Art - a Composite of Van Gogh's 'Exercise Yard'
& Munch's 'Scream' by Prisoner Mick Connors.

ED NOTE: Niall Harnett 2013 [R.I.P]. I have pinned Niall Harnett's feature article as a tribute to a great activist and a great person. You will be sorely missed Niall!


Related Links: Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | Shell, IRMS & Gardaí move into Glengad | Shell's tunnelling compound shut down for the day | Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | A busy time up in co. Mayo | Open letter to Minister Pat Rabbitte concerning hydraulic gas fracturing ("fracking") in Ireland | Day of Solidarity in Mayo | Shell's tree cutting disrupted for second day running | Scaling tree cutters and trees to halt Corrib pipeline works | First Shell blocking of the New Year | Friday the 13th day of solidarity- Mayo | Court Report On “rape-tape” Sergeant Being Awarded €33,0000 | Shell and the other oil companies: serial killers | The Release & Homecoming of Pat 'The Chief' O'Donnell - Photo Essay | Maura Harrington, opponent of Shell, jailed | The Jailing of Niall Harnett | Prosecutions of Shell to Sea campaigners collapse | Human Rights questions being asked in Mayo courts | "Do you have a house, do you have a car? You should think about your wife and family.....” | Jeff Leurs | Bradley manning

A few T-shirts for the Prisoners. 0.11 Mb niall2.jpg 0.03 Mb

Where we are on the 40th anniversary of joining the EEC.

This is part one of a two part series and the second article can be found here

The Political Basis of the EU:

All States and aspiring States have their myths of origin. The myth of origin of the EU is that it is a peace project to prevent wars between Germany and France - as if a tendency to go to war is somehow genetically inherited.

The actual facts are however that the first step towards supranational economic integration, the European Coal and Steel Community of 1951, was to facilitate German rearmament at the start of the Cold War with Russia and to reconcile France to that fact. The US wanted a rearmed West Germany inside NATO. This greatly alarmed France which had been occupied by Germany just a few years before.

Irish Referendum Practice from McKenna (1995) to McCrystal (2012).

This is part two of a two part series. To read the first article in the series you can find it here

By Anthony Coughlan

“We will fix that Stalinist body" ... Comment by the late Brian Lenihan TD on the then Referendum Commission, Autumn 2001, in the lead-up to the second Nice Treaty referendum.



And How They Fixed It:
In December 2001 the Fianna Fail Government then in office put a Bill through the Oireachtas (Legislature) amending the 1998 Referendum Act so as to remove from the statutory Referendum Commission its function of setting out in a fair and neutral manner the relevant arguments for and against any proposed constitutional amendment. This was done on the last day before the Oireachtas rose for the Christmas holidays that year, when all stages of the relevant Bill were pushed through the Dail and Seanad in one day, with two days notice to the Opposition. Because of these circumstances this move went virtually unnoticed by the Irish media at the time.