Dublin and Wexford - jobs done! read full story / add a comment

This blog, my first, will in general aim to document the program and specifically my experiences on JobPath. Protecting their identities you will meet the other job seekers and staff, will there be villains and hero’s or stale biscuits and tea? The blog will be anonymous because I’m not sure how DSP or Seetec will feel about the real time, real person, review.

Why do a blog, I feel that it gives a window for the 115,000 people who will be invited to the mandatory scheme over the full 4+2 years. JobPath is discussed by politicians, by journalist and even on public forums, the vast majority of whom only get the opportunity to view from the outside in and so only see things from a superficial vantage point. My time embedded or if you like immersed in the scheme, gives a personal and unique opportunity to document my experience and is allowing me the privilege of blogging from the inside out. It requires some intrusion into my life and maybe some repetitive reading, it will require some commitment from myself and the thought of possible consequences leave me a little unhinged. However difficult it is personally, hopefully it will serve the purpose of shedding light on the truth in a way that turning up with a press pass or in a Ministerial car, never could do.

In November 2018, I received a second ‘invitation’ that I couldn’t refuse to do another 52 weeks of JobPath. Considering the amount of people who viewed the blog from all corners of the planet and the participants that the blog helped, along with the number of people who contact me for and offering me help, I’m going to do another 52 weeks of blogging under JobPath two. The aims will be the same. read full story / add a comment

Call for Oral Hearing for Galway City Ring Road

On the last day for submissions on the proposed Galway City Ring Road, environmentalists have called on An Bord Pleanala to hold an Oral Hearing.

According to Friends of the Irish Environment, the project will undermine national policy in Smarter Travel - A Sustainable Transport Future and its target to reduce work-related commuting by car from 65% to 45%. The environmental charity alleges that because the road will encourage greater use of private motor vehicles in Galway over the period up to and beyond 2050, it is also contrary to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 which set a national objective of transition to a low carbon climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy. read full story / add a comment

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights who have continuously monitored the civil war in Syria, have identified an increase in US military activity in the area close to the Turkish Border in conjunction with Turkey's threats to invade Rojava read full story / add a comment

Wednesday, December 12, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced plans for his new military adventure against the Kurds read full story / add a comment

In a decision that will have significant repercussions for the licensing of Ireland’s salmon farms, the Commissioner for Environmental Information has found that the Minister for Agriculture’s refusal to release information in the annual Department Inspection Reports about the standing stocking rates on salmon farms was not justified. read full story / add a comment

UN will oblige Germany to pay reparations for occupation of Poland. read full story / add a comment

Ireland is one of six legal cases brought against Governments worldwide seeking stronger action against national greenhouse gas emissions which are being highlighted today at the UN Climate talks in Katowice, Poland.

Clodagh Daly, speaking on behalf of Climate Case Ireland, joined speakers representing legal challenges against the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and the US Federal Government.

The legal actions all aim to ensure that governments deliver the urgent cuts in emissions necessary to avert catastrophic climate change. read full story / add a comment

This article argues for the inclusion of a "None of the above" option on all ballot papers in an election. It starts by explaining the benefits of its inclusion. Then it demonstrates how its inclusion can be achieved through activism. read full story / add a comment

PRESS RELEASE: HORSECRACING IRELAND AWARDS DEMONSTRATION.
STOP RACING HORSES TO DEATH, END ALL Equine RACING , Horses deserve the right to live free of exhaustive training, pain and death.
The horse racing industry advertises itself as “glamorous,” or the Sport of Kings. However in reality, exploitation, welfare violations, cruelty, and premature deaths are an inherent and unavoidable part of this industry which is based on greed. A lot of effort is put in to covering up the true face of the industry. Dr. Holly Cheever, an award winning veterinary surgeon and expert on animal abuse prevention noted “cruelty is an inherent part of the horse racing industry.”
• read full story / add a comment

The first International Conference against US/NATO Military Bases was held on November 16-18, at the Liberty Hall in Dublin, Ireland. The conference was attended by close to 300 participants from over thirty-five countries from around the world. Speakers representing countries from all continents, including Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, United States, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, Israel, Palestine, Kenya, D. R. Congo, Japan and Australia, made presentations at the conference. read full story / add a comment

