After months of negotiations and four days of formal meetings, the United Nations voted on development policies at the fourth UN Financing for Development Forum. The UN meetings convene world leaders, ministers, governments, the IMF, World Bank and development groups. The annual process attempts to implement the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, an international agreement that includes policies on debt, tax, trade, transparency and aid. read full story / add a comment

Research published in the journal Science of the Total Environment has discovered that Ireland’s water supplies contain hazardous levels of pesticides. Irish Water has also acknowledged the danger. read full story / add a comment

Tomorrow the European Parliament will vote on a 13 billion military research and development fund, the so called European Defence Fund. One thousand researchers, scientists and academics from twenty-five European countries call on the Parliament to vote against the Fund. They argue that the EU should tackle the root causes of conflict instead of funding military research.

On Thursday the European Parliament votes on a ‘compromise text’ on the European Defence Fund. This would be a significant break with past European policies, as military funding has until now been excluded from the EU budget.

The 1000 researchers warn of the consequences of an R&D programme for new arms technology. "The establishment of an EU military research programme points towards an unprecedented acceleration in the militarisation of the EU," says Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility. "Investing EU funds in military research will not only divert resources from more peaceful areas, but is also likely to
fuel arms races, undermining security in Europe and elsewhere". read full story / add a comment

In Somalia, 60 percent of the 15 million person population lives in extreme poverty. According to the United Nations Development Programme almost 10 million people live in extreme poverty or close to poverty in Somalia while the war-torn African nation wrestles with a $4.6 billion debt. On Friday, Somalia's Finance Minister Abdirahman Beileh will call for debt cancellation for humanitarian assistance. read full story / add a comment

For the second day in a row, the International Monetary Fund raised concerns of pending financial crisis. Ahead of the Spring IMF and World Bank meetings, the IMF released the Global Financial Stability Report, warning of "vulnerabilities" in corporate debt, house values and sovereign (country) debt. read full story / add a comment

As world leaders, finance ministers, business leaders and development groups gather for the Spring International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, the IMF raises fresh concerns about the global economy. The IMF releases the biannual World Economic Outlook Report noting a slowdown in global growth and focusing on economic challenges that include unsustainable debt, trade tensions and the impact of natural disasters on the financial system. read full story / add a comment

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

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

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

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

The Fine Gael Minister responsible for housing, Eoghan Murphy, is playing with figures again. He wants to protect his PR image rather than get on with the job of building houses.

He pretends that the numbers who are homeless is ‘just under’ 10,000. But this does not include those registered as rough sleepers or women who are in refuges because of domestic abuse. Nor does it include many of the hidden homeless who are sleeping on sofas in overcrowded conditions. read full story / add a comment

FOREST BIOMASS CHALLENGE TO CO-FIRED PEAT PLANTS

The inclusion of forest biomass as a renewable fuel fatally undermines the goals of the new European Renewable Energy Directive [RED II], according to Plaintiffs from six different countries in an action filed today in the European General Court in Luxembourg. Each has suffered, in diverse and particular ways, from the consequences of the Directive’s biomass energy policy. read full story / add a comment

Focus Ireland has said that new figures reporting a total of 9,987 people homeless in January show the Government is still failing to do enough to ease the crisis.

The figures show a rise of 2.3% (234 people) in one month alone from 9,753 in Dec to 9,987 in Jan 2019.

The figures from the Department of the Environment also show that 3,624 of the number homeless are children (in 1,614 families) read full story / add a comment

The challenge by Irish environmentalists has proven that the 'New Fortress Energy' Shannon LNG consent process will take years and may now never come to fruition.

'Safety Before LNG' stated that today's decision was to be expected and does not come as any surprise and thanks the 'Friends of the Irish Environment' for fighting to prevent climate chaos from the environmental madness that is the US fracked gas industry. read full story / add a comment