Features
Remember the name: Paul Coulson. In 2002, he closed down the Irish Glass Bottle Company, making 375 workers redundant. Many came from the local community in Ringsend, working in a plant that started in 1932. But Coulson did not care – he was in it for the money. A former accountant,
Features
Housing remains one of the top issues in this general election. Here Stewart Smyth exposes the government’s spin and myths about the housing crisis and argues that another housing system is possible. In a stale and social media driven election campaign, where the mainstream candidates are mollycoddled by the
Features
Over the past year anti-immigration sentiment has been fanned by far right parties and the Government. Brian O’Boyle reviews the tactics used to scapegoat migrants for government failures and argues for principled anti-racist politics in the upcoming election. Simon Harris became the Irish Taoiseach in April 2024,
Features
The decision to erect chain link fences along our canals and chase our homeless around the city is a purposeful and cruel political choice that needs to be opposed. Nathan Ó Broin analyses enclosure and gentrification in Dublin making the case for local resistance and a People’s City. The
Features
Housing is the number one issue in these elections. Stewart Smyth argues that the local elections represent an opportunity to put campaigners in council chambers and evict Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The housing crisis remains the central issue for most voters. Housing is consistently the number one issue for
Features
The Irish Government is gearing up to have Ireland opt into the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact. Niaṁ Ní Mháille explains the pact and the grave consequences it is likely to have on those seeking asylum. On 27 March 2024, the Department of Justice announced that Minister Helen McEntee
Features
As the housing crisis rages across this island Stewart Smyth assesses the need for a state construction company and welcomes the announcement of new NIHE homes being built in the North. However, major battles on housing lie ahead. Irish Housing Minister, Darragh O’Brien, is the consummate bourgeois politician. While
Features
The Government’s refusal to extend the eviction ban beyond the end of March means thousands of people could face eviction in the coming months. Stewart Smyth argues that they are fighting for their class – so we need to fight for ours. This government is incompetent. I know this is
Features
In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey, Memet Uludağ looks at the responses of the ruling class and of ordinary people, arguing for something better than a return to capitalist “normality”. As time passes, the hope for finding more survivors is fading. It has been 8
Features
In the wake of protests in East Wall against asylum seekers who have been accommodated in an old ESB building there, Stewart Smyth lays out the case that problem is not with refugees, but with government policies that have created a housing crisis. To start, this article is not about
Features
In November the Minister for Communities announced plans to reclassify the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as a housing ‘mutual’. Housing activist Glyn Robbins explores the record of mutuals in Britain, arguing that this reclassification amounts to a privatisation that will make matters worse. Soon after being elected in 1997, Tony
Features
Recent headlines have celebrated Stormont’s plan to shake up housing. Housing expert Stewart Smyth analyses the announcement and argues that worryingly, privatisation looms large. There was a lot of fanfare recently when Minister for Communities, Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin), announced what she called the “most radical shake-up