This is an interesting article from ZeroHedge describing what

As thousands of Amazon workers across Europe joined in coordinated strikes to protest the company's infamously "inhumane" working conditions - threatening the e-commerce giant's Black Friday operations - the company resorted to a tactic that hasn't been employed to resolve labor disputes in the West in a very long time: It called the police. read full story / add a comment

In this issue:
Rebelling against the industrial capitalist system
“At the heart of this problem lies our sense of separation from nature”
Abolishing dissent
Does work set us free?
Save Whitehawk Hill!
Acorninfo read full story / add a comment

In The case of Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey (no. 2) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Turkey to release the opposition deputy from prison….and, in its complex ruling this week, concluded there has been “several violations of the Convention”. read full story / add a comment

Current efforts by social media companies and Atlanticist think tanks to remove various alternative media pages are part of a coordinated corporate attempt to disrupt and destroy a "global intifada" of social movements, according to documents and data examined by this writer read full story / add a comment

London – Dublin – Copenhagen – Berlin – Stockholm – New York – Madrid. All over the world, on November 17th, people are preparing to take back their futures and stand up for the living planet. In solidarity with Extinction Rebellion in the UK, we are calling on the citizens of Ireland to become ‘conscientious protectors’ of people and planet; to stand up to climate inaction; and to stand together with a coalition of environmental groups, conservationists, activists, trade unionists and political parties at Dublin’s iconic Dead Zoo. read full story / add a comment

Orsola Casagrande, long-time journalist with the left-wing Italian Il manifesto, now freelance and currently living in Havana, Cuba, recently visited Rojava in Northern Syria read full story / add a comment

This article from the World Socialist Website draws attention to the fact that not alot has changed with the character of those in power and the same underlying forces of imperialism is still very much present .

Over the past weekend, the leaders of the world’s great powers met in France to commemorate the official end of World War I. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump pulled long faces, hugged each other and gave speeches lamenting the “horror” and “tragedy” of a war that claimed more than 16 million lives.

But their talk of “tragedy” and “suicide” could not hide the fact that they are all engaged in active preparations for a new and deadly world military conflict.

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Today saw another hearing, this time in Court 5, Dublin Circuit Court - Judge Melanie Greally presiding - in a case involving peace activists Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling. The case relates to the alleged writing of some graffiti (DANGER DANGER DO NOT FLY) on a US war-plane at Shannon Airport on 25 September 2017, and a charge of trespass relating to the same incident which the Ennis District Court has arguably being trying to hold in reserve (or park as they describe it) so that if we are acquitted in the Circuit Court they might have second go at us in the lower District Court. read full story / add a comment

LOOK BACK IN ANGER THIS SUNDAY AND REMEMBER ALL THE DEAD OF WORLD WAR 1
Supported by:
Sinead Cusack Actor, Felim Egan Artist, Frank Mc Donald Journalist & Writer, Raymond Deane Composer, Stuart Dunne Actor & Artist, Sean Harrington Architect, Rev. Patrick Comerford President CND, Patricia Mc Kenna former MEP, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Clare Daly TD, Aengus O Snodaigh TD, Brid Smith TD, Joan Collins TD, Eamonn McCann former MLA for PBP, Councillor Tina Mc Veigh, former Councillor Enda Fanning, Goretti Horgan Ulster University, Marcin Wojcik Lecturer DIT, Ms. Deirdre Judge and more.

The Irish Anti-War Movement will hold a dignified vigil at the entrance to the Irish National War Memorial in Island Bridge, Dublin on this Sunday morning 11 November from 10am to 11am.

This is to coincide with the World War 1 Armistice People’s Remembrance organised by the Royal British Legion that is taking place in the Memorial Garden from 10.45am.

Our vigil will remember all the dead of WW1 – Irish, British, German, Turkish, soldiers from the colonies etc. and the millions of civilians that died – and we will ask one simple question - What did they die for? This is the title of our pamphlet published four years ago at the centenary of the beginning of the war along with a statement signed by many prominent Irish people. We encourage people who attend to wear white poppies as a symbol of peace. read full story / add a comment