Dramatic Scenes At Fridays Blockade

Six people were arrested this afternoon on the site of Shell’s controversial refinery in Ballinaboy, Co Mayo. The six were part of a group of more then thirty who entered the site at 11am this morning as part of a ‘people's site inspection’. A five hour game of ‘cat and mouse’ ensued as Gardai and Shell’s private security personnel attempted to remove the protesters from the site. The six arrested were taken to Belmullet Garda station before being released.

Today’s site incursion was the latest in a series of similar actions and follows closely on yesterday’s site incursion by a group of female activists from both the local area and Cork Shell to Sea. Those involved in today’s action were from both the local area and the Dublin Shell to Sea group.

Related Links: Women's trespass at Bellanaboy on Friday 13th | Work halted at Bellanaboy as protesters gain entry to Shell's site, six arrested. | Corrib Gas pipeline route selection begins. | We can stop them | Shell to Sea activists blockade lorries at Bellanaboy | 04.04.07 Sees Yet More Aggression by Shell Cops |

Get out your blue crayons

Climate change is everywhere. Ramor Ryan gatecrashes the ineffectual UN Conference on Climate Change in Nairobi and comes back blaming Capitalism.

A momentous report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that climate change is 'man-made and unstoppable'. The 21-page report, described as conservative by the IPCC itself, says human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame for heat waves, floods and heavy rains, droughts and stronger storms, melting ice-caps and rising sea-levels.

The IPCC is comprised of over 2000 climate experts and scientists. It was set up in 1988 by the UN and the World Meteorological organisation to guide policy makers on the impact of climate change. Despite strenuous attempts by oil companies and big business to undermine the final report, it remains quietly apocalyptic in its assessment.

Its mind-boggling conclusion predicts serious water shortage for between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people, food shortages for 200 to 600 million people. Coastal flooding will hit seven million people within 70 years. The list of potential catastrophe goes on and on.

Related Links: SP on climate change | The Politics and Reality of Peak Oil | Book Review: Ramor Ryan's 'Clandestines: the pirate journals of an Irish Exile' | Climate Change Action Now: Demonstration This Friday 13th ,Dublin City | International Day of Direct Action against Climate Change and the G8. | Climate Change: Answering the Sceptics (and Channel 4) | Ireland and Climate Chaos

Student Politics: where careerism meets "deeply uncool"

In advance of the annual USI Congress, Red Wedge previewed proceedings with an article "What is to be done with the Union of Students in Ireland?" In this article, he offers an eyewitness an account of the event and some thoughts on the future of the student movement.

It’s the first night of the congress. There is a hustings debate taking place between the two candidates for the presidency of the organisation. UCCs Richard Maurice Roe and the Eastern Area Officer of the organisation John McGuirk are going head to head.

Related Links: SIPTU taking unfair dismissal case against USI | Thread On Conference on UCDSU.net | FUCC Thread On USI Elections | FUCC Congress "Blog" | Transparency and Accountability in UCDSU and The Failure of USI | USI Accuses Education Minister of Political Cowardice over Grants | Union of Students in Ireland back Coke Boycott At 2005 Congress |

On Monday in Dublin, a local history group organised a commemoration of the brave women who fought alongside the men in the fight against British rule and the establishment of the Free State.

The march was led by a colour party of women wearing the uniforms of Cumann na mBán and the Irish Citizens Army and photographs of many of the women were carried on the march. After being erased from the historical record for many years (literally in the case of Elizabeth O'Farrell) the women of the 1916 to 1923 period of Irish history are starting to be recognised once again for the important role they played in the struggle for Irish freedom.

The five area-based Community Development Projects in Limerick City have called for all-party support for John Fitzgerald’s recommendations for improving life for people in the city’s disadvantaged communities.

Volunteers and workers from the five Community Development Projects also want the Government – before the Dail dissolves in three weeks or so – to set up the proposed Regeneration Boards on a statutory basis. They held a press conference in Limerick city centre today to press home their message.