Irish Politics, Current Affairs and Magazine Archive - Politico.ie

The 1913 Alternative Visions Oral History Group was set up in September 2012 to collect stories from people whose families, communities or unions have memories of the 1913 Dublin Lockout and to consider the legacy of the Lockout in the light of 100 years of subsequent history. The project is sponsored by various trade unions and is led by oral historians Dr Ida Milne and Dr Mary Muldowney. Interviews will feed into a book due for publication in 2013 to celebrate the centenary of the Lockout.

The Irish Times reported an untrue story on its front page about Irish pro-Palestinian activists - then reported it again and again. The Press Ombudsman shrugged his shoulders, and the Press Council couldn’t be bothered. The Dervish affair tells a worrying story about the state of our press, and about the failure of Ireland’s much-vaunted “independent” form of press regulation. Harry Browne reports

As anyone who attended or followed its Gaza protests last month can attest, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is a serious, dedicated organisation. It maintains a consistent human-rights message with the help of a strong network of contacts in the Middle East, regardless of factions and rejecting all forms of bigotry. Within it Palestinians and Jews work together - two of its most outspoken members are Jewish, including its former chairman. (Disclosure: I am not a member of the IPSC but have supported and advised it on media matters, including the case discussed in this article.)

Apart completely from the regressive nature of the Budget measures – apart, that is, from the challenge to parents to get by with cuts in child benefit or back-to-school allowances; apart from the heartache from cuts to respite care or the struggle of young people to hang on in college with new demands on their families' incomes - apart from all of that, it's worth looking at the language in which the budget measures were presented. By Sheila Killian.

Our legislators are in deep denial about the significance of the constitutional framework on abortion that they want to protect. By Vincent Browne.

Nothing that the expert group on abortion has proposed on clarifying the law on when abortion is permissible here would have saved the life of Savita Halappanavar, if what we now understand were the circumstances of her death is correct.

Praveen Halappanavar has said his wife, who was pregnant, went into hospital suffering from back pain. It was soon made known to her that her baby had no chance of survival outside the womb and it seemed a miscarriage was about to take place with the opening of her cervix.

Using inflated or highly contestable figures to counter what is a regressive budget will not diminish the cuts and regressive taxes. By Michael Taft.

In defending Budget 2013 Labour has argued that it contained €500 million in a ‘wealth tax package’ or revenue from taxation on high income groups. This, goes the argument, is evidence of Labour’s influence on the budget – revenue that would be missing were Labour not in government. So what are the measures that add up to €500 million? And is this sum robust?

First, we have a problem with labelling. While some Labour TDs have called this a ‘wealth’ package, the only tax on wealth (defined as an asset) is the property tax. However, they do not refer to this and with good reason – the property tax will attract revenue from high-income groups. So Labour is not referring to tax on wealth but rather on personal or capital income.

That Budget 2013 was pretty much what we expected is probably the most depressing thing about it. By Michael Taft.

Child Benefit cuts, PRSI rises, respite care cuts, property tax, pension caps (eventually) – how does the budget look when we stand back from the individual elements? What is the narrative? How does it fit with what the Government is projecting over the medium-term?

There are two elements that stand out. First, is the impact on employment. The Government has accepted that its current employment policy is failing – projecting that unemployment will only fall by one percentage point during its lifetime. And no wonder. The Nevin Economic Research Institute has estimated that up to 29,000 jobs could be destroyed as a result of this budget. The cuts in public investment and the continued job losses in the public sector will have a particularly negative impact. But the overall reduction of disposable incomes – through the flat-rate PRSI rise and property tax, to the cuts in social protection, increases in prescription charges and reductions in community supports – will mean less spending power in the economy which, in turn, will postpone private sector investment. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the Government is projecting that the domestic-demand recession will continue into next year – a recession caused by the Government’s own policies.

When Eamon Gilmore or any other Labour spokesperson claims that Budget 2013 “squares up to the wealthy in our society” and includes a “€500 million wealth tax package” they are being less than honest. By Eoin Ó Broin.

Eamon Gilmore claims that Budget 2013 is fair. He told RTÉ that, “This Budget… will produce over €500m in additional taxes on wealth… It’s the largest package of tax measures on wealth in this country that I have seen in my 23 years in the Dáil.”

During the Dáil debate on the Financial Resolutions on budget night Gilmore claimed that these measures “would raise €646 million in a full year”.

Unfortunately the Labour leader has produced no figures to support his claim.

Social Justice Ireland have this morning released a detailed response to Budget 2013. The group describes the Budget as “unjust and regressive", adding that "It does nothing to foster economic recovery or to provide a vision and direction for the country."

They say: “There is a profound lack of any guiding vision that would suggest Budget 2013 was moving Ireland towards a future where everyone had access to the basics required to live life with dignity.

The choices Government is making are undermining Irish society and dismantling the social model that has underpinned Ireland’s development for more than half a century. Fair and balanced development is being replaced by choices that are producing a deeply divided two-tier society.”

Below, the full text of Stephen Donnelly's Dáil statement on Budget 2013, delivered yesterday (5 December). 

The entire approach to this budget is flawed. The Government is taking €3.5 billion from the Irish people and handing it to Anglo Irish Bank as payment on a debt we never owed. The Government is taking €3.5 billion from the Irish people but the deficit will fall by less than €1 billion. Why is that? It is because of the payment of almost €2 billion of interest to Anglo Irish Bank on a debt we never owed. The Government will allow AIB to retain a €1.1 billion top-up to its pension fund. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, stated that tax compliance is a core principle of our democracy. He lectures the people on their obligation to pay a property tax, the entire benefit of which he will hand to Anglo Irish Bank.

Below, Clare Daly's Dáil statement in response to Budget 2013. Scroll to the bottom of the piece to view a video of the speech.

There is a huge element of the annual Christmas pantomime about this debate. There are the usual set pieces and routines. We have heard it all before. There is mock indignation from the people who started the austerity and robust defence of the measures from the other side of the House. For the people outside the gates and in their homes, however, this is not a pantomime and there will not be a happy ending. People are terrified and angry. We can say what we like in here and the Government can dress it up, but everything has got worse for people. Any leeway they had is gone. There are people who were in work and are no longer in work. There are people who are in work who are working harder for considerably less.