Back in 2007 I wrote an article for An Phoblacht about a debate within Sinn Féin on taking a position on coalition with Fianna Fáil.

I ventured a view that having upwards of 20 TDs elected would not of itself necessarily move the aims and objectives of the party forward if other factors influencing power in the State were not adequately addressed. Nothing new or earth shattering there. With all the reactionary forces that are marshalled to resist progressive change, it has always been necessary to have a subversive mindset when trying to fight for a civilised future.

The upcoming constitutional convention could and should be a fantastic opportunity for us to strike at the roots of so many problems in our political system. But the Government’s preliminary proposal for its format leaves a lot to be desired.

Michael Noonan's perspective on the world would likely be rather different if, rather than spending last weekend at the annual conference of the Bilderberg Group, he had chosen instead to spend his time with people from Moyross, Southill and Ballinacurra Weston in his Limerick constituency and heard from them the effects on those communities of the politics that the Bilderberg elite espouse. By Vincent Browne.

On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Richard Boyd-Barrett, Tom Molloy, Regina Doherty and Ursula Tipp will consider the position of government in the aftermath of the Yes vote to the EU Fiscal Treaty. Vincent Browne shares his thoughts on the stance of government - before it was elected, and now. {jathumbnailoff}

1. There has been renewed talk lately that the ‘turn’ must come, that we are rapidly approaching some point where a widescale, popular resistance to the neoliberal way of life will manifest itself. Conor Kostick, in his talk on Irish soviets for Occupy University, speculated that future historians might even note that we have already passed the watershed without realising it. Now, it is unfair and inappropriate to read the tea leaves through the referendum campaign alone.

If the Government think they 'won' the Fiscal Treaty vote they are in denial. By John Farrell Clark.

The Government may have won the vote but they clearly did not win the confidence of a vast majority of the citizens. If they think they won and have a mandate, they are far more in a state of denial than one would have thought possible.

The Leveson inquiry is a club matter, in which a member has caused such extraordinary public embarrassment he must be black-balled, so that nothing changes. By John Pilger.

There was a coherent case to be made for the No side in the Fiscal Treaty referendum campaign, but it went unargued. By Vincent Browne.

The role of the left in securing a Yes vote in the referendum should not be underestimated. The scale of their waffle and incoherence contributed substantially to the success of its opponents. The left's failure to deal with the central issue of funding for the Irish state beyond 2013 - with even a smidgen of credibility - was a clincher.

The establishment view in Europe is that the problem is too much debt (by profligate countries like Greece) and, therefore, that the solution must involve (a) austerity and (b) structural reforms (which increase the competitiveness of the weaker states). The problem, however, is that the establishment view is profoundly mistaken and, as a result, the proposed treatment poisons the patient. If this is so, Europe (and the world) have a lot more to fear from the ‘reasonableness’ of political parties like Fine Gael et al than from the ‘ultra-leftists’ of Syriza.

Sociologist Ulrich Beck has made the claim that class is dead, and in his work preferred to concentrate on the choices made by individuals. In the Irish Times on Saturday 2 June Brian Hayes of Fine Gael made similar claims in relation to class. With regard to the vote on the Fiscal Treaty, the paper quotes Hayes as saying, “I think every vote is about self interest”.