The campaign to SAVE MOORE STREET has succeeded in a push-back against the years of neglect of the city ‘godfathers’, and the greed of the developers. Today in the Dáil, I spoke about defending our revolutionary heritage and recalled the role played by our own James Connolly, but also of Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Lenin and international socialism, in our revolutionary year of 1916

FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT. A great success. So says Dr Lynn Sloman, public Transport expert , who spoke to us (by Zoom) at the Dáil Climate committee yesterday. So why not bring it in here? It costs very little more than subsidised transport and benefits communities, cities, and the environment. What’s not to love Minister Ryan?

Concern about YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH brings out so much hypocrisy, especially in education policies. If they really cared, they could scrap the Leaving Cert. And restore the many cuts affecting young people – to youth services, to jobseekers’ allowance, to mental health services. Educational opportunities are still weighted heavily in favour of the better off – all the stats show it. And what about young people on apprenticeships? Covid has had a huge impact on supports they need. I spoke about this in the Dáil yesterday

 

DATA CENTRES – A MASSIVE DRAIN ON POWER AND WATER. Our government becomes more craven by the day to the multinational tech corporations. And it’s getting scarier, with plans for more and more data storage centres that consume precious resources at a voracious rate, so much so that by 2030 HALF OF OUR RENEWABLE ENERGY will go on maintaining them! And yet they are getting special permission to by-pass normal planning, to construct more. And the Greens stand over this?

We tried today to put a pause, for a year, on shutting down the Commission of Inquiry into the Mother and Baby Homes. They had produced a very flawed Report that many survivors were hurt by. And to add insult to injury, the testimonies given by the survivors to the enquiry were put in serious jeopardy with threats being of permanently erased. I spoke on this in the Dáil today. Tragically, the upshot was that despite the Dáil vote to extend the life of the Commission, the Minister is choosing not to accede to the wishes of the survivors. Interestingly, having said the testimonies were not retrievable, it now turns out (after the survivors fought for the truth) that they in fact are. We’ll keep fighting to have the rights of the survivors, and of history, vindicated. Shame on Roderick O Gorman and the rotten govt he’s part of

Our sympathy and solidarity are with the family of George Nkenco, whose funeral is tomorrow. George was shot dead by Gardaí at his home last month. I spoke on this in Dáil yesterday, and called on the Táiniste to deliver an INDEPENDENT, PUBLIC, ENQUIRY into George’s death. Varadkar said he trusted the GSOC (the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission) to deliver such an enquiry. I don’t. Many people seeking justice, like Sgt. Maurice McCabe for instance, were poorly served by GSOC. They’re not independent, and they certainly don’t do ‘public’

Big Phil Hogan was put back in his box by thousands of us who protested, and won, over Water Charges. But we are still waiting for the promised referendum on putting into the Constitution, the commitment to keep our water out of private hands. And now we hear the public service workers involved in water services, 3,200 of them, who were transferred to Irish Water on the promise that they remain ‘public service’, are now faced with an attempt by Irish Water to go back on their word to them. This is not on. Neither is the delay on the referendum. I spoke about our #Right2Water issues, and the workers rights, today in the Dáil.