Just three weeks ago the National Transport Authority (NTA) officially started the tendering for 2016 of initially 10% of Dublin Bus routes and a further 10% of all Bus Eireann routes with most of the routes in Waterford City, and a number of Dublin commuter routes are to be privatised. In the original plan a number of Cork City routes were to go but these will probably happen later. This process has been the culmination of a relentless effort by Fine Gael (FG) in the present government and their predecessors and fellow Neo-Liberal ideologists, Fianna Fáil (FF) in the last government where they have consistently pushed for the break up of both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann so that it can be handed over to their friends in the private sector to run on a profit basis. The NTA is used as a sort of cloak of respectability to give the impression that they will actually be a regulator with teeth of which we know very few regulators have any teeth, with the banking regulator during the Celtic Tiger coming to mind, plus many other examples and the function of NTA is really for propaganda value to convince the middle class. However this whole scheme is about ideology and is NOT about competition but about privatisation.

Related Links: Prices rises are on the way for public transport users... | Joe Higgins TD seeks topical issue debate tomorrow in Dáil on Bus Eireann strike | Government to fund private bus companies! - Jobs, wages & services under threat | Rivermeade residents wage war to defend the 40B bus

This article examines the Transatlantic Free Trade agreement and it's potential repercussions. In 2010 the US mining and gas company, Renco, managed to successfully avoid having to pay compensation to Peruvian locals who were harmed due to pollution by their companies by successfully using a provision of the Peru-US Trade Agreement[1]. Not satisfied with avoiding having to pay compensation, the company has since demanded $800 million from the Peruvian government as they argue that one of the companies they own, Doe Run, was forced into bankruptcy due to an expensive pollution clean-up which the Peruvian government required Doe Run to conduct [2].

Related Links: Wikileaks Publishes Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) | Surround The European Business Summit! | Peoples News issue No. 110 Date: 21 – 9 – 14 -See TTIP related articles | PEOPLES NEWS ISSUE NO. 106 DATE: 22 – 6 – 14 -See P 2. The world’s largest trade union demands a halt to TTIP negotiations | PEOPLES NEWS Issue No. 103 -See P2. Could TTIP contain an Internet censorship plan? | Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Debate in Dublin – Weds 5 Nov | Galway meeting highlights the insidious nature of TTIP | Water Charges and TTIP! | TTIP: Democracy on trial
http://StopTTIP.net | https://stop-ttip.org/ | Stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Over 100 separate local demonstrations took place today (Sat Nov 1st) against the Water Charges and for the Right 2 Water. Organisers estimate conservatively that over 150,000 were out on the streets today to send a message to this government that they won't accept paying for water twice and having it privatised later.

People realize that all the false promises and allowances will eventually be dropped and the long term result will be that a privatised water company will prey on the people with massive hikes in charges and big fat bonuses for themselves.

There were protests from Cork & Kerry to Wexford to Dublin to Limerick to Galway to Sligo to Donegal to Cavan to Dundalk and all over the Midlands. There has never been anything like it perhaps since the foundation of the state. The people are truly fed up and are determined and will not be abused by the political technocrats of big Capital that is robbing every social gain our forebears fought hard to get over the past century.

Related Links: Water Charge FAQ - your questions answered | Right2Water National Day of Local Protests - Sat Nov 1st | Right2Water National Protest against Water charges - Sat Oct 11th @ 2pm | No-one will be safe from water charges if we don't stand and fight | Why Irish Water Will Be Sold Off | The New Water Barons | Blockades of Water Meter installations in Cork and Dublin | The Irish water debacle: a timeline | http://www.Right2Water.ie/
Other Experiences: Resisting Water Privatisation in Bolivia and Ireland Bolivian Protesters end Water Privatization in La Paz, El Alto

For lots more pictures check each of the various campaign pages from around the country.

Campaign Facebook Pages: Carlow, facebook | Clare, Ennis facebook | Dublin, Blanchardstown, facebook | Dublin, Blanchardstown, facebook | Dublin, Ballyfermot facebook | Dublin, Blanchardstown facebook | Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, facebook | Dublin, Dundrum facebook | Dublin, Ringsend, facebook | Dublin, Tallaght facebook | Fingal, Swords, facebook | Galway, facebook | Kildare, Athy, facebook | Kildare, Celbridge, facebook | Kildare, Leixlip, facebook | Kildare, Naas, facebook | Kildare, Newbridge facebook | Kilkenny, facebook | Louth, Ardee facebook | Louth, Dundalk, facebook | Sligo, facebook | Wexford, New Ross facebook | Wexford, Gorey facebook | Wexford, Wexford Town, facebook | Wicklow, Bray, facebook | Wicklow, Greystones, facebook | Wicklow, Wicklow, facebook | Wicklow, Arklow, facebook

Corruption and incompetence rule in certain corridors of Dublin City Council. Coventa the company which somehow won the tender (despite not being a party to the bidding) and Dublin City Council have pushed the cost up to nearly €100 million for the land. Council Manager Owen Keegan said not one cent of the €96 million that has already been spent will be clawed back if the plan doesn't go ahead. Despite also as extra €36 million in extra costs many Councillors state that this whole thing has nothing to do with mad ideas from Bertie Ahern. Even if it does not go ahead it will still cost €600 million, and obviously this is the best interests of every else abroad who likes to sabotage Irish planning and make a few million doing so. Renewable energy is the future but not for the old school chums of yesteryear.

Related Links: update 02/10/2014: Stop The Poolbeg Incinerator - Protest March To Dail - Weds 22nd Oct |
Poolbeg Incineration the Fallacy of Need | Local Residents Will Continue Campaign Against Poolbeg Incinerator Despite EPA Ruling (2008) | Anti-Dublin Incinerator campaign appeal to attend Oral Hearing | City Council appear sure of incinerator despite challenge by campaigners | Government in Cahoots with incinerator industry | Over three thousand objections to proposed Poolbeg incinerator in Dublin | http://www.CovantaWatch.org/ -Tracks pollution and regulatory violations etc by Covanta
Update: Briefing note to council by Owen Keegan to Council pushing the incinerator

SUMMARY: I arrived in Ennis without pen or notebook to support the action of Margaretta D'Arcy and Niall Farrell who protested on the runway of Shannon against the US military use of the airport. The following is a colour story of happenings on the day relying on memory only. I hope that someone else may provide a fuller report and my apologies for any errors in this report which are entirely my responsibility.

Related Links: Magaretta D'Arcy jailed | Statement from Margaretta D'Arcy on her Release from Mountjoy Prison | FREE Margaretta D'Arcy, US Out Of Shannon / National Demonstration |
From the Archives: DDoS Attack: Website Monitoring Military and CIA Planes through Shannon Shannon, Torture, Troops, and Timebombs | Extraordinary Rendition Through Shannon: Protesters Point Finger At A Government In Denial | Airport Police move swiftly to suppress evidence. Is there a "torture jet" behind that warplane? | Letter from Prison: Shannon airport, civil disobedience and the anti-war movement in Ireland | The Real Nature of the Security around Shannon | Shannon WARport Blockade PICTURES | Three Thousand Protest War in Dublin - Two Protest at Shannon Warport Shannon Blockade Reports | Not Guilty. The Pitstop Ploughshares All Acquitted on All Charges | Another 5 go airside in Ploughshares action at Shannon Airport | Mary Kelly Trial | MASS ANTI-WAR TRESPASS AT SHANNON WARPORT A chronology of arrests etc at Shannon warport