With 250,000 members or 1 in 6 workers in ireland SIPTU is by far the largest irish trade union. SIPTU is currently electing it's vice president through a ballot of all members. It can be easily argued that as the official who sanctions strike action by the largest union in the state the new vice president will be one of the most powerful men in the country.

There are two candidates in the election, Brendan Hayes, a paid senior official of the union, and Des Derwin who is a factory worker and union activist. Hayes would support union policy on partnership while Derwin states: 'The unions should not be in partnership with the rich and powerful.' in an interview with 1 of IMC IRL conducted by email.

Des is a regular contributor to Indymedia
Siptu - The home page
Indymedia mentions

"It is great that so many people took the time to express their opposition to the proposed escalation of the killing of Iraqi people.

But I worry.

I worry that a large number of people will feel that they have "done their bit". They've done a hell of a lot more than the other people that didn't even bother to turn out for the march. They've expressed their opinion, the leaders should listen and do what the people want, shouldn't they?

I worry that if/when the assault on Iraq continues and the corrupt fools in government do nothing, then a lot of people will feel betrayed and will never vote for Bertie or other representatives again. Instead they'll vote for some other representative, someone "anti-war" from Fianna Fail, or Labour, or the Greens. Then when the next crisis comes they'll be betrayed again.

And again.

On the other hand, maybe most of those people were so pissed off with the government that they realise that they have to show the way and that appealing to or reasoning with or threatening any government is a waste of time and that they, the people that care and that are moral, will have to shut down Shannon to US troops.

That can be done."

Author: 'Worried'
IMC IRL Comment: Feb 17th 2003

Links:
Iraq Body Count
IMC IRL Archive: Ireland Says No To War As Over 130,000 Protest
Bush Pimps For Bertie
Coalition Military Deaths
Government Abandoned Neutrality - Greens

From The Newswire: "A Dublin-based anti-war activist, Eoin Rice (35), has this afternoon (12th Feb) been sent to Limerick Prison for refusing to accept a ban from the entire county of Clare as part of his bail conditions.

At a sitting of Shannon District Court, Judge Joseph Mangan told Mr Rice, who was arrested in the aftermath of the December 6th Irish Anti-War Movememt (IAWM) blockade at Shannon airport, that he was adding a ban from County Clare to his bail conditions, which had previously involved a payment of just E5.00. Mr Rice is charged with alleged motoring offences.

Eoin Rice was then taken into custody following his refusal to accept such a ban. His solicitor has been instructed to challenge the ban in the High Court tomorrow, but if that fails Mr Rice will remain in prison until his next hearing, which is on March 18th.

Refusing to accept the new condition, Mr Rice said, as he was being brought away to Limerick Prison: "Judge Mangan sought to augment my bail, previously with no conditions, by banning me from Clare. He would offer no reason or argument for this action. I refused to accept this ridiculous imposition and stated frankly that it was illegal and beyond all law."

Commenting on the jailing of Mr Rice, Dr Fintan Lane, spokesperson for the Irish Anti-War Movement, said: "This particular judge has fallen into the habit of banning all anti-war activists from County Clare, no matter how minor the offence. I suspect the man thinks he's presiding in Stalinist Russia where internal exile was regularly deployed against political dissidents. The attempt to ban Eoin Rice, while on bail for a minor motoring offence, is ludicrous. Mr Rice has our full support and we believe that the course of action that he has taken is an honourable one. The banning of peaceful anti-war protesters from Shannon must stop - it is not Judge Mangan's role to protect the US war machine from peace activists."

Dr Lane, who was himself banned from County Clare for two years by Judge Mangan last April, concluded: "We applaud the stance taken by Eoin Rice and demand his immediate and unconditional release from Limerick Prison. His jailing is an outrage."

