Ireland's political and cultural magazine
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Global aid to developing countries is less than the $160bn lost annually by them to tax dodging by multinationals. Sorley McCaughey Every year, the world’s poorest countries lose billions of dollars in potential revenue through the tax dodging of unscrupulous multinational companies (MNCs). For example, between 2005 and 2007, Ireland contributed €95million to Mozambique, but […]
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Village’s technology team answer all your questions and make up a lot of stuff too What does it all mean? Answer: Mutualisation We live in the post-media age. Writing is on life-support; the media are dead. Nobody reads, they only blog. In ten years, there will be no newspapers: all news will be transmitted by […]
Post-War consumerism and licentious liberalism are senseless. by Desmond Fennell “There were whispered arguments between our parents while we watched TV—arguments about changing the rules, we gathered, that applied to all of us, the dads and moms as well as the kids…” Naomi Wolf in Promiscuities (1997) on San Francisco in 1970. During the last […]
There is a new generation of Irish theatre-makers. They are here, they have things to say, and they have exciting new ways of saying them. In a time where, more than ever, we need to take a hard look at our surroundings and imagine a way forward, these artists are here to help us along the way.
The Dublin Fringe Festival (Absolut Fringe) has come to an end for another year, and a consensus is growing that it has been the most successful Fringe ever. A large number of new companies and artists
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Patriotic wealthy people should push for higher taxes. by Mark Lonergan As the impending day of Fiscal Judgement arives in the form of the Budget, many Irish workers have resigned themselves to both increased taxation and significant cuts in Health and Education. The gap between Governmental expenditure and tax revenue is edging close to almost €18 billion […]
Agenda for reform: a rightist programme. The events of recent months have clearly shown that current policies only serve to maintain the status quo. This is the sole and unavoidable conclusion currently being reached by all independent analysts and commentators, whatever their ideology. It is a non-partisan concern that informs the rising tide of discontent […]
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In another semi-State failure of cost-benefit analysis the DAA has developed terminals at Dublin airport with a 50% over-capacity; and has liabilities of around €1.7bn. by Matthew Harley In the light of recent developments at the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), it is time to turn the spotlight on another commercial semi-State body, the Dublin […]
Ireland too needs whistleblowers—they might have averted our economic detonation. by Dara McHugh At the time of writing, WikiLeaks is preparing to release another cache of classified US military field reports, this time related to the Iraqi war. The previous leak gave an unprecedented look into the conduct of the Afghan war, dispelling the positive […]
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Some Unions will mobilise on 23 October against 19% UK block-grant reduction.b by Anton McCabe A Comprehensive Spending Review for the North is due for delivery on 20 October. This will announce major cuts, probably of Southern levels. This will have social implications, but also have political ramifications. So far this year, reductions of almost […]
by Michael Smith Poolbeg has been a costly and unpleasant PR battle. Gormley has faced an insidious onslaught from multiple quarters. Dublin City Council has claimed (in evidence to the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment in February 2010) that the ultimate cost for consultants’ fees in respect of the Poolbeg incinerator could be €50m, with […]
An overwhelming success story of private sector dynamism in recycling is set to be undone by an oversized incinerator at Poolbeg – at massive cost to Dublin’s businesses James Nix Minimising costs is something we expect local councils to do – especially in difficult times. But it’s an imperative that seemingly doesn’t apply to waste […]
Nicola Carroll interviews psychiatrist, Professor Ivor Browne. Ivor Browne is a retired Irish psychiatrist, author, former Chief Psychiatrist of the Eastern Health Board, former celebrated and radical lecturer and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at University College Dublin. He was a regular contributor on the Late Late Show in the 1970s and married June Levine, a […]
Comparing Obama to Cowen is probably unfair but Cowen could at least learn from him the benefits of a Vision By Michael Smith Brian Cowen and Barack Obama have an extraordinary amount in common. Both are in their late forties, both are lawyers educated at elite law schools, both are articulate – much more articulate […]
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Human rights and Equality should be protected by a special constitutionally-recognised ‘Ombudsman’ Donncha O’Connell The infrastructure of any civic society is about much more than road and rail networks or broadband connectivity. The invisible and, perhaps, tenuous bonds of common humanity are just as important. This is, of course, beautifully chaotic but we try to […]
Only the allegiance to the personal over the political kept us – relatively – sane. Frank Callanan One of the least-considered characteristics of Irish politics is that which has most defined it: the ascendancy of Fianna Fáil. This asserted itself between 1932 and 1973, broken only twice, gave way to a pattern of alternance (rotation) […]
The EU uses ‘soft power” aggressively – sometimes to the disadvantage of poor ‘partner countries’ such as those in Africa, the Carribean and the Pacific area Justin Frewen Drawn up in 1997, only a few years after the end of the Cold War, the European Commission’s report, Agenda 2000, manifests the EU’s intention to play […]
In Ireland, as in the US, government is bending backwards to Big Oil, despite safety risks Michael McCaughan US Interior Minister, Ken Salazar, promised more rigorous regulation of oil and gas leasing last January after acknowledging that the petroleum industry called his office “the candy store” for its surrender to corporate energy interests. “Whatever they […]
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Multinationals mostly assess their operations on their pre-tax profits anyway by Mark Lonergan There has been uniform acceptance among advisers and policy-makers that Ireland’s low corporate tax (CT) rates have been a major stimulus to industrial investment since the 1950s and a cornerstone of the Celtic Tiger. 580 US multinationals located in Ireland and close […]
Interview Miriam Cotton I recently spoke to David McWilliams in his Volvo Estate in a church car-park in Dalkey. In case that sounds intriguing, the purpose of our meeting was to conduct an interview – on recording equipment that does not cope with background noise in public spaces like the coffee-shop we had just left. […]
Interview Niall Crowley Illustration Peter Hanan Baking sunlight, little dinghies bobbing on sparkling blue water, people in short sleeves taking a leisurely look at the shops. Dun Laoghaire is like another world in the surprise heat wave. The function rooms of the Royal Marine Hotel are tall and cool. The bar looks out over a […]
