Monday the 24th of September at 5pm is the deadline for making submissions to An Bord Pleanála on the South Dublin County Council & Coillte plans for what is known as the Dublin Mountains Project for the Hellfire Club & Masseys Wood nearby. The plan is one dreamed up by the council and will cost € 19 million of taxpayer money i.e. collected property tax etc for what is basically a bit of a white-elephant project that will damage the environment, limit public access and charge a fee for what is now free and is expected to run at a loss for at least first 3 years, but yet the private contractors running it will be "insulated" from losses. In essence the project will put an valuable amenity that is in public hands effectively into private hands and give them a license to milk the public forever on it. If this gets through, it will be replicated all over the country in that arrogant and greed driven way we are all familiar with from the Celtic Tiger days and again today. ... read full story / add a comment

Bea Johnson has just announced details of her 9th speaking tour in which she will visit 10 European countries including a visit to Cork where she will share her inspirational story of change at a talk in Rochestown Park Hotel on 27 September at 8.00pm. The event is open to all, tickets are 15 Euro and any profits generated from ticket sales will be donated to CHASE to go towards Oral Hearing bills. See below for details on how to get tickets ... read full story / add a comment

This September sees the much-anticipated return of The 5th Wexford Documentary Film Festival, a jam-packed 3-day festival of international, national, and local films. The festival takes place in the picturesque fishing village of Kilmore Quay, County Wexford from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th September 2017. Screening of films will be in the local Stella Maris Centre, and in many interesting and unexpected off-site venues throughout the village. The festival includes post screenings Q&As with international directors, discussions, lively debates, and a variety of film workshops. The Wexford Documentary film festival is gaining strength and popularity, by providing the public with the opportunity to see award winning national and international documentary films and 2017 is no exception! ... read full story / add a comment

In remembrance of 9/11 we are reproducing this important article from the Land Destroyer Report -Indymedia Ireland

The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) left nearly 3,000 dead in NYC, Washington D.C. and over Pennsylvania. The attacks transformed America into a deepening police state at home and a nation perpetually at war abroad.

The official narrative claims that 19 hijackers representing Al Qaeda took over 4 commercial aircraft to carry out attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

The event served as impetus for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan which continues to present day. It also led directly to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Attempts to cite the attack to precipitate a war with Iran and other members of the so-called "Axis of Evil" (Libya, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba) have also been made. ... read full story / add a comment

This article appeared as a guest article on the Saker Blog and is reproduced here to help draw attention to this issue.

August has been a month for exposing how the “Empire” works at the social media level, inside the activist communities and, in this case, through the social media movements aimed at defending Syria. Western governments have outlaid millions for this purpose and countless allied agencies are involved across various languages and media, from actual military personnel managing multiple fake characters [1], to other programs targeting online socio-political activism, even to the extent of online publications being created and “discovered” that appear as belonging to ISIS [2]. ... read full story / add a comment

The German minister of the Interior announced today (Fri 25th Aug) early in the morning that Indymedia Linksunten, a local German IMC, was declared illegal.

This seems partially as a result of the media coverage the site gave to the recent G20 protests in Hamburg that embarrassed the government on the world stage and for the crime of airing the grievance of the populace that they don't like predatory capitalism.

It comes also as the government faces into an election and that the entire political system shifts further to the right and all things Left are to be discredited such as free health or education, equality etc. Instead fear is the new norm these days and at the very same time when it is plain to see that practically all European governments are now simply vassals of the USA as evident in the way their foreign policies match in lockstep the dictates of the US war machine and the financial policies imposing austerity, privatisation and the stripping away of the social gains of the last century match those of the "Washington Neo-Liberal & Banking Parasitic" class.

... read full story / add a comment

These are my initial published thoughts on the terrorist attack I and my partner survived and endured 17th August 2017.
Fadó Fadó, long time ago, when many more readers came to this corner of the internet, I published a series of articles in reaction to a terrorist attack on Madrid, the 11th of March 2004. I promoted a simple design back then, to my surprise the idea found traction and was accepted by countless people. i had thought my suggestion was easy to reproduce and helped people express collective mourning, to show publicly their fellowship with a community in shock. My design was a black ribbon, one which was easy to knock up variations upon and print out. I admit the ribbon idea was based on my much younger years when I had worn a green ribbon in support of a complex idea back then : the inclusion of political prisoners in a tentative British Irish peace process. Am I turning some off the provenance? OH talk to me about my youth why not? The idea of a black ribbon took off the weekend of March 11th, 2004, whilst the then government of Spain falsely attributed an attack by Salafists in the ambit of Al Qaeda on Madrid by blaming the Basque armed seperatist group ETA. IT was a few days before a general election. An estimated 80,000 people took to the streets of Spain and the Spanish state and camped out in front of government offices and the offices of the ruling party demanding the truth... I was one... the ribbon was a moment in my life... I never wanted to see it used again In the last hours the city of my home where I have lived almost 20 years has been victim of a long anticipated terrorist attack. Even google now puts a black ribbon. I return to indymedia ireland to indulge POV reflections. ... read full story / add a comment

Yesterday the city where I live was victim to terrorist attack which has long been anticipated and it would seem prepared for. The attack happened within 600 metres of my home. I pass on foot every day the street which yesterday became a trail of human blood dragged out by a young man turned mass murderer, to be claimed and vaunted later by so-called DAESH/ISIS and then it seems to be a trigger for another simliar attack on a tourist town. You will understand if I come to this text with attitude. I have pointed out many times the soft points in the city where I live & yesterday my wife and another our closest friend were both caught up in on ordeal which lasted hours. There are lessons to learn. These are thus my initial published thoughts on the terrorist attack I and my partner survived and endured 17th August 2017 & are party to the words I am writing and publishing now in various languages. There are lessons to learn & I feel it my duty to point out a few. Especially since a meme idea I promoted lots perhaps thought up if i can remember correctly is the go to for societal collective fetishized memorial glyph. I never wanted to see black ribbons again. But they do come back & they will. ... read full story / add a comment

Ireland has become the fourth European country to ban hydraulic fracturing (after France, Bulgaria and Germany). On June 28, the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Prohibition of Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing) Bill passed the final legislative stages in the Seanad.

