Irish Politics, Current Affairs and Magazine Archive - Politico.ie

From the early Celtic Tiger, when the dominance of finance capital emblazoned itself upon the city's landscape, to the cold Internationalist half-empty remains of the frantic land speculation that characterised the era and its demise, Owen Hatherley walks us through the confused but telling structures of one patch of Dublin's post-industrial regeneration. 

As the fight for our natural gas and oil rages on, and the fight against the IMF doesn't, Ireland's problems are global. They resemble those which have plagued countries in the Global South such as Nigeria and Ecuador, writes Andy Storey

As Ireland becomes a more unequal society, the already huge pressures on social workers are going to worsen and the societal problems they deal with at work will deepen. While the state writes off billions to provide a safety net for the private sector, these public sector workers are being forced to pay to be legally scrutinised, writes Angela Nagle, right at the time when we need them most.

When one of the few major demonstrations mounted in opposition to the cuts was met with police brutality last November, USI leader and Ógra Fianna Fáil affiliated Garry Redmond condemned his own members. In the face of student transport being cut, fees being hiked and vital part-time employment vanishing, the conservative and inactive unions, writes Éimhín Ní Cionnaith, have shown about as much integrity as can be expected from a careerist leadership.