Unfriend Coal

Great stuff!



To find out what this is all about, take a look here.

Tackling the Tax Havens

There's a great website with lots of facts, figures and easy to understand explanations of all the tricky ins and outs of tax and tax havens. Very helpful for anyone working on tax justice issues.

Take a look and watch their quirky little promotional video released this month:

Blog Action Day Vs World Food Day

Today is Blog Action Day and bloggers around the world are talking about one thing - FOOD.

As we celebrate World Food Day, nearly a billion people on the planet still go to bed hungry every night. Yet this inexcusable and tragic reality that is faced by around 1 in 7 people is made all the more offensive by the fact that the world currently produces enough food. It is not a lack of food that is the problem but rather a broken food system that fails so many.

The world's population is growing and will reach 9 billion by 2050. This will present its own problems with demand for food rising by 70%, but what of the issues facing the world now:

- 40% of US corn crops end up in gas tanks instead of stomachs.

- 4 in 5 people lack access to social protection of any kind.

- The amount of arable land per head has almost halved since 1960.

- Consumers in rich countries may be wasting up to a quarter of the food they buy.

That is why Oxfam launched its GROW campaign earlier this year - to encourage people to share ideas for better ways to grow, share and live together and work towards a future where everyone on the planet always has enough to eat. During the next few days of GROW Week (October 15th - 22nd), we have a chance to take stock and strengthen our commitment to this more hopeful future.

06/10/2011 - Ireland at the UN Human Rights Council

Via Your Rights. Right Now:

"On 6 October 2011, Ireland will be examined for the first time by the United Nations on our human rights record under the Universal Periodic Review or UPR. Seventeen leading organisations have come together to make sure that the United Nations hears your views about Your Rights. Right Now. Our voices are stronger if we work together. Read our report, and follow the process live from Geneva on this website from 8am (Irish time) on 6 October 2011."

WATCH THE LIVE FEED HERE.

An Audit of Ireland's Debt

I recently had the pleasure of attending the launch of the results of an audit of Ireland's debt in Buswell's Hotel.

Carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Limerick and led by Dr. Sheila Killian, 'An Audit of Irish Debt' provides a very accessible picture of Ireland's debt. The audit was commissioned by the trade union UNITE and the Irish NGOs Afri and Debt and Development Coalition Ireland. Based on information from the Central Bank, the ECB, the CSO and NTMA as well the financial accounts of various financial institutions, Reuters data, Dáil questions and wikileaks cables; the report is extremely thorough.

Of key importance though is that the report is independent and politically neutral.

It may sound like a dry read but the information within this audit personally affects every citizen in Ireland and is well worth a look.

Referendum Matters

The Dáil resumes today and has an opportunity to provide some much needed focus.

Despite the fact that this session will undoubtedly be extremely busy, the reality is that come the end of October, the public will be called upon to cast their votes in two referendums. If approved, these will:

- allow the pay of judges to be reduced in line with any future reductions in public service pay.
- give Oireachtas committees the power to hold inquiries that can make findings of fact.

Whether or not such issues are uncontroversial does not negate the need for robust analysis and discussion. This has been conspiciuously absent.

The dearth of inspirational candidates in the upcoming Presidential election has fostered a degree of public apathy and is debasing the status of an office that should be able to stake claim to a perennial place within the hearts of this country's citizens. This cannot and should not be allowed to happen to a process that alters the document that defines who we are as a people and a country.

Referendums matter. Admittedly some more so than others. But they all count.

Despite the current difficulties this country faces, the upcoming referendums should be treated with the respect and consideration they deserve and not ignored by the media or our political representatives. Some much needed attention would be very welcome in the coming weeks.

14 Seconds...27,000 Deals...1 Question

Technology that allows a contract to move from one trader to another 27,000 times in 14 seconds may sound impressive but it begs the question: How does this benefit society?

A recent report from the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, entitled Financial Crisis 2: Rise of the Machines, has highlighted how an activity called High Frequency Trading is effectively making it impossible for regulators to police and intervene in the market when necessary. High Frequency Trading is computer driven trading that uses algorithms to facilitate shares being bought and sold hundreds of times a second and has the unfortunate innate ability to drive up prices and cause market volatility.

Making matters worse is the fact that such trading is increasingly being used for trading commodities, meaning oil and food. Wild volatility in these areas would not only cause havoc in the market, but more importantly will impact directly upon people's lives.

So once again, though impressed with the mathematical equations embedded in such technology, I must ask how this benefits society? And if the answer is that it doesn't, well then it's time to once again reiterate and intensify the call for a financial transaction tax - which would throw some much needed sand in the wheels of these technological trades.