Above: Making a point about PREP at the last Pride march in 2017. Photo courtesy of Tonie Walsh. New HIV diagnoses are being recorded at one every 18 hours – a record high. The LGBT community has been particularly impacted. Jim Gallagher finds that Ireland’s response to the upsurge in new diagnoses has been piecemeal, patchy and ill-informed. There has been no coordinated national response to the surge in new … Read More
Let There Be Houses.
Back in late October the Campaign For Public Housing burst onto the scene promising a water charges style agitation for that most basic of human needs. Harry Sal Lacey caught up with Eugene Mcartan to see if they tick any differently to the rest of the housing movement. What do you mean by public housing? Is this social housing or affordable housing or both? The difference between social or affordable … Read More
Just A Few Bad Apples, Yeah?
Above: Kerz knocked it out of the park with his illustrations for this feature in #rabble14. He previously delivered the goods on Stephen Donnelly for Gombeen #13. To see his work in all its inky glory, go cop yourself this article in print. Nóirín O’Sullivan finally resigned back in September but the Garda scandals just keep on coming. Gemma Hyland delved into some of the more recent scandals in the … Read More
Euro In The Army Now!
Above: Irish Anti-War Movement Says No To Lisbon A poster arguing for a no vote in one of the Lisbon referendums. From William Murphy on Flickr. Every European referendum that happens in Ireland brings with it a plethora of campaigns prattling on about an EU army and neutrality. Mainstream politicians scoff at this and then apparently nothing happens. It feels very much like the boy who cried wolf. Oisin Gilmore reminds … Read More
Come Out And Play.
A Playful City is a collaborative project aiming to create inclusive, child-friendly, and playful spaces in Dublin City. Coordinated by co-creation wizards Connect the Dots with sustainable play heads Upon a Tree (they met on north inner city temporary park project, Granby Park), the project is part consultation, part conference / hackaton and part urban intervention. The goal is putting people and play back into the urban landscape. Caitriona … Read More
Is The ESB “Techwashing” Israeli Apartheid?
Above: BDS campaigners in Dublin back in March 2016. Courtesty of the IPSC. With little fanfare, in May 2015 the ESB signed a contract with a start-up called Driivz to provide an “enhanced charge point management system” for electronic vehicles, basically the software that links EV chargers nationwide. Everyone loves eCars, they’re going to save the planet apparently, so what’s the problem you ask? Kevin Squires, National Coordinator of the Ireland-Palestine … Read More
Shadow Of The Glen.
Above: Glenmalure House in Wicklow. You need to cross a river in a car (if your beat up old jalopy can handle it…) to reach the place and it once played host to the likes of Yeats who wrote a poem about it. Tomás Lynch takes a look at the dwindling number of An Oige hostels throughout the country. On his rambles he stumbles across issues of privatisation, a fall … Read More
Meanwhile In Montrose.
Above: Some sort of grotesque sick nightmare that crawled out of the mind of Darragh Lynch. Shudder. Has anyone else noticed RTE’s attempt to kickstart a national conversation on class for the Autumn? Mark Cullinane sticks on his waders and takes a look in the ideological sewers of the national broadcaster and finds a few funny smells in its recent day to day and documentary programming. “Are there distinct classes to which we all … Read More
More Of The Same.
Above: A photo sent in by rabble reader Ciaran Boylan. The baddest fucker on the Irish internet returns with his caustic look into the darker sewers of the island’s cesspools. Make sure your waders aren’t leaking when you read this. Oireachtas Retort, over to you. Campaigners for sex worker safety over at UglyMugs.ie recently revealed that there have been 70 complaints of offenses committed by gardaí since 2010. The FOI … Read More
Community Organising Grant.
Above: Demonstration at Apollo House last January. Photo by Thom McDermott. In our last issue, we looked at the Home Sweet Home coalition’s occupation of Apollo House and the work of the volunteers that made the occupation possible. Today, on the day that former Minister of Housing Simon Coveney promised to end the practice of Emergency Accomodation, the coalition have announced a community grant scheme. The scheme is to be … Read More