Ireland North

Within days, the city of Belfast has been rocked by racist violence and pogroms against ethnic minorities. The vast majority of working-class people in the north are appalled by these events. Many older people in […]

Watch Carmel Gates, General Secretary of NIPSA and a Militant Left (CWI Ireland) supporter, and Padraig Mulholland, Assistant General Secretary of NIPSA and a Militant Left supporter, respond to the recent wave of racist and […]

Belfast has been rocked by two nights of violence that that saw roads blocked, people driven from their homes and vehicles burned. The attacks were carried out by gangs who had been mobilised by calls […]

A very militant and combative annual delegate conference of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance took place in Northern Ireland from 26 to 28 May. The CWI was invited as one of the guest speakers. […]

The “Prince of Darkness” Peter Mandelson lobbied strongly to bring pollution to the Sperrin mountains of Co Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. This was Dalradian Gold’s proposed gold mine at Greencastle. There have been more objections […]

Last month marked 10,000 days since the re-establishment of local government at Stormont buildings, Belfast, following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Its failure to deliver social and economic improvements, let alone bridge the deep […]

The findings of the ‘Operation Kenova’ inquiry, released last week in Belfast, into some of the British state’s covert operations during the ‘Troubles’ in the north of Ireland (approximately from 1969 to 1998) are a […]

Donald Trump attacked the BBC in November 2025 over a Panorama television documentary that edited his January 6, 2021 speech in a way he claimed was misleading, calling the broadcaster “beyond corrupt” and threatening to […]

Yesterday a judge in Belfast gave a ‘not guilty’ verdict regarding ‘Soldier F’,  a former parachute regiment solider who was accused of the murder of two civilians in Derry city, on January 30th 1972, in […]

The county Antrim town of Ballymena has witnessed two nights of serious rioting, with targeted attacks against immigrants and ethnic minorities. Immigrants were forced out of their homes. Terrified ethnic minorities have resorted to putting […]

Belfast is world-renowned for its shipbuilding given the most famous ship in history, the Titanic, was built in the city. Less known is its role as a pioneer in aircraft manufacture. In 1908, Eustace and […]

One year ago, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) returned to power sharing at the Northern Ireland Stormont Assembly under the pressure of a mounting industrial crisis which culminated in the January 18th public sector strike. […]

Three police forces are found to have spied on Northern Ireland journalists Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey and Vincent Kearney. The same police spied on an un-named Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman employee. The police forces were […]

,The disgraceful decision by Keir Starmer’s UK Labour government to cut the £300 winter fuel allowance for pensioners, except for those on the state pension who are entitled to pension credits, provoked a storm of […]

After years of riding high in the polls, Sinn Féin [‘Ourselves Alone’ – a republican party historically linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army] are mired in a deep crisis. Just a few weeks from […]

The Samson and Goliath cranes in Belfast shipyard continue to dominate the city’s skyline but workers in the shipbuilding sector once again face an insecure future. For more than 160 the Harland & Wolff has […]

Tens of thousands of anti-racist counter-protesters took to the streets over the last week across Britain and the North of Ireland in response to a wave of attacks against immigrants by far right mobs. On […]

The UK general election resulted in a historic defeat for the Conservative Party in England and Wales, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland, with Keir Starmer’s pro-capitalist Labour Party gaining a majority in […]

The following motion condemning the Gaza slaughter and calling for a class based, trade union approach to the conflict in the Middle East was passed at the recent conference of the Northern Ireland Public Services […]

Fifty years ago, this week a “strike” was called by the Ulster Workers Council (UWC)  – a coalition of loyalist paramilitary groups, backed by some unionist politicians, like Ian Paisley – in Northern Ireland, in […]

Issues arising from Brexit once again dominate media coverage of relations between the London and Dublin governments. This time the frictions, which have mounted to include the cancellation of Ministerial meetings, follow claims that the […]

Last week, Thursday 11 April, the largest trade union in Northern Ireland, NIPSA, held a protest at the office of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in central Belfast, demanding: ‘Peace now – stop […]

Jeffrey Donaldson MP resigned his position as Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) party leader suddenly and unexpectedly on the morning of Good Friday, the twenty-seventh since the Belfast agreement was negotiated in 1997. The announcement came […]

The General Council (GC) is the Executive body of the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA) which takes critical decisions on the actions and decisions of the union between conference. The election is an important […]

The decision by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to re-enter power-sharing arrangements at Stormont, after two years of boycott, followed claims by party leader Jeffrey Donaldson that he had secured major changes to proposed restrictions […]

