Blog

Opposing violence against women

On November 25, the International Day Opposing Violence Against Women, the 16 Days of Action campaign will be launched both internationally and within Ireland. Over 2,000 groups in 150 countries worldwide will organise a range of events to raise public awareness of the staggering levels of domestic abuse against women. The campaign will conclude on 10 December, International Human Rights Day. By Justin Frewen.

What does Olli Rehn know?

Reading Commissioner Olli Rehn's comments today, it would seem that we're suffering from European 'group think' in relation to our budgetary strategy. Either they're getting it from us or we're getting it from them, but the lack of critical examination of the €15bn target over four years is worrying. Particularly as this large figure only recently slipped into the discourse, almost without question.

What does Olli Rehn know? He has backed the government's four-year budgetary strategy.

Tackling suicidal ideation

It is critical that suicide prevention initiatives are person-centred and place those requiring support at the centre of the process. By Justin Frewen and Dr. Anna Datta. 

Sharing the burden?

As we collectively brace ourselves for four years of austerity, it is worth remembering that Ireland is not a poor country. By Eoin Ó Broin.

Yes, we have high levels of unemployment and poverty. Yes, we have high levels of private and public debt. But the money that flowed into the country at the height of the boom has not all disappeared.

A second tier emerges

It may well be a decade or more before we can fully appreciate the historical significance of events unfolding in Ireland today. We're just too close to it all.

The same could be said for the ever-shifting international context in which we find ourselves.

Just look at Europe. It's not a coincidence that as we come to contemplate a new reality nationally (a new dimension of sovereignty even), the state of the union is also changing. This is where the common market and everything that has since followed has brought us. And, I suppose, we it.

Smock Alley hosts Jumping The Sharks

Don Wycherley owns the stage in the latest Blood in the Alley production. By Shane Creevy.

Jumping The Sharks is a new play, written by the Stewart Parker-nominated Micheál Lovett and directed by Blood in the Alley's Geoff Gould, running in the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.

Claiming Our Future - a participant's view

Something interesting happened in Dublin on Saturday 30, October 2010. It is not yet clear whether what happened was important. But it was interesting nonetheless. By Eoin Ó Broin

More than 1,000 people from all over Ireland gathered in the Industries Hall at the RDS to participate in an event called Claiming Our Future.

There were community and voluntary sector workers, trade unionists, environmentalists, party political activists, campaigners, the self-employed, the unemployed and individual citizens.

National Pensions Reserve Fund invested €30m in nuclear weapons development

It's a busy time for those working in the international relations arena. A new session of the United Nations General Assembly convened in September and leaders and ministers flocked to New York to hold a series of meetings on the fringes of the main event. A good opportunity for individual countries to get a lot done with so many key players in one place. Unless of course you were discussing nuclear weapons.

Politico - a year in

Politico was founded a year ago this month with modest ambitions. Without seeming too worthy, Politico sought to highlight social and political issues that are very often marginalised by the mainstream media. It sought to challenge the prevailing 'cultural ideology' set out by the political class and propped up by the mainstream media.

See Change working to overcome stigma

Tackling the stigma associated with mental health difficulties is the first step to success. By Justin Frewen.

See Change is a new nationwide partnership established to tackle stigma and the attendant discrimination faced by mental health service users. It comprises an alliance of various organisations that have come together through the National Stigma Reduction Partnership to effect positive change in public attitudes and behaviour towards people with mental health problems.

Pages