RELATED LINKS
Court report
Eoin Has Quite a Recent History With the Gardai
His Appearances in Judge Mangan's Court Have Never Gone Smoothly
Maybe Heckling Bertie, Willie and Biffo Can Get You Into Trouble
Maybe Going To The Press Rather Than The Garda Complaints Board Can Get You Into Trouble
Maybe A Determination To Protest At Shannon Airport Can Get You Locked Up
Context 1
Context 2

Discussions about the role of corporate media usually end up being esoteric analyses of the subtle misdirection and bias exposed by Chomsky and Hermann. Sometimes though the corporate media just lets it all hang out and tells such huge porkies that it's hard to believe. Perhaps the most "skilled" example of the art of complete and utter lies that has sullied our eyes is the work of "journalist" Deirdre Tynan and her editors and publishers at Ireland on Sunday.

Presenting herself in the article as an intrepid undercover journalist, and in the pub as an angst-ridden victim of greed, the sodden scribe managed to scribble together a "story" which would be laughable were it not published in a periodical which claims to report fact. This blatant lying is part of a larger trend of vilification of anarchists and other activists by the corporate media in the run-up to the EU Summit in Dublin.

Detailed rebuttals of the patent falsehoods told by this Grub Street hack have been contributed by our reader-writers including a very detailed account by the Workers Solidarity Movement, and a personal report by one of the interviewees (whose gentle suggestion of ethical standards was dismissed as being "from the sixties").

But we shouldn't be so surprised because Ireland on Sunday belongs to the same group of newspapers that published scandalous stories about the badly beaten and tortured media activists at the Genoa Social Forum in 2001.

It has been suggested that Deirdre Tynan and Priscilla Lynch may have an incomplete control over the work published under their name and that the editor-in-chief (Martin Clarke) is associated with a high turnover in staff who find the workplace ethically distateful. However, their names are on the piece and they bear responsibility for it.

From the Newswire: 'One of the central, but not well known, direct goals of the Irish EU Presidency is to reach agreement with the European Parliament about the CO2 Emissions Trading Market. This market is to be launched in 2005. Ministers of the EU member states are demanding a market full of loopholes, so that companies can escape reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gases on EU territory. Instead companies will be able to produce and trade the commodity “the right to pollute” by financing cheap efficiency projects in Eastern Europe and in the South.

An agreement between the EU Member States and the European Parliament should finally be reached at the end of June, but ideally should come about before the last legislative session of the European Parliament in April, before the elections. Ireland already held a conference in Dublin on February 3 to discuss the various National Allocations Plans among the Member States. These allocation plans are the foundation of privatising the right to pollute among companies in the EU, concerning high-polluting industries such as the steel and paper industries. Before the end of March, all Member States should have finished their allocation plans.

The most crucial topic will be on the loopholes that will be provided to companies. Last year, the European Commission proposed to link the European Market with other “flexible mechanisms” for reaching reduction targets, such as the CDM and JI mechanisms, that make it possible for Member States and companies to create the right to pollute with CO₂ in the EU, by developing or financing “climate projects” in other countries. The Commission however proposed to put a cap of 8 per cent on this. The EU Parliament agreed on this. In December, a majority of the EU-member states expressed the opinion that they want to get rid of this cap. Now, Member States and the EU Parliament have to come to an agreement so that the trading scheme can be implemented in January 2005.

This so-called “linking directive” will boost the European Market with cheap credits, so reaching the Kyoto-targets will be much cheaper for companies. States such as Spain (which is very energy inefficient), as well as most industries, are heavily engaged in lobbying the EU Parliament and other Member States to link the European market with these other flexible mechanisms. The consequences are that no reductions will have to be met in Europe itself, enabling industry and Member States to continue polluting anyway and further postponing solutions to climate change. Another consequence is that a very lucrative market will be created, by creating a new commodity and very flexible market rules.'

The Effects of this Wrangling in Ireland are Already Apparent: Government is Giving Industry what it Wants: Industry Plays while the Consumer Pays (Waste Charges)
Irish Taxpayer Funds Free Ride for CO2 Industries: Friends of the Irish Environment
Cullen Decision on Emissions Cowardly -SF
Cullen Ignoring Kyoto Targets -Labour
Greens say Government is allowing Industry ignore Kyoto Obligations