FEATURED POSTS
Niall Crowley: Civil society must demand greater income equality (October 2011)
This is a difficult time to be involved in organisations that seek a more equal, environmentally sustainable and participative society. Poverty, unemployment and emigration are increasing. Key public services and welfare provisions are being diminished. Funding for ‘civil society’ is being cut with organisations closing or reducing their work. The political system is increasingly unresponsive
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Recent Posts
- Remembering when Germany was bailed out with Ireland’s help
- Denis O’Brien replies to Village article
- Denis O’Brien: a complicated career and dubious ethics
- Village editor on Irish Times’ misreporting of SIPO’s Cllr Oisin Quinn ethics case
- “Durbanism” – the art of containing disappointment and moving from “headline targets” to action. By James Nix
- Counselling often beats pills (October 2011)
- Nama: Forgiving big developers; ignoring other distressed borrowers (October 2011)
About Village magazine
Village Magazine promotes in its columns the fair distribution of resources, welfare, respect and opportunity by the analysis and investigation of inequalities, unsustainable development and corruption, and the media’s role in their perpetuation; and by acute cultural analysis.
Village Magazine is published by Ormond Quay Publishing, 6 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7
Editor Michael Smith Art Director Simon O'Connor
NEWS
Village editor on Irish Times’ misreporting of SIPO’s Cllr Oisin Quinn ethics case
Interesting to see how the Irish Times, the newspaper of record, handles challenging and sensitive stories concerning the political establishment – when you know what the real story is. Here’s an article from a December edition: Councillor’s property stake and vote to be investigated MARY MINIHAN, writing in the Irish Times THE STANDARDS in Public
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Last chance for truth about Omagh (June 2011)
Belfast High Court says security forces may have had foreknowledge of the Omagh bombing. By Anton McCabe Omagh bomb victim, Laurence Rush, won an important legal victory in February, which attracted little notice. The North’s High Court allowed Rush to proceed with legal action against the North’s Chief Constable and Secretary of State. He is
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Happy Valley Destroyed (June 2011)
The Mahon Tribunal, perhaps to avoid discrediting chief witness Frank Dunlop, failed comprehensively to investigate the Cherrywood rezoning that led to its establishment. By Michael Smith In 1995 Colm MacEochaidh and I sponsored a £10,000 reward for “information leading to the conviction of persons for rezoning corruption” after I had been involved in a long
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Mighty, Lucky Quinn (June 2011)
The Quinn empire benefited from goodwill in Cavan County Council and among -at least most – locals By Anton McCabe The epic fall of Seán Quinn and his Quinn Group is the end of an empire – one which has left a legacy of environmental degradation along the Cavan-Fermanagh border. There is a network of
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Alternatives to expensive oil (June 2011)
The average household needs to find an additional €950 during 2011 to cover energy bills as higher oil prices are passed on by wholesalers and retailers. But must the steady rise in oil prices really have such stark implications for every home? And what should government be doing about it? Having averaged $85 a barrel
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Constantin Gurdgiev: our celtic unicorn economy Competitiveness, fiscal austerity, skilled labour, capital investment, resilience: all myths. The key, under-recognised factor is private debt Irish elites, to the right, left and centre of the political spectrum, are completely dependant on the kindness of foreigners. Approval of ‘our European partners’, ‘foreign analysts’ or ‘leading international academics’ and editorial praise from foreign publications are
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Nama: Forgiving big developers; ignoring other distressed borrowers (October 2011) Illustration: Phil Connors. Gary Fitzgerald on how and why the public interest has been hijacked. From 1995 until 2007 Ireland experienced one of the largest asset-price bubbles in the history of the world. We are now living with the fallout: negative equity and huge personal indebtedness. Recently there have been growing calls for a personal-debt
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Denis O’Brien: a complicated career and dubious ethics Denis O’Brien is one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs with investments in international telecoms, radio, media, property, aircraft leasing, golf and other leisure interests. He founded the Esat Telecom Group plc and built it throughout the 1990s until its sale to British Telecom plc for €2.4 billion. He became a Portuguese resident and avoided £55m in
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“Durbanism” – the art of containing disappointment and moving from “headline targets” to action. By James Nix
After Durban, delivering a 20 per cent emissions cut moves centre-stage, for Ireland We need to move quickly from the headline figure to a hard-minded sector-by-sector approach. The new climate agreement reached in Durban is bitterly disappointing for its lack of ambition, revealing a world held back by the continued foot-dragging of the United States.
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All talk: Ireland’s political discussion sites Miriam Cotton surveys the political web forums causing a stir Bondwatch Ireland / The Chattering Magpie 14 Editor: Diarmuid O’Flynn Describe your website/what made you decide to set it up? Thechatteringmagpie14 is a blog of short articles explaining/updating our protest in Ballyhea. BondwatchIreland is about the next 12 bonds due for payment, the ‘Dirty Dozen’
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Niall Crowley says merging equality and human rights bodies will add no value The minister for Justice, Equality and Defence – Alan Shatter – has announced a working group to advise him on the merging of the Equality
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Remembering when Germany was bailed out with Ireland’s help With Germany reluctant to allow debt write-downs least of all by Ireland it’s interesting, as Patrick Guinness notes in a comment on Constantin Gurdgiev’s recent article, how little attention has focused on Ireland’s signature on a 1953 bailout for Germany. The London Agreement on German External Debts between the Federal Republic of Germany on
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