Blog

Asylum seekers in Ireland are forced to live in exceptionally difficult circumstances and get little support from the public, the media or the political system. By Justin Frewen.

Enveloped in a global recession and the consequences of the disastrous economic mismanagement of the fruits of the Celtic Tiger, life has become considerably more difficult for the vast majority of people in Ireland. As unemployment continues to rise, those who still have work are seeing their wages decrease as taxes and pension levies increase.  

The Innovation Task Force report is hugely flawed, but there is something there to work with. By Stephen Kinsella.

Karl Rove, the former advisor to George W. Bush, attracted much publicity yesterday when he expressed pride in the US Military for waterboarding terrorist suspects. In the article below, Justin Frewen traces the history of the anti-torture campaign through to the most vocal present-day advocates of torture.

Mental health issues are on the increase in Ireland, debilitating more and more people, placing greater strain on health services and costing the country up to €3bn annually. However, neither funding nor political commitment are being given to adequately address mental health issues. By Justin Frewen and Anna Frewen.  

Let’s talk about the future.

Feminism is going to die in the next 40 years. By 2050, equal rights, legal protection, and social equality for women will have been enshrined in Irish law and, more importantly, in the Zeitgeist, for three generations or more.

The burden of debt on poorer nations is crippling but simply cancelling debt is not enough.

Between 1970 and 2002, the continent of Africa received some US$540bn in loans. However, a UN study showed that despite repaying some US$550bn in principal and interest over the same period, there was still some US$295bn outstanding.

Previously, I have examined overseas development assistance (ODA) and the priority – or rather lack thereof – awarded to it by the wealthier nations. However, many argue that ODA is not the best way to tackle poverty and its attendant ills – the solution is increased global trading. By ensuring the inclusion of all countries, particularly poorer nations, in the worldwide trading structure and networks, poverty will be eliminated. 

Wealthy nations continue to renege on their promise to Overseas Development Aid while spending massive multiples of this on war. Since 1970, only five ‘wealthy’ countries have honoured their ODA commitments. By Justin Frewen

The smart economy is a nice idea, perhaps even a good idea. But like most nice ideas, when exposed to reality, the smart economy just breaks down. The smart economy as a concept takes no notice of the detail: who is looking for what type of job right now, and how long will it take those people to train for new ones?When confronted by the facts, we have to augment our industrial development strategy if we want to protect the real, on-the-ground, economy.

Today Haiti is most commonly known for being the poorest country in the western hemisphere and a land wracked by destitution and despair. This picture has only been reinforced by the horrific consequences of the 13 January earthquake, 15kms southwest of Port-au-Prince.