Contents

• Mind the Water Gap

  
  Who knew the final straw for Irish commoners would be the introduction of water charges? That put feet on the streets. We had big marches in the centres of towns and cities with contested numbers of thousands of protesters, and small pickets in outlying housing estates, each with a dozen or so protesters calling shame on the installation of meters. And it worked. Or so it seemed: water charges were dropped and those who had paid prematurely were given a refund. That ‘victory’ kept us quiet

• Mind the Health Gap

  
  As with homelessness, the statistics on health are horrifying, the media images are gut-wrenching, and the facts are bleak. On January 17, 2006, Mary Harney, then Minister for Health, declared the situation in the country’s A&E departments a national emergency. There were 422 patients on trolleys in Irish hospitals that day. Fourteen years of emergency status later, on January 7, 2020, there were 760 patients on trolleys in those same Irish
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  BROKEN DEMOCRACY

  
  Our democracy is broken and it’s time we did something about it. Self-governing republican freedom is shared among equal citizens, and so is the responsibility for maintaining it. That requires active participation from us all, individually and collectively, taking responsibility for the state we’re in. 10-minute read.
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  UNQUIET REVOLUTIONARIES

  
  In 1983, a two-to-one majority voted for the Eighth Amendment, banning abortion for all time and the Supreme Court ruled that laws criminalising homosexuality supported the ‘Christian nature of the Irish State’. But by 2018, we had legalised same-sex marriage and repealed the Eighth. What happened? 12-minute read.
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  IS THE LEAVING CERT FIT FOR PURPOSE?

  
  Two recent studies asked students whether the skills taught in their Leaving Cert courses prepared them for third-level study. An overwhelming majority said 'No', that they had not learned the intellectual skills they would need to succeed. 8 minute read.
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  THE ESSENCE OF HUMANITY

  
  Drunken, brawling, criminal, lazy, as thick as two short planks nailed together, and not wanted over here—that’s what ‘everybody knew’ about the average Mick when I was growing up in England. Creating a racist stereotype doesn’t need any basis in fact, just an ugly image repeated often enough. (10 minute read.)
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  “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by Eric Bogle – a new interpretation

  
  Written by Scottish-born folk singer Eric Bogle, the song describes the futility and horror of war through the personal experiences of the song's character. In stripping away melody the words alone are left to convey the bleak vistas and raw emotion of the story.
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  Welcome to Ballymun

  
  Upwards of 17,000 people moved into the Ballymun flats in one go. The bus arrived late as did the shopping centre with its one supermarket and two pubs. The promised health centre, swimming pool, library, meeting rooms, community halls, and gym didn’t happen. Anyone spot a problem?