Socialist Appeal
The Marxist voice of Labour and youth
Irish voters have decisively voted in favour of marriage equality, making Ireland the first country to do so through the ballot box. This was a victory of the future against the past, of the young against the old, of reason against ignorance, of the forward-looking urban areas against the old backward rural Ireland.
News that the IMF might consider allowing the Irish government to pay off a large chunk of the bailout debt will no doubt be heralded as a great victory for the Coalition in Ireland. Séamus Loughlin from Fightback Ireland explains the reality: that the impact of this deal will only be felt as a ripple on the balance sheet.
Sinn Féin made a big surge in the Euro and Council elections. What are the reasons behind this development? What programme does Sinn Féin propose? And what does the growth of SF mean for workers across the Island?
Eamon Gilmore, former leader of the Labour Party in Ireland, has resigned as party leader after Labour was hammered in the local council and the European polls. The Labour Party’s right wing programme and the record of its ministers in office have massively discredited its local representatives. Ireland’s elections illustrate that there are no short cuts. The working class must find a way out of the chains of capitalism.
Sixteen years after the Good Friday agreement and ever so conveniently, just after the European Elections, the Stormont Assembly will shortly face a show down on the question of Welfare Reform, which is likely to illustrate just how toothless and lame the Assembly really is. But most importantly it will demonstrate the relationship between the DUP, Sinn Féin and the Westminster Government.