IMF report shows government facilitating unsustainable property and house price bubble which Is fuelling the housing crisis

Government must stop facilitating unaffordable housing and shift all resources and focus to providing public and affordable housing

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has said that the IMF report ‘Global Financial Stability Report’ has shown once again that the government’s housing policy is a total failure.
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Today (4th Apr) is the seventieth anniversary of the foundation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On 3rd and 4th April foreign ministers from NATO countries are meeting in Washington D.C.

This is no cause for celebration. NATO is an aggressive imperialist war machine that expresses and serves the interests and profitability of capital and the monopolies. NATO is the enemy of peace and social progress. It exists in the interests of preserving the current social system. read full story / add a comment

Workers’ Party councillor and Euro candidate Éilis Ryan has said the government’s new rent regulations leave plenty loopholes for landlords to exploit.

Commenting following Minister Eoghan Murphy’s announcement of the new regulations this evening, Cllr. Ryan said:

“Landlords will breathe a sigh of relief that Minister Murphy continues to allow plenty loopholes for a landlord who wishes to get rid of a tenant. They can still use the excuse of giving a property to a relative, of selling up, or of refurbishing, and be confident that, by the time they could be found out, the tenant will have had to move on to new accommodation read full story / add a comment

Workers’ Party Dublin City Councillor Éilis Ryan has condemned what she says is the hypocrisy of Dublin City officials opening housing exhibition on Vienna’s housing model, today (Tuesday, 2ndApril) while refusing to contemplate similar public housing schemes in Dublin. read full story / add a comment

New Record Figures Must Be A Line In the Sand In The Battle To End Homelessness Crisis As Numbers Pass 10,000 For First Time

Focus Ireland said that the new record of over 10,000 people homeless must be a line in the sand in the battle to end the ever deepening crisis.

The charity has called for a period of honest reflection by the Government – and all parties concerned – to agree how we can deliver more effective policies. read full story / add a comment

On Monday the Senate failed to pass disaster relief funding to benefit Americans impacted by wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and other natural disasters. Republicans and Democrats clashed over recovery aid amounts for Puerto Rico and two separate proposals could not muster enough votes for passage. read full story / add a comment

The Senate agreed to vote next week on disaster relief legislation that includes $600 million in emergency food assistance for Puerto Rico. In recent days, a turbulent exchange between President Trump and Congressional leadership exploded over whether or not Puerto Rico disaster aid monies should be included in Senate legislation. read full story / add a comment

A gut punch that gets straight to the essence of the stark reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. This is how an artist resists.” – Joe Sacco

Between 27th March and 4th April the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is honoured to host a speaking and exhibition tour with acclaimed Palestinian political cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh. read full story / add a comment

This year, LASC’s annual Latin America Week (LAW) will be focused on Gender and Extractive Industries. Between April 6th and 13th we will host a series of talks in Dublin, Cork and Galway to explore how extractive industries impact on women in Latin America.

Our Latin America Week keynote speaker is Jakeline Romero Epiayu, from La Guajira, Colombia. Jakeline is a member of local organisation Fuerza de Mujeres Wayúu (Wayúu Women’s Force) which works to visibilise the violations of human and ethnic rights in La Guajira, and to strengthen the rights of women and indigenous communities in the region. The organisation also works on denouncement of the negative consequences of mining and energy mega projects in the region, such as the Cerrejón coal mine. read full story / add a comment

ARE TREES THE NEW COAL? UN International Day of Forests Documentary Release
UN International Day of Forests on Thursday 21 March

A documentary about the burning of wood at an industrial scale for energy is being released today to coincide with UN International Day of Forests.

"BURNED: Are Trees the New Coal?" tells the story of the accelerating destruction of our forests for fuel. read full story / add a comment

CHASE’s legal challenge to the planning permission decision by An Bord Pleanála for an incinerator in Cork Harbour opened in the High Court in Dublin on Tuesday 19 March before Mr Justice David Barniville. Judge Barniville is in charge of the Strategic Infrastructure Development list of cases at the High Court. read full story / add a comment

Yesterday, a local court ruled that the German Government must do more to ensure its territory is not used by the US to carry out unlawful drone strikes in Yemen. read full story / add a comment

Folklore observations concerning the Carrickaboy area read full story / add a comment

Protests at Shannon abound read full story / add a comment

Thursday, 14 March, after a campaign of 47 years, only one former soldier (aptly named “Soldier F” having been granted anonymity) who opened fire that day in Derry has finally been charged by the North’s Public Prosecution Service with murder read full story / add a comment

The House of Representatives is holding hearings on legislative initiatives to deter corruption and secrecy in the global financial system. read full story / add a comment

On March 8 each year, there is certainly no shortage of outrages that have been perpetrated against women over the course of another year of violence, human rights abuses and oppression read full story / add a comment

Ireland's Largest Association for the counselling and psychotherapy professions welcomes the announcement of the registration board for the regulation of their practices. read full story / add a comment

Ireland's Largest Members' Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists condemns the practice of universally discredited therapy in Ireland. read full story / add a comment

Lay Litigant Kevin Tracey had a significant win in the Supreme Court when he succeeded in having a contempt of court order quashed after 12 years and 9 months. In the judgement delivered by O;Donnell J and supported by 3 colleagues including the Chief Justice it was found that he had not received fair procedures in the District Court. In his long struggle for justice there were many obstacles in his way. One of these was the Courts Service within whose walls someone backdated a Court order by nine months. This prevented him from appealing a High Court judgement within the permitted time limit. The long struggle for justice reminds me of the remark of a passing countryman to a mason called Mike who with my student brother was taking longer than expected to build build a hen shed: “Do you know, Mike, if every hen was as hard housed, a lot of them would shleep out”. It’s not funny to recall in these days of homelessness, that many other lay litigants may be left literally sleeping out after the justice system in Ireland prolongs their agony in their efforts to obtain simple justice from that same justice system. read full story / add a comment