February – The Irexit Conference
UKIP Nigel Farage brings his brand of Euroscpetic Thrash to Dublin. Photograph: Bryan Meade (Irish Times)

March – Rally For Life
8 Things that bothered me about the Rally For Life March

April - Contracts Revoked
Following a high profile rape trial Ulster Rugby chief exec Shane Logan says he did not believe Paddy Jackson or Stuart Olding would ever play for Ireland or Ulster again

May – Ireland Votes To Repeal The Eight              

June – Drumm Jailed
Former Anglo Irish CEO David Drumm leaves the Criminal Courts of Justice after the guilty verdict. He’s sentenced to six years in jail. Photo: Tony Gavin

October – Naughty Naughten Resigns
David McCourt with former minister for communications, Denis Naughten. Photograph: Andrew Downes 

 “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity” was James Connolly’s rally cry for the 1916 rising and following a bitter civil war our politicians took to the world stage looking to be recognised as a free nation.

It took years for our country to heal internally and also to reconcile our differences with an empire that ruled our small island nation by brutal force for hundreds of years.

It’s taken a long time to get here but Brexit has reminded us of how little our politics has matured. To suggest that Irish TD’s or MP’s should succumb to British rule in 2018 by supporting Theresa May’s Brexit deal is an insult to every Irish person who’s ever lived.
When the Irish Republic declared itself as a Sovereign Independent State it did so with the intent of abstaining from British politics, no longer would Ireland be a participant in its own enslavement.

For Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to ask Sinn Fein to take their seats in Westminster to support a deal that removes Northern Ireland from her rightful place amongst the nations of Europe is absolutely disgraceful. For Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to ask Sinn Fein to take their seats in Westminster to support a deal that the people of Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly against is simply undemocratic. For Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to ask Sinn Fein to take their seats in Westminster to get England out of this difficulty is an absolute farce.  

What’s presented itself here is an opportunity for Irish people to decide whether they should vote for  parties that support British rule over Ireland

Or perhaps Irish people should decide they instead support parties that believe the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies.

Who would have thought that we would be faced with this choice a little over a hundred years after the Proclamation of The Irish Republic.  

The Queen’s agents need to be voted out of Irish politics. We will not go to England to vote ourselves backwards in time.

(Cartoon by @LatuffCartoons depicts Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness meeting the Queen in 2012)

The Yellow Vest movement that swept through Paris is further proof that European governments have lost touch with the proletariat who slip from wage-labour to slave-labour as austerity squeezes lower income households and struggling families.  

Quite simply the French government composed privileged policies to tackle climate change but they are not doing what’s best for their people. The change to renewables must be incentivised, governments must invest in the change through capital expenditure, not punish the average worker by pushing carbon taxes on people that have no choice or say in how they travel.

Similar to the water protests dividing public opinion in Ireland, the desire for a positive outcome is not enough to win over the will of the people, in particular when it comes at a significant cost to lower income households.

The yellow vest protests have no real ideology; opportunists from the left, right, and alt-right have all taken to the streets in anger, violence and anarchy. The movement has no leader and has made no demands. Common themes of insecurity towards immigration and hostility towards austerity are some of the reasons protesters took to the streets but it’s hard to tell who’s fighting for what and who will benefit in the end. Some call for lower taxes, while others call for higher wages, and some demand Macron’s head on a plate and further calls for Frexit.

Through the chaos Macron must decide if it’s time to support worker’s rights and decent wages or feed fuel to the alt-right fire through police violence. The possibility of the rise of the alt-right in France and ultimately a Frexit nightmare should be good enough reason for the government to meet with unions to put an end to this melting pot of uncertainty.
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Ireland will be paying close attention to the outcome of the Paris riots, as the recent housing protest touched on some of the deep feeling festering across every sector of Irish society and the difficulties experienced in accessing accommodation. As the housing crisis deepens you can imagine it’s only a matter of time before the situation boils over.