‘Dublin’s landlords would rather put their properties on Airbnb than rent to local families’
These are the first words in an article published in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper this morning. That’s ‘The Guardian’, in Britain. Sometimes it takes an outside eye to really contextualise the current housing emergency and the extent to which Fine Gael, as the party of the property and landlord class, is using this emergency to profit that class.
Brendan Ogle: This week’s developments in relation to Brexit have brought the interaction between Britain, Ireland and Europe centre-stage again. The European Union’s approach to these matters sometimes doesn’t get the same notice here as that of our neighbours in the United Kingdom.
Last week I attended a Conference in Ghent, Belgium,where I spoke on this matter. In my address, I spoke about the need for real dialogue about a fairer, better Europe and how the absence of such a dialogue is creating the space for the rise of the Far Right. My speech is reprinted below:
Continue reading “Brexit and the need to democratise Europe”
Unite are delighted to accede to a request to publish this paper for information and discussion. While the paper itself is not a Unite paper it is a very necessary contribution to a vital debate on the ideological changes in how our communities are supported and developed in the neoliberal era. Please click here to download The Systematic Destruction of the Community Development, Anti-Poverty and Equality Movement (2002-2015) by Patricia Kelleher and Cathleen O’Neill.
The withdrawal of state support and funding for community empowerment and capacity building, which began in the 1990s, reached its peak with massive cuts to the sector following the 2008 crash. The words ‘never waste a good crisis’ could well be applied to Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour in Government imposing the savage cuts to community groups, activists and supports on the back of the fiscal emergency they created and embedded. In our communities that emergency continues today.
Unite applauds the work of Authors Patricia Kelleher PhD and Cathleen O’Neill MA in researching and producing this report and analysis.
Paper available for download here.
Brendan Ogle: The outrageous comments by Peter Casey in recent weeks targeting travellers and those on welfare need a considered response.
With the rise of neo-fascism from Washington to Rio, from the AfD in Germany to the far right in Britain, we in Ireland cannot be complacent. The instinct of some to target their anger at the impact of neoliberalism on their lives at those suffering disadvantage – that instinct to cast blame downwards instead of upwards – is dangerous and needs to be challenged.
As part of this necessary discussion, Unite are pleased to reproduce this seminal speech by Glasgow Ship Yard worker Jimmy Reid. Jimmy Reid was a member of one of Unite’s predecessor unions, and his 1972 speech to students in Glasgow University was subsequently published in full in the New York Times.
It is a salutary reminder that thought and enlightenment are necessary to overpower intolerance and greed, and that we will all suffer alienation if we are not very careful.
Enjoy the read:
Unite for a Real Alternative 