Ireland
8 August 2020 · · Ireland
A triumph of ideology: John Hume and the defeat of Irish Republicanism
The flurry of commemoration by the great and the good following the death of John Hume can be summarised as follows: Hume was the leader of the Irish Civil Rights Movement, he advocated non …
28 October 2019 · · Ireland, Reviews
The DUP’s chickenshit scandal
Barney Cassidy reviews Burned by Sam McBride (380pp £16.99) If you eat chicken that’s been bought in Tesco, the Co-Operative, Waitrose, Aldi, Iceland or your local takeaway there’s a good ch…
8 August 2019 · · Ireland, Trade Unions
Harland and Wolff: bitter present, ugly past
Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff once employed 35,000 people writes Barney Cassidy . Its workforce was the aristocracy of the city's working class. They were heavily unionised and well pai…
7 March 2019 · · Britain, Ireland, Reviews
I, Dolours: a woman’s political biography
Barney Cassidy reviews I, Dolours , now available on Netflix. As a child growing up in a Belfast Republican family, Dolours Price was given a particular responsibility when she reached the a…
21 January 2019 · · Britain, EU, Ireland · 3 comments
Ireland’s British border
The opening shots of the Irish War of Independence were fired one hundred years ago this week on January 21 st 1919 writes Barney Cassidy . T he 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers…
14 October 2018 · Housing, Ireland, Reviews
Ireland's Housing Crisis
Ireland’s Housing Crisis: A Marxist Analysis by John McAnulty reviewed by Glynn Robbins John McAnulty’s short, readable pamphlet couldn’t be timelier. On 3 rd October, a reported 12,000 peop…
18 September 2018 · Britain, Ireland, Reviews · 1 comment
A hidden history of British military repression against civilians
The Ballymurphy massacre has the simplest of all dramatic structures. It is a narrative built around a chronology - a three-day assault by the British Army on a Belfast housing estate follow…
4 June 2018 · · Ireland, Women
Landslide Victory for Abortion Rights in Ireland
“A stunning victory” was how I described the results from the referendum on removing the constitutional ban on abortion in an Irish Times article on Monday 28th, writes Anne Conway . The vot…
30 May 2018 · · Ireland, Women
Repeal the north
The result of the referendum to repeal the constitutional ban on abortion was a huge step forward for the majority of Irish women writes Barney Cassidy . They will shortly be able, for the f…
18 May 2018 · · Ireland, Women
Repeal the 8th
Seven days from now, on May 25th, Ireland will be voting on whether to repeal the part of their constitution that denies women control over their bodies, writes Susan Moore. This means that …
21 October 2017 · · Britain, Ireland, Labour Party, Tories · 4 comments
Labour for Irish Unity
At a packed fringe meeting at the recent Labour Party Conference a new campaigning organisation, ‘Labour for Irish Unity’ was launched. The headline speaker was Ken Loach whose prize-winning…
11 September 2017 · Ireland, Reviews
To Hell with Charity
Struggle or Starve: Working-Class Unity in Belfast’s 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots by Seán Mitchell. Published by Haymarket Books. Does intense class conflict with bosses, cops and government ne…
11 June 2017 · · Ireland, Tories · 1 comment
Why is the DUP so reactionary?
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has attracted a lot of opprobrium for its reactionary positions on every subject you can think of and for their ongoing links with loyalist terrorists wri…
9 December 2016 · · Ireland, Women
Abortion in Ireland - anger hobbled by reformism
by John McAnulty On November 25, thousands of activists demonstrated in Dublin calling for the abolition of the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution – a section that asserts equal rights …