Dublin and Wexford - jobs done! 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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The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights who have continuously monitored the civil war in Syria, have identified an increase in US military activity in the area close to the Turkish Border in conjunction with Turkey's threats to invade Rojava read full story / add a comment

Wednesday, December 12, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced plans for his new military adventure against the Kurds read full story / add a comment

“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

On Thursday 6th December, to coincide with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)’s General Assembly, the Irish Campaign to Boycott the Eurovision in Apartheid Israel 2019 wrote to the Director General of RTÉ, Dee Forbes, Rory Coveney, Strategic Advisor to the Director General, and Michael Kealy, Head of RTÉ’s delegation for Eurovision, asking them to call on the EBU not to broadcast any Eurovision events into Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. read full story / add a comment

Many of us have been following the Yellow Vest clashes on the streets of France with great interest and trying to understand this movement that appeared to come from nowhere. It is another story of the pressures of late stage capitalism collapsing the center of politics, a center no longer able to fool more of the people most of the time. A movement made possible by social media but which also reflects the often chaotic ‘apolitics’ of such movements. And worrying in the context of the millions being poured into far right propaganda a movement in which the far-right have made some progress in infiltrating, even if our comrades in France are physically driving them out of the protests.
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Ireland has been singled out as the worst performing country in Europe for taking concrete action to tackle climate change for the second year in a row.

The 2019 Climate Change Performance Index indicates that Ireland has continued along the same climate action trajectory over the past 12 months, placing us 48th of a total of 56 countries examined in the study. read full story / add a comment

First images showing the detour the National Transport Authority plans to provide for cycling after they remove cycle lanes in Rathmines, the most used arterial cycle route in Dublin.

As IrishCycle.com website reported previously, traffic counts show that in the AM peak last year, there was 1,637 bicycles and 1,325 cars/van, even with the traffic counts happening in November. read full story / add a comment

UN will oblige Germany to pay reparations for occupation of Poland. read full story / add a comment

Climate change has been completely underestimated thanks to the pressure from the Coal & Oil backed deniers that have put such pressure on scientists that they have been afraid to tell the truth and what their gut feelings are about the state of play. The reality is we are past the point of no return and the root problem is capitalism need for endless growth, although that is not addressed here -Indy Editor

Global warming will happen faster than we think
Three trends will combine to hasten it, warn Yangyang Xu, Veerabhadran Ramanathan and David G. Victor.

Prepare for the “new abnormal”. That was what California Governor Jerry Brown told reporters last month, commenting on the deadly wildfires that have plagued the state this year. He’s right. California’s latest crisis builds on years of record-breaking droughts and heatwaves. The rest of the world, too, has had more than its fair share of extreme weather in 2018. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change announced last week that 157 million more people were exposed to heatwave events in 2017, compared with 2000. 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

Ireland is one of six legal cases brought against Governments worldwide seeking stronger action against national greenhouse gas emissions which are being highlighted today at the UN Climate talks in Katowice, Poland.

Clodagh Daly, speaking on behalf of Climate Case Ireland, joined speakers representing legal challenges against the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and the US Federal Government.

The legal actions all aim to ensure that governments deliver the urgent cuts in emissions necessary to avert catastrophic climate change. 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

From fast food workers getting organised to fight for a living wage, to Uber drivers fighting a company infamous for its use of bogus self-employment models, to McDonalds’ workers in the US saying ‘No More’ to sexual harassment, a section of workers traditionally seen as “hard to organise” are proving their willingness to fight. Katia Hancke looks at what this trend represents. read full story / add a comment

French protests show dangers of relying on carbon taxes to fight climate change says TD

The warning from the COP 24 and the renowned naturalist David Attenborough show we need more than carbon taxes to stop climate change read full story / add a comment

Save Our Skibbereen
‏ @SOSkibbereen Dec 3

An Bord Pleanála have ruled in favour of granting permission to the Plastic Factory at #Skibbereen
#WestCork #Cork #Ireland #WildAtlanticWay #PureCork #Skibbereen #WestCork #Cork #ireland #plastic #wildlife #environment #clonakilty #wildatlanticway #purecork #ballydehob read full story / add a comment