Hundreds of thousands of nurses, teachers, civil servants, and other public sector workers took strike action in Northern Ireland on 18 January in one of its biggest ever strikes. Below is the text of the […]

Northern Ireland will see its biggest strike wave ever on 18 January, involving over 150,000 workers. Across the public sector, workers are demanding pay rises, as well as ensuring pay parity, where relevant, with public-sector […]

Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) trade union members in Northern Ireland ports and meat plants have begun five days of hard-hitting strike action over the issue of pay. The action has raised the sights […]

Over 330 National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members in over 100 National World newspapers and websites across Britain and Northern Ireland struck on 18 September. The company imposed a 4.5% pay rise. That is despite […]

The Omagh bomb of 25 years ago was the end of any significant republican armed campaign in Ireland or elsewhere. The backlash ruled such out for many years. The Omagh bombing was one of the […]

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, available on BBC iPlayer, is one of the outstanding documentaries on the conflict in Northern Ireland that is euphemistically known as the ‘Troubles’. Rather than an overarching narrative, […]

A 24-hour strike by BBC journalists in Northern Ireland was 100% solid on 19 May. Workers in the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) walked out on one of the busiest news days of the year […]

Sinn Féin, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Alliance Party emerged as the main winners in the recent local government elections in Northern Ireland. This shows a greater political polarisation taking place among nationalists […]

Since his election in 2019 to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, in Northern Ireland, Cross-community Labour Alternative Councillor Donal O’ Cofaigh has rarely been absent from local press offering a socialist take on issues as […]

And why it has not overcome sectarian divisions On the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Niall Mulholland explains the origins of the ‘peace process’, and why the fundamental problems underpinning […]

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have unveiled the ‘Windsor Framework’, amending the ‘Northern Ireland protocol’. The protocol caused significant trade problems, and the collapse, last year, of […]

The video link below features Carmel Gates, General Secretary of the Nothern Ireland Public Services Alliance (personal capacity) – the largest trade union in the North of Ireland – and a Militant Left (CWI Ireland) […]

Derry city’s Guildhall, in the north west of Ireland, was packed for a meeting to protest BBC management’s plans to effectively close Radio Foyle. Virtually all 300 chairs laid out were occupied, and there were […]

Thousands of members of the trade unions, Nipsa, Unison and the GMB, working in the NHS in Northern Ireland, took strike action on Monday 12 December over pay and conditions. Northern Ireland has the longest […]

Despite it being a cold, dark evening, an estimated 1,500 local people attended a protest meeting in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, on Friday, 2 December.  They came to oppose the announcement, made in October, by the […]

Over 1,000 journalists in the Reach Group across Britain and Ireland, began a campaign of strike action on Wednesday 31 August following the breakdown of talks between the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the […]

This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the ‘civil war’ in Ireland, which saw the final stages of an extraordinary decade of social and national revolutionary and counter-revolutionary movements. A split among […]

Between Wednesday 27 July and Monday 1st, August national strike action took place in Britain for four days, organised by three trade unions (RMT, Aslef, and CWU) – in defence of their members’ living standards […]

The results of the Northern Ireland Assembly election on May 5th mark a significant political turning point. For the first time since the partition of Ireland in 1921, a nationalist party has emerged with the […]

Today, 5 May, marks the 12th anniversary of the sad loss of Peter Hadden, a leading comrade of the CWI in Ireland and internationally. Peter’s life in the struggle for socialism and his important contribution […]

Militant Left supporter Cllr. Donal O’Cofaigh is contesting the Fermanagh-South Tyrone constituency in the 5 May elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Donal is running as a Cross Community Labour Alternative (CCLA) candidate. In an […]

 A television documentary has uncovered new information about spectacular failings in the police investigation into the 2001 murder of Northern Irish journalist, trade unionist and socialist, Martin O’Hagan. The documentary established that a member of […]

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in Northern Ireland has again descended into farce. At the latest meeting, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Chair has muted left-wing councillors. First Donal O’Cofaigh, Cross-Community Labour Councillor and Militant […]

Yesterday’s announcement (1) by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that their First Minister of the power-sharing Assembly in Northern Ireland, Paul Givan, will resign within hours, has been long anticipated by threats made by the […]

The Struggle for Justice Continues Half a century has passed since the British Army shot 28 peaceful civil rights demonstrators on January 30, 1972, in Derry city, Northern Ireland. Thirteen innocent people were killed in […]

