Dublin, she is conducting research on the life experiences of the 3,000 [...]

Maynooth Students: Mobilising for Progress

Free Education for Everyone (FEE) activist Donal Fallon reports on the success of NUI Maynooth students in organizing to oppose Fianna Fáil cor­ruption and support the unions.
The ‘Student Movement’ in Ireland is a funny one. It tends to find itself in a stagnant state and with its banners well and truly under the stairs for [...]

Generation Bailout? The youth of Ireland are once again paying for the failings of the elite

Another generation of Irish youth is facing a tough decision, to stay and at­tempt to reform a failing state or succumb to the crony capitalist clique and accept emigration or unemployment. Below Conor McCabe examines the eco­nomic lunacy which puts the interests of bank bondholders before a country’s young people.
There are three main elements [...]

Generation Bailout? Putting Jobs Creation First

If the state can become the bail-out of last resort for failed financial institutions, it can become the employer of last resort for young people, according to Unite Economist Michael Taft.
If, as Keynes said last century, ‘you look after unemployment the budget will look after itself’, then no wonder the Government has found itself in [...]

Time for an alternative to our gibbering government

The people of Ireland need to take to the streets to bring this government down, Eamon Reid writes.