Commemoration Event Poster

A wreath-laying ceremony to honour and remember the three busmen who were killed will take place in Sackville Place on the 4th of December at 11.30 am at the site of the pavement memorial: ‘A Fallen Bouquet’.
All welcome

Forty years have passed since that dark winter evening of Friday, 1st December 1972, when at 7.58 pm, the first ever car bomb exploded in the Republic of Ireland. It occurred beside the famous Dublin landmark, Liberty Hall, where the ITWGU had its headquarters. There were no fatalities but many people were injured. Several minutes later, a second explosion occurred at Sackville Place, off O’Connell Street, killing bus driver George Bradshaw, aged 29 and bus conductor Tommy Duffy, aged 23. Both of them were married men. George and his wife Kathleen had two young children. Tommy and his wife had a daughter and Monica was pregnant with their second child.

Three minutes before the first bomb exploded, an anonymous telephone call was made to the 'Belfast Newsletter', giving a warning that bombs planted at Liberty Hall and behind Clery’s would explode at 8.05 pm. The person who received the warning told Gardaí that the caller had spoken with a ‘Belfast English-type accent’. The warnings came too late as was almost certainly the intention. The result was devastating, two men dead and 127 people injured. Damage to property was extensive.

Related Links: Justice For the Forgotten |
Answers still outstanding about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings |
Wikipedia page on the bombings |
An Phoblacht article on the unveiling of the memorial to the three CIE workers |

Savita Halappanavar

Two demonstrations have been called in light of this tragic death:

Pro-Choice Ireland have called a demonstration for 6 o'clock this evening Wednesday 14th November outside Leinster House.

Action on X in conjunction with Galway Pro-Choice has called a candle lit vigil for this Saturday the 17th of November beginning at the Garden of Remembrance at 4 o'clock.

UPDATE: National Open Pro-Choice Meeting, Saturday, December 8, 12:00pm until 3:00pm at the Gresham Hotel on O'Connell Street.
see HERE for event notice.

31 year old Savita Halappanavar died last week after being denied a termination after presenting with a miscarriage. Having originally presented at the hospital with a back pain on October 21st, it was discovered that Savita was miscarrying. She was 17 weeks pregnant at the time.

Over the course of 3 days in the hospital the doctors refused to carry out an abortion despite there being no hope of survival of the foetus. Savita had requested and abortion several times over the 3 days due to the severe pain she was suffering. She was refused an abortion on the basis that the foetal heartbeat was still beating and that “this is a Catholic country”. After 3 days the foetal heartbeat stopped and finally the foetus was removed. However Savita developed septicaemia caused by the miscarriage and died on the 28th.

Having trained and gained professional child care qualifications, and then having worked with children in a professional capacity for over 30 years I, like all concerned citizens, obviously want the best for children – and for this reason I will be voting ‘NO’ in the upcoming Children’s referendum.

I have spent 16 years as a Social Care Worker working with the most vulnerable population of children in residential care. I have fostered 5 young people and have also worked with the HSE in areas of Child Protection, so feel qualified to state my concerns as outlined below. To the question “Do I have confidence in this state to provide for 'the best interests of children”?

No. Unfortunately I do not.

Indymedia Links: Children's Rights referendum ? | Children's Referendum? -No
External Links: Thoughts on the Children’s Referendum | The Children’s Referendum: Little to Write Home About | Legal Analysis of the Children’s Referendum: Article 42A Conclusion -Contains links to separate analyses.
Campaign websites: Alliance of Parents Against the State -They are strongly urging a NO Vote | ChildrensReferendum.ie - (official govt site) | ChildrensRights.ie campaign page

Related Links: Siege of Bani Walid, Day 20: ‘Militia committing genocide’ | Communist Party of the Irish Republic Statement on the Ungoing Massacre of Civilians in Bani Walid, Libya. | Gadaffi Death Chaos Leaves Ntc And Nato Pr Machine With Questions To Be Answered | Activist Education at the Albert Einstein Institution: A Critical Examination of Elite Cooption of Civil Disobedience | Lawless Libya: A Racist Régime of Torture and Murder | Gaddafi supporters seize control of Libyan town | CIA asset , Mahdi al-Harati | Annual Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi Day School and National Commemoration for All Anti-imperialist Martyrs 20th October | Protest outside Amnesty International Office for Irish and Libyan Politial Prisoners and Internees | Libya: Apparent Execution of 53 Gaddafi Supporters | The strange case of why the Irish anti war movement never marched against the war in Libya | Why is the Irish Left silent on the Holocaust of Sirte? | Direct Democracy: The Libyan Experiment | Libyan humanitarian disaster deepens as NATO, opposition continue offensive | Documents expose intimate ties between Libyan torturers and CIA, MI6 | NATO is Slaughtering Civilians Not Saving them in Tripoli Now

Map of Resource Thefts

€1,600 billion. That is the figure for Irish Oil & Gas reserves already licensed revealed last Tuesday morning (Sept 11th) in a detailed report from Shell to Sea using the energy corporations own reports and estimates. People in Ireland will see almost no benefits from this incredible wealth because the Irish state gives these reserves to the corporations at the cheapest terms in the world.

In these links, some from ShellToSea and some from Indymedia, one can get an idea of the scale of scandal that lies before us, the deep level of corruption, consequences and how we are all suffering now from the financial crisis -caused by a slightly different form of corruption from much the same layer in Irish society and yet we are being robbed not just of our resources, but the very fabric of our society is being torn apart (health, educational, social & civic) , national sovereignty given away, and our taxes increase to pay for the gambles and speculation of the bankers, developers and bondholders -i.e the elite.
Related Links: ShellToSea First find the oil, and then raise the taxes | Our oil and gas might as well be off the coast of Brazil for all the good it will do us | News release: Devastating report exposes State's mismanagement of oil & gas resources | News release: New evidence of Shell's covert surveillance emerges | News Release: Rabbitte's betrayal further exposed by Providence's 1.6 bn barrel oil find | Drillers to earn €53bn from Irish oil find | Norwegian Fisherman warns of destruction of seismic survey
Indymedia: Resource Wars: a feature of the 21st century? -shows how the resource theft is a global phenomena | One Gas Well to Secure Ireland's Energy Supply!!! | Business as usual for Gardaí – trying to smear women in ‘rape tape’ controversy - perfect illustration of how the corruption from the whole resource issue permeates into human rights abuses. | Review of the Corrib Gas Project Oral Hearing | Farmers group wants Ireland to follow Iceland and burn the bondholders | Mandate To Default On The Unjust Bank Debt That Is Sinking Our Economy - just like the resource theft, we've been fooled again by being landed with the banking bailout bill | Press Statement: “Wealthy Elite will still have political power after election,” says 1% Network -demonstrates nothing changes. | Shell to Sea distribute 1000's of 540 billion notes | The Unfolding Crisis and Ireland's Economic Ruin -Our descent into the financial black hole. | Students Occupy Department Of Finance -See how the govt brutally attacks our young people because they have to make cuts to save the bankers & speculators losses.
Fracking is the next diaster! Poland and Fracking - Lessons to be Learned - Ban Fracking In EU | Fracking in the Lough Allen & Clare Basins | Renowned Investigative Journalist Greg Palast Talks about Fracking in Enniskillen, Carrick on Shannon and Dublin -link to video of full talk.