We are delighted to publish a third tribute to Cathleen O’Neill on this blog – this time written by Shalim Malekmian for the Dublin Inquirer, May 14 2025. Thanks to Therese Caherty, who drew it to our attention
“A force bigger than life itself,” said a eulogy by O’Neill’s friend Carmel Jennings. “Working-class warrior,” said Rita Fagan, another friend of O’Neill’s.
A large pram is parked beside the door at 58 Amiens Street.
In a room on the left of the entrance, a baby boy wobbles on the ground, about to crawl.
Downstairs, toddlers play and chat with workers at the crèche in Saol Project, an education and support hub primarily for women grappling with drug addiction – but also those experiencing poverty and homelessness.
In the kitchen, patties sizzle in a pan. Most of the kids who come to Saol are children of its service users.
That’s what Cathleen O’Neill, its co-founder, wanted, said Paula Kearney, a training programme team leader at Saol, recently, sitting in the building’s backyard near a barbeque grill.
O’Neill wanted Saol to look after their kids so that women had time and space to recover and thrive, she said.
Two decades ago, O’Neill would bustle up and down the stairs at the old building, shows Born Bolshy, a 2002 documentary about her life by the late director Louis Lentin, saved in RTÉ’s archives.
“If you can! Alright, Mary. Thanks a million, bye, bye, bye, bye,” says O’Neill, before hanging up the phone at a tiny office in Saol.
Days after his election as head of Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV calls Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Pope Leo XIV has called Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a western-backed 30-day ceasefire, in a shift from the previous pontiff who had struck a more neutral stance on Moscow’s war. Ukraine’s president said on Monday that his first conversation with the new pope, who was elected last week, was “very warm and truly substantive” and thanked him for his support.
“We deeply value his words about the need to achieve a just and lasting peace for our country and the release of prisoners,” he said. The Vatican confirmed the two men had spoken on the phone but declined to provide any further details. “I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Pope Leo said on Sunday, and called for “an authentic, just and lasting peace as soon as possible”. “May all the prisoners be freed and may the children return to their families,” he added. His explicit support for Ukraine in its years-long war against Russia’s invasion was met with appreciation from Ukrainians and especially the country’s Catholics.
(image credit: Francesco Sforza/Vatican Media Handout Via Reuters)
Deepest condolences to all Cathleen’s family, friends, feminists, socialists, community activists and neighbours. She was a true warrior for all sorts of progressive causes. a very inclusive person, good singer, and unafraid to speak very plainly and politely when it was necessary. She was great company. There are great memories. She helped make Kilbarrack Dublin and Ireland a better place, especially for women. John Meehan
I first met Cathleen in the mid 1980’s via her great friends Joe Kelly and Therese Caherty.
Here are a few memories
23 People launched The Alliance for a No Vote (ANV), October 6 2001 in Dublin. Ivana Bacik, a Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Law Professor, introduced the discussion. ANV spokespersons included Sinéad Ní Chúalacháin, Catherine Naji and Cathleen O’Neill.
Founding organisations :
Irish Family Planning Association; Irish Council for Civil Liberties Women’s Sub-Committee; Lawyers for Choice; Cork Women’s Right to Choose Group; Dublin Abortion Rights Group; Women’s Education Research & Resource Centre, UCD; Pro Choice Campaign; Socialist Party; Workers’ Solidarity Movement.
Bertie Ahern’s government tried to sneak in an anti-choice amendment to the Irish constitution overturning a 1992 Supreme Court decision which made abortion in Ireland legal in certain circumstances – the X Case Judgement. The pro-choice side won.
This is the summary of interventions by Oleksandr Kyselov from Sotsialnyi Rukh in Ukraine to the 18th World Congress of the Fourth International in Belgium at the end of March.
You can read the contribution made by Russian anti-war activist Felix here. You can also see the resolution agreed by the Congress on Ukraine reworked after these interventions here, as well as the position of the minority against which Oleksandr was arguing.
Comrades,
It is a great honor to participate in this World Congress of the Fourth International, a historic organization with global reach. I am grateful for this opportunity.
Listening to the discussions, I was struck by their theoretical depth and attention to nuance—something we often lack. Yet, when it comes to my country, I question the need for such an approach when it seems to be used to reconfirm once established truths. “The main enemy is at home”—so we must expose, confront, and fight. Otherwise, how are we different from the bourgeoisie or reformists?
