Over 350 people attended the United Left Alliance (ULA) National Forum, held in Dublin on June 25. This forum was held exactly four months since the General Election at which the ULA won 5 Dail seats and was the first national gathering of ULA activists from throughout the state.
The annual list of billionaires produced by Forbes Magazine has again seen records smashed by the world's hyper-rich. There are now 1,426 billionaires in the world, 210 more than 2012, with a collective wealth of $5.4 trillion, up nearly a trillion dollars from last year.
Should a government Minister be allowed to make a far reaching statement that sharply contradicts the thrust of government policy and not be immediately challenged as to the practical implications? If the media afforded acres of coverage to such a statement, should it not then demand that the Minister spell out what concrete action she/he proposed to take if the statement was to mean anything more than empty posturing?