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The abject disregard of the Irish political elite for Ireland's neutrality has been demonstrated by the routine transit of US military planes and troops through Shannon Airport for most of this decade. With the re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum we are now being asked to accept EU promises that it will not affect or prejudice Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality. But the ongoing support of the Irish government for US-led NATO exercises around the world clearly shows that we cannot trust our leaders to uphold Irish neutrality, with or without the non-binding decisions that have been tagged onto the Treaty in an attempt to have it accepted by the people of Ireland.

Related Links:
Irish Friends of Palestine Against Lisbon put their case to the public in Dublin's Grafton Street | Green Party U-Turn on a Democratic EU | The Lisbon Treaty and the Triumph of Technocracy | Debut of Irish Friends of Palestine Against Lisbon outside Dublin EU Parliament Offices | 13 Things the Lisbon Treaty Would Do | The Legal guarantees on Lisbon Treaty will not change treaty - a propaganda stunt to mislead voters | Dáil shouldn't have inferior Lisbon Treaty powers to German Parliament, controlling ministers | The Lisbon Treaty, Alan Shatter and the guys in hoods! | Lisbon Treaty News: German Constitutional Court delays Germany’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty | The Gurantees: Comment by Jens-Peter Bonde | Spoofing the Irish media and public with Lisbon “guarantees” that guarantee nothing | Supposed ‘hard fight’ to secure guarantees on Lisbon Treaty: a clever tactic to mislead says McKenna | Lisbon: Round Two - A bosses charter, with or without 'guarantees' | The Lisbon Assurances - A Closer Look

Shannon Watch's Website - www.shannonwatch.org

Cowen, Lenihan, and Coughlan
Axis of Eejits

The Fianna Fail government, by frantically rushing criminal legislation through the Oireachtas, is hoping to exploit "the law and order" issue ...

Related Links:

Paddy Hackett's Blog | Paddy Hackett's Indymedia.ie Articles | President signs Criminal Justice and Blasphemy bills into law - Politics.ie | Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 - From Dail.ie

... as a desperate means of stemming any further loss in popular support while using this strategy as a platform to rebuild and expand popular support. It seeks to take over the Fine Gael mantle as "the law and order party". It hopes that by introducing such measures it can succeed in crushing crime. It hopes too that "law and order" will form part of the grand diversion from the economic disaster besetting Ireland. By wiping out crime and "making the trains run on time" Fianna Fáil hope that the resulting increasing authoritarianism of the state will transform it into a keener weapon for constricting the working class.

IFPAL on Grafton Street

For the last three days, several activists from the recently formed campaigning group IFPAL (Irish Friends of Palestine Against Lisbon) manned a stall at the top of Dublin's Grafton St, conspicuously decorated with Palestinian flags billowing freely in the breezy, showery weather.

Related Links:
Green Party U-Turn on a Democratic EU | The Lisbon Treaty and the Triumph of Technocracy | Debut of Irish Friends of Palestine Against Lisbon outside Dublin EU Parliament Offices | 13 Things the Lisbon Treaty Would Do | The Legal guarantees on Lisbon Treaty will not change treaty - a propaganda stunt to mislead voters | Dáil shouldn't have inferior Lisbon Treaty powers to German Parliament, controlling ministers | The Lisbon Treaty, Alan Shatter and the guys in hoods! | Lisbon Treaty News: German Constitutional Court delays Germany’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty | The Gurantees: Comment by Jens-Peter Bonde | Spoofing the Irish media and public with Lisbon “guarantees” that guarantee nothing | Supposed ‘hard fight’ to secure guarantees on Lisbon Treaty: a clever tactic to mislead says McKenna | Lisbon: Round Two - A bosses charter, with or without 'guarantees' | The Lisbon Assurances - A Closer Look

Irish Friends of Palestine Against Lisbon Website - www.ifpal.ie

Map of Tara/Skryne Area

The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is currently conducting two separate public consultations, allegedly to protect Tara. There is the proposed Tara Skryne Landscape Conservation Area and the proposed Tara UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the Minister has not produced one single map showing the proposed areas, and has refused to answer Parliamentary Questions on the issue.

Related Links:
Hill of Tara - www.hilloftara.info
Follow TaraWatch on Twitter
Save Tara, from Causes.com

“The Minister must stop hiding the ball and define Tara if there is to be effective public consultation for these so-called protective measures. We have two expensive and elaborate public consultations taking place separately, for the same approximate area, but we don’t have one single map defining that area. The Minister’s measures appear to be a smoke screen, with illusory promises of protection, which will not have any legislative basis. The Minister could easily give Tara real statutory protection, by broadening the boundary of the national monument in the National Monuments Bill 2009 he just announced." - Vincent Salafia, TaraWatch

TEEU Members on strike outside Guinness

Here Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party MEP for Dublin, talks about the recent electricians´ strike, the disgusting attacks on it by the bosses and media, and how we can all learn from the success of the electricians.

You would think from reading some newspaper articles and editorials that workers go on strike to deliberately wreak havoc on whichever sector they work in, or on society in general.

Take the 10,500 strong electricians strike last week. "Strike flies in the face of reason" pompously declared an editorial in a daily newspaper. An economic commentator went one better, calling the strike "insane and delusional". Former Minister of State and current Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Federation, Tom Parlon outshouted them all when he said that "we cannot let the lunatics be in charge."

Related Links:
Joe Higgins's Website | Socialist Party Website

Supporting the Electricians' Strike | Shocking Preliminary Results from NECI Survey | Electricians' Victory | TEEU - Striking Back Against Pay Cuts