TD Robert Troy, at the centre of a controversy involving his failure to disclose multiple property interests, has resigned from his position at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. In a story first broken by The Ditch, it was revealed that Troy had failed to disclose the sale of one of his properties to … Read more
“The idea of CATU is a union outside of the workplace. An organisation that is built by the community to organise and fight for the community’s interests. The scope is extremely large. Primarily, CATU is involved in the housing struggle because it believes that real power lies in the hands of ordinary people when they unite together to defend their interests against those that exploit our communities and turn housing into a mere commodity. Ordinary people, organised, united, and standing ready to fight for their interests scares the living daylights out of exploiters and those who take their trust for granted. The statement that real power lies in the hands of ordinary people is entirely correct.”
A century on from the creation of the Orange statelet, the preference for supermarkets over social housing shows how little Unionism’s housing policy has changed.
The Dublin Inquirer recently reported on how the new Hendrons Co-Living scheme will be managed, based on planning documents – and the findings are quite shocking. Thermal imaging cameras will be installed, to measure occupants body temperature; this data will then be collected and analysed. According to the Management Plan, “anyone displaying a raised temperature will be advised to isolate for a period”. Additionally, the digitised access control system will limit entry to certain parts of the building, based on the number of people in the space.
Ireland has among the strongest property rights recognition in the world. Imagine if, instead of protecting the right to property, the Constitution protected the right to housing. If the might of the government vindicated every individual’s right to shelter.
Here we can see the working class of Ireland recognise their position, they can see very clearly the problems capitalism produces, namely, the health and housing crises. Here Sinn Féin had the opportunity to exploit the gap in anti-austerity politics that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil structurally support.
Basic functions of a state, such as public investment, have been restricted to an unprecedented degree. Karl Marx saw that national debt is the means by which the modern state is sold to the capitalist class, determining which section of that class will be in control.
Housing has often been the arena in which class consciousness and militant action has been instilled in the hearts and minds of the Irish youth. This struggle is ever present in the North. Segregation of housing in urban centres of Derry and Belfast remains an obstacle to social cohesion and the unity of class action … Read more
In the past, young people were able to receive a home from the local authority which led to localized construction projects. Most people in Ireland lived in homes built by their local corporation or council, the same model existed in the United Kingdom where local authorities constructed mass local housing. Seems simple, right? Today the … Read more
The first lecture was about LGBT activism given by Adam Murray, a Community Development Officer for Cara-Friend, an LGBT charity in Northern Ireland, and is Secretary for ICTU LGBT and a member of NIPSA LGBT. Adam talked about working class solidarity with LGBT issues in the past, and a history of discrimination of LGBT in … Read more