The sole women-only hostel in Northern Ireland for homeless women, those with addictions, mental health issues or suffering domestic violence, is facing closure on 27 February. Disgracefully, seven workers, members of the Unite union, who […]

This week, a proposed ban on hunting with dogs was shamefully defeated in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont buildings. As we reach the end of 2021, the practice of animals being torn apart by […]

The Sinn Féin chair of a shambolic meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has excluded independent anti-goldmining Councillor Emmet McAleer from a Council meeting. During most of the meeting, the chair only called his […]

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held its biennial conference in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast at the end of October. Militant Left (CWI Ireland) members actively participated in the proceedings raising the need […]

On Tuesday, 28 September, the National Union of Journalists in Northern Ireland held vigils in Belfast and Derry to mark 20 years since the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan. The vigil in Derry was addressed […]

NIALL MULHOLLAND reviews a new book that seeks to record what Protestants in Northern Ireland are thinking in these unsettled times. Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground By Susan McKay The Blackstaff Press, 2021, £16.99   […]

The mining company, Flintridge Resources, will be allowed to drill boreholes as ‘permitted development’ at a controversial goldmine at Cavanacaw, four miles upwind of Omagh town centre, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The five establishment […]

“In the 12 weeks since the [British] Heath and [N Ireland] Faulkner governments introduced internment, the cities and towns of Northern Ireland have become battlefields. This vicious sectarian measure has mobilised huge sections of the […]

With Pride Month closing at the end of June, Militant Left (CWI Ireland), look at the struggle that the LGBTQ+ community continues to face today. The first pride was a riot. The Stonewall riots began […]

Left candidate, Carmel Gates, has won the election for the General Secretary position in Northern Ireland’s largest union NIPSA (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) gaining 44% of the vote. Her nearest contender won 34%, and […]

The result of the election for the General Secretary position, in Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA), Northern Ireland’s largest union, will become known on June 25th. The left candidate, Carmel Gates, has mounted a […]

Balloting for the post of General Secretary of the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA), the largest trade union in Northern Ireland, opened at the end of May. The left candidate is Carmel Gates, who […]

Edwin Poots, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest party in N Ireland, resigned last night, just three weeks after he won the position. This is the latest twist in the ongoing […]

It took a vote in Westminster in 2019, initiated by right-wing backbench Labour MP Stella Creasy and backed by virtually all the right-wing parties in that chamber, to vindicate the rights of women in Northern […]

Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) in Northern Ireland work to make sure children from disadvantaged households or vulnerable backgrounds don’t lose out on getting an education through absenteeism. They also have a particular role in supporting […]

“A carnival of reaction” Today, 3 May 2021, is officially marked as the hundredth anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland. With sectarian tensions rising once again, the real history of the tumultuous decades leading […]

Images of young people rioting in Belfast and elsewhere, countered by police using water cannon, conjured up scenes from the period of the ‘Troubles’. From the point of view of international audiences, Northern Ireland appears […]

It took a vote in Westminster in 2019, initiated by right-wing backbench Labour MP Stella Creasy and backed by virtually all the right-wing parties in that chamber, to vindicate the rights of women in Northern […]

Northern Ireland is the only region in the UK where the water service has not yet been privatised. That fact largely reflects the strong campaign fought by the trade union movement, in many cases led […]

Members of the SIPTU, NIPSA, Unite and GMB trade unions at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, in Northern Ireland, are preparing for battle. The council have full authority over the pay and terms and […]

When the Covid-19 virus first broke in Northern Ireland, workers were once again told that ‘we are all in this together’. It is no more true today than during the 2008 Bankers’ Crisis where capitalist […]

Northern Ireland’s largest trade union, NIPSA, is seeking a poverty busting pay increase of £3k or 15%, whichever is highest, for each of its health service members.  NIPSA will feed its position into the health […]

The Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) is the largest trade union in the North of Ireland, did have a strong reputation as a democratic union but the recent actions of NIPSA ruling body, the […]

It was always unavoidable that mistakes would be made during the handling of this pandemic. No public health threat on this scale has existed in any developed economy for many decades – and given that […]

The Covid-19 pandemic is everywhere exposing the dirty underbelly of modern capitalism. In  Northern Ireland, decades of attacks by Tory and New Labour governments in Westminster, and from local parties, on NHS services, have left […]

Many frontline local authority workers, including in Belfast, Northern Ireland, will be asked to maintain essential services throughout the coronavirus crisis. In doing so, they need to remember their first priority is their own survival […]

