Ireland North

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 […]