The session included the committee, report, and final stages that took place in the Seanad chamber, where the gallery was full of supporters of the ban. It now requires only the signature of President Michael D. Higgins to become law. This is expected in the coming days. ... read full story / add a comment

My Name Is Rachel Corrie

Jul 3rd – Jul 8th
Preview Mon July 3. Opens Tues July 4 @ 7.30pm
Tickets: €16 (€12.50 conc./groups of 8+)
See below for details on booking tickets

Based on the writings of a young American activist who was killed in Palestine in 2003, at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces. ... read full story / add a comment

Reproduced from the editorial of “The Socialist”, newspaper of the Socialist Party in England and Wales

As more details emerge and the death toll rises, it becomes clearer and clearer what a terrible disaster this is. The fire spread with horrifying speed and witnesses describe heart-breaking scenes as people desperately tried to escape.

It is a huge tragedy for the immediate community. Children have died; three generations of the same family have died. But rather than being torn apart, the community has come together in a remarkable display of human solidarity, supporting each other, collecting donations of goods and money, organising emergency accommodation, coordinating relief.

The heroism, the courage, the self-sacrifice of the emergency services and of local residents is incredible. Who can fail to be moved by the scenes of the firefighters being applauded as they drove away from the scene?

And there has naturally been a much wider outpouring of sympathy with the residents and families affected, with overwhelming donations of money, clothes, bedding, toys, nappies, etc. The true face of humanity has been shown in this solidarity. ... read full story / add a comment

This issue of People’s News This issue of People’s News has an unusual number of articles on military matters, and regular readers will have noticed that over the past few months these types of articles have steadily increased in number. This reflects the alarmingly rapid development of an EU army and its support mechanisms. It is a development about which there is very little awareness in Ireland, and one that may have serious implications for us all. ... read full story / add a comment

Food Not Bombs recovers and shares free vegan food with the public without restriction in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment.
Each group is independent and invites everyone to participate in making decisions for their local chapter using the consensus process.

Food Not Bombs is dedicated to taking nonviolent direct action to change society so no one is forced to stand in line to eat at a soup kitchen expressing a commitment to the fact that food is a right and not a privilege. With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend money on weapons or war.

A new initiative has been started in Dublin. we appeal for volunteers.
... read full story / add a comment

Minister Dennis Naughton, TD, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, has been urged to support a United Nations Convention’s ruling requiring suspension of work on the new Hinkley Point UK nuclear reactor until a transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] is completed.

The first new nuclear station to be constructed in the UK since 1995, Hinkley C is a 3.2GW nuclear power plant composed of two reactors. The power plant will generate 7% of UK's electricity if constructed. The UK position is that “the likely impacts determined through a thorough EIA do not extend beyond the county of Somerset and the Severn Estuary”.

The Espoo Convention, signed by Ireland in 1991, requires that the opportunity for comment provided to the public of potentially affected Parties is ‘equivalent to that provided to the public of the Party of origin’. ... read full story / add a comment

The large vote for Corbyn's Labour socialist type policies shows that moving to the Left rather than the centre resonates with the masses and shows that things like issues of health, education and jobs are core issues and perhaps shows a sign that a certain section of the population is beginning to notice that practically every political party is infested with banking and corporate favoured policies and shrills and technocrats working on their behalf while the population is being relentlessly screwed by austerity. ... read full story / add a comment

WSWS.org carries a report on the plans of the new French president - Emmanuel Macron -who was presented as an outsider but in fact was not and in cohorts with the corporate controlled media misled the French people, for now he is about to launch the greatest assault yet on workers conditions.

... read full story / add a comment

Take A Stand to Save Hellfire and Massy's Woods in Dublin Mts Sunday 28th May at 1 pm - Assemble at Hellfire Carpark There will be an overflow carpark in a nearby field if the Hellfire carpark fills up. ... read full story / add a comment

Stand with the defendants, stand with Jobstown, stand with Tallaght. Send a clear message to the establishment politicians and the Gardaí - Tallaght is united in support of the protesters and the right to protest.

Please come to the Stand With Jobstown March - Saturday 6 May at 2pm.

Assemble: Swimming Pool (Jobstown) OR The Square Luas Stop
Both marches will come together in Jobstown ... read full story / add a comment

This is opinion & analysis piece comes from Integrity Ireland who are attempting to fight corruption in the legal system and face an uphill struggle in their task and this piece illustrates well what they are up against.
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Well, it has been an interesting few weeks again, with reports of increasingly odd and bizarre ‘developments’ – especially regarding decisions being made by Gardaí, by Courts Service Staff and by senior personnel at the DPP’s Office. ... read full story / add a comment

To help highlight the case of the Jobstown 18 we are republishing an open letter by Irish Writers.

We write as writers concerned with the impact of proposed jury restrictions in the case of the Jobstown 18 on freedom of expression in Ireland. ... read full story / add a comment