Northern Ireland’s government was suspended between 2017 and 2020 after the sectarian parties refused to reach a power-sharing agreement following the ‘cash for ash’ scandal. Now a strike wave has forced them and the bosses […]

Caroline Wheeler, a prominent anti-cuts activist and trade unionist, was the only candidate standing on a genuine cross-community, labour and trade union platform in the recent Westminster election in Northern Ireland, in the Fermanagh and […]

For the first time in the Royal College of Nursing’s 103-year history, nurses have voted for strike action. They have been joined by the Unison union, and likely, the Nipsa and Unite unions, which are […]

Wrightbus is one of the last remaining bus manufacturers in the UK and produced the Routemaster, also known as the ‘Boris bus’ (when Boris Johnson was mayor of London), for the London Transport Authority. The […]

Northern Ireland is a society scarred by its history. The legacy of the conflict over the national question is everywhere apparent; painted flags, kerbstones and murals mark territories and promote narratives. But just as the […]

Fifty years ago this month, troops were deployed on the streets of Derry and Belfast by the British Labour government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.The capitalist establishment described it at the time as a temporary […]

Up to 20,000 civil servants across Northern Ireland took strike action on 26 July. 

Harland and Wolff is the sole remaining shipbuilding business in the Belfast shipyard.  The shipbuilding industry in Belfast has a four hundred year history and was most famously associated with the construction of the ill-fated […]

Although violence has remained at a relatively low level in Northern Ireland since the ending of the ‘Troubles’, the recent killing of the young journalist, Lyra McKee, in Derry city, by a republican armed group, […]

The killing of Lyra McKee on Thursday 19 April sent a wave of shock across Northern Ireland. Lyra was only 29 years old but had already made a name for herself as a journalist, an […]

Working class people from across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland were revulsed by the shooting and death of a young female journalist, Lyra McKee, in Derry city, last Thursday evening. Anton McCabe, National Executive Council […]

The tenth of April 2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in Belfast. This was the formal ending of the ‘Troubles’, the euphemism for decades of sectarian upheaval […]

On 12 February, Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar, flew to Belfast to supposedly clinch a deal between Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that would see the […]

The IRA campaign, the ‘peace process’ and the working class. The death of Martin McGuinness has been marked by a genuine outpouring of grief in Catholic areas. His funeral became a celebration of a life of […]

Build a socialist alternative to the ‘Orange’ versus ‘Green’ headcount

Need for non-sectarian, socialist politics

Ruth Coppinger speaks in Irish parliament against austerity agreement

Jobs threatened, pay cuts, increased workloads…public sector workers need fighting, democratic union

Socialist MPs in Southern Ireland Parliament send message of support to strikers

A victory for all workers and an inspiration to resist the ‘race to the bottom’

‘March for a Future’ a “powerful statement”

For class struggle campaigns to unite working people across sectarian lines

A new sectarian front line opens

Interview with NIPSA President Padraig Mulholland (personal capacity)

Annual conference of Northern Ireland’s largest trade union at the end of May: A fighting strategy is needed on all fronts

Joe Higgins argues in Cork, 26 January, to resist the household tax: "Yes, we have a choice!"

“Set a date for next strike!”

Only united working class action can prevent further attacks

Thatcher’s brutal prisons regime

Vote against cuts in 5 May elections

Socialist Party calls public protest over loss of service for homes and health risks

A "good Christmas present for the people of Northern Ireland" – Sammy Wilson, Finance Minister

Largest non-sectarian demonstration since anti-war movement

30,000 public sector and 10,000 private sector jobs under threat

Accordging to the Police Federation of Northern Ireland, dissident republican groups have been responsible for carrying out an average of two attacks a day since the beginning of the year.

Social decay causes alienation and conditions for conflict

The Assembly Executive is preparing an act that will criminalise the right to protest.

Role of army chiefs and Establishment in killings and cover-up remains unanswered

“This was MURDER”

Text of the joint leaflet

PETER HADDEN, Northern secretary of the Irish section of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI), the Socialist Party, sadly died at the age of 60, in Belfast, on 5 May after a three year […]

A lifelong socialist activist in Ireland

Socialist Party puts the case for workers’ unity and socialism at Sinn Fein-hosted London conference

DUP and Sinn Fein mired in scandals and face growing opposition

A turning point in history

One week on and still rock solid

Re-instate Pat Lawlor!

The long battle for justice

“Resolve the situation in favour of Gordon and his comrades”

Press release issued by the sacked Belfast airport workers on 19 May 2008

Urgent protests needed!

