Speaking during RTE's Prime Time budget debate, lecturer in Irish Politics and Society Mary Murphy said that the strategy of recent budgets to match expenditure to the taxes available was an ill-conceived approach. Instead, Murphy said, a debate is needed about the kind of society we want, and the tax system we need to get it.
So, Fine Gael has caved in to Labour. There will now be only €2.5 billion in fiscal adjustments (read: austerity), not €3.1 billion. A victory for the junior partner or a necessary concession given the general austerity fatigue; regardless the reason, less cuts and taxes. But how can we be sure? Given what has happened over the last two budgets, I would urge caution. By Michael Taft (First published on Notes on the Front).
A lost family photograph of ours evokes a particular memory for me. I was about four years of age standing next to my grandfather who was standing next to his donkey which had baskets on either side full of turf. It looked for all the world like a John Hinde postcard depicting an over romanticised view of Ireland, which if it ever existed certainly doesn’t exist now. My grandfather would have cut turf by hand. Cutting just enough as was needed at a rate that allowed the bog to replenish. That Ireland is certainly is gone. By Dan Boyle.
Openness and accountability are hot topics – but this isn’t a story about Edward Snowden, the NSA, GCHQ or the Anglo tapes. Ireland is currently holding a public consultation on signing up to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), asking citizens and stakeholders what we would like to see changed about how our government operates. By Alistair McConnell.
Last week former Taoiseach and President of IFSC Ireland, John Bruton, said that the banking industry needed "to focus on ethics rather than regulation". As someone who strongly supports the idea of ethical codes and a more central role for ethics in business, I found this remark and the casual way it was accepted unhelpful on many levels. Ethics are not an alternative to regulation; rather regulation is needed to support ethical behaviour.
"It's Capitalism Stupid" is the tag line for a festival organised by the Colletivo Prezzemolo -researchers and workers at the European Institute University (EUI) - in Florence, Italy which is running from 3 - 12 May, 2013. The festival is deliberately scheduled to take place at the same time and in contradistinction to the annual "State of the Union" conference at the EUI which brings together "leading academics, policy makers" and other members of the establishment to discuss matters EU from the insider perspective.
Is a euro in a Cypriot bank, locked down by withdrawal limits and capital controls, the same as a euro in an Irish or French bank? Is a euro sitting in, say, a payroll account in Laiki with a balance of more than €100,000 (and subject to an unspecified “haircut” on Thursday) the same an “Irish euro”?
On Wednesday, March 20, UCD Women’s Studies hosts renowned sociologist, Prof. Hill Collins for a public lecture entitled ‘Where do we go from here? Intersectionality and Social Justice’. Prof. Hill Collins specialises in critical race theory and feminist theory, and is perhaps best known for her work on intersectionality, that is, the notion that people are often subject to multiple and mutually reinforcing disadvantages based on gender, race, or class, for instance. Below, Prof.
Micheál Martin is using events in the North as part of his strategy to revive Fianna Fáil’s electoral fortunes in the South. By Eoin Ó Broin.
The award for opportunist of the week must surely go to Micheál Martin. His opinion piece in last Wednesday’s Irish News was a timely reminder of Fianna Fáil’s cynical approach to both the peace process and to politics.
There is hardly anything for which Labour stands, or rather stood, that it has not dishonoured in government in the last 22 months. By Vincent Browne.
Pat Rabbitte and Eamon Gilmore entered electoral politics via student politics and trade union politics in the 1970s and 1980s. Together they have done more than most to engender cynicism about politics generally from an early stage in their political careers and together, in government, they have done more than most to add to the mountain of cynicism there is now about politics.