Union leaders play hardball with workers

Union gives guarantees workers’ demands will be met

British state repression, the IRA’s armed campaign and the Labour Movement

‘Power sharing’ Assembly government budget introduces deep cuts

Union leaders try to break strike

Memory of Bobby Sands invoked by SF to deflect from right wing policies

Crucial first strike under ‘power-sharing’ Assembly

A militant struggle against ‘power-sharing’ government attacks

Commitment from union to cover costs

"No alternative but to take this drastic action"

Solid action against pay cut and attacks on working conditions

1,000 schools affected…picket lines in every city, town and village

Sectarian parties lower taxes for big business while hiking taxes for workers

But struggle for justice continues

International experience of power-sharing governments

Can the agreement last?

Sinn Fein and Democratic Unionist Party change position to supporting water charging now elections are over.

Victory for non-payment campaign!

For democratically-organised, mass non-payment

Political force representing working class needed

‘We Won’t Pay’ leads campaign for mass non-payment

The fact that the Assembly [local ‘power sharing government body] election is going ahead on 7 March does not mean that an Assembly will be set up first on 26 March.

Delegates at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in Dublin on 28 January voted by an overwhelming majority to back a leadership motion to support the police and judicial system in Northern Ireland.

The British and Irish governments ended the three days of all party negotiations in Scotland by announcing the "St Andrews Agreement".

Trade unions and politics in Northern Ireland

But workers face petty, vindictive management

Not the ‘endgame’ but continuation of ‘Troubles’ in a new form

Why the IRA campaign failed to defeat the British state

How can the working class stop the bigots?

A statement by the IRA on its future role, which has been in the pipeline for some time, is still eagerly awaited by the British and Irish governments and the main political parties.

Public sector union conference supports non-payment campaign

Socialists confident that chances to build class unity are increasing

Voter apathy rises in face of political stalemate

The Westminster election is being held against the background of increasing sectarian division on the ground, and the breakdown of the Good Friday agreement with little hope of its resurrection and will inevitably be another […]

2005 has had a very uncomfortable beginning for the republican leadership.

The Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, Robert McCartney’s killing and the attempt to cover it up, and then the allegations about the multi-million pound criminal empire run by the IRA have put the leadership of […]

Talks paralysed as elections loom

Workers at the Dessian factory in Belfast have gone on strike over the sacking of a shop steward. Dessian, which is a locally owned company making PVC windows, employs over 100 at it’s Belfast plant […]

The recent Northern Ireland Assembly elections have produced a recipe for ongoing political stalemate and paralysis. Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are the clear victors and, no matter how they try to […]

NORTHERN IRELAND’S elections on 26 November were extremely polarised with the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on one side and Sinn Fein on the other, gaining support.

The one thing the main political parties here are all agreed on is that Northern Ireland should be sold to private profiteers.

WITH THE Assembly in long term suspension, the main political parties are once again enjoying the luxury of permanent opposition. They have suddenly found their voice again and are able to lay the blame on […]

IN MAY 2002 24 security workers at Belfast international airport were sacked for going on strike. The events around the sackings have led some of those involved to suspect collaboration between the management and local […]

PEOPLE HAD been expecting this suspension and now fear that it could be permanent. We will now likely face a long drawn out political crisis with little hope of any agreement at the end.

VOTING TAKES place this month for the general secretary of NIPSA, Northern Ireland’s biggest trade union with a membership across all areas of the civil and public service. It can play a crucial role in […]

FIGHTING BROKE out at last weekend’s annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree. Demonstrators threw missiles at police, resulting in 24 injured as well as two civilians. However, Drumcree is not the issue it was. The […]

The BBC current affairs programme, Panorama, recently broadcast a two part investigation on Northern Ireland that revealed more details of the dirty undercover war carried out for decades by the ‘security forces’. Most of the […]

Up to 1,000 social workers and administrative staff throughout Northern Ireland took part in a solid one-day strike yesterday (19 June 2002).

Over the last few days, sectarian conflict has increased in various parts of Belfast. Both sides have blamed each other for starting the recent trouble. But what is the real cause of the outbreak of […]

80,000 turned out in Belfast, despite the wind and rain, to support the trade union demonstration against sectarian attacks. This was bigger than any of the previous anti sectarian trade union rallies that have been […]

The situation outside the Holy Cross primary school has developed into an ugly stand-off as community leaders talk about trying to settle the conflict. At root, this conflict is about redefining boundaries between Catholic and […]