But reality is not so simple. As much as we may despise Zelensky, for us he is not the same as Putin. And every word spoken here we apply to our lived reality. Ukraine is our home —the only place we unequivocally belong. Some call this a bias, methodological nationalism, or overvaluing one of the many organizing patterns. But don’t others here do the same when projecting their own colonial histories, frustrations with Western powers, and struggles – whether for refugee rights or against arms dealers – onto our fight against occupation?
1) Prerequisite for a just peace – more support for Ukraine
The latest developments, with Trump’s blatant betrayal, are putting enormous pressure on Ukraine. It will be forced to make very difficult choices with enormous consequences. But as friends of Ukraine, we must continue to insist that neither Trump, nor the EU leaders, nor indeed we, should decide the path forward for Ukraine.
This choice can only be made by Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Because they are the ones who are under attack, who are losing lives and suffering every day in the war.
Our task is to do everything in our power to give Ukraine the best possible starting point for securing the fairest possible peace. This means putting pressure on our governments to give more aid to Ukraine. That is our main task.
2) We are not giving enough = ‘rearmament of the EU’?
I have just returned from a security conference in Warsaw for representatives of the EU national parliaments and the European Parliament. Some speakers asked the following question: how is it that 500 [million] Europeans are begging 350 million Americans to stop 150 million Russians who are unable to win a war against 40 million Ukrainians?
I understand that some people are asking this question to argue in favour of a general militarisation of Europe. But the question itself contains an important point. If Putin’s Russia wins the war, it is not because Europe lacks the necessary resources. It is because of a lack of political will to support Ukraine.
Western countries have supported Ukraine sufficiently to enable it to continue the war, but not sufficiently to drive the invaders out of the occupied territories.
Instead, the war in Ukraine is now being used as an argument in favour of general rearmament throughout the EU. The European Commission’s grand plan – Rearm Europe – envisages spending 800 billion euros on strengthening military capabilities.
To sell it, the myth is being spread that the reason we have not been able to help Ukraine with the necessary military supplies is that the European arms industry is small and too weak.
The March 26-27 Brussels Solidarity with Ukraine conference drew together about 200 activists from a score of countries, in support of the Ukrainian people’s national and social rights.
A main organizer was Dick Nichols, who wrote the comprehensive report below;
Former Finnish education minister Li Andersson (left) and Ukrainian women’s rights activist Ivanna Vynna addressing the March 26-27 Ukraine Solidarity Conference in the Belgian capital Brussels. Photos: Julie Ward
The conference also took place in the context of ongoing conflict between Ukraine’s trade union, feminist, environmental, civil rights and progressive political movements and the neoliberal domestic policies of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.
An important left-wing conference in solidarity with Ukraine took place in Brussels on March 26 and 27 2025. We will present a number of reports from this conference in the next few days. Here is the first item – written by Simon Pirani who publishes a People and Nature blog.
By Simon Pirani. Based on a talk given at a panel, “What peace?”, at the Solidarity with Ukraine event this week in Brussels
“What peace?” is a wide question. To narrow it down, we can ask: what sort of peace is being discussed among Ukrainians?
In an interview about the Trump-Putin talks, and the prospects for any agreement, our comrade Denis Pilash, a member of Sotsialnyi Rukh, said that “Ukrainians have two things in mind when thinking about any deal: the fate of people in the occupied territories, and how to prevent Russia from restarting the war.”
The photo is courtesy of a Ukrainian anarchist group that provides soldiers at the front with “all the necessary equipment that can increase their safety and efficiency in resisting the imperial onslaught of the Russians”.
These points could frame areas for agreements, he argued. He pointed to the Ukrainian government’s position that it will not recognise illegal annexations, but would accept a ceasefire followed by negotiations.
This report on the site of the Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ (Radio Telefís Éireann) is brutally clear : Verona Murphy’s mega-perk job chairing parliamentary meetings in the Dublin Dáil is on the line. The Wexford Beggar-Gombeen (BG) supported a 9 strong group of her like-minded colleagues who vote for the Fianna Fáil – Fine Gael (FFFG) Coalition Government to also enjoy speaking time rights belonging to opposition deputies. You could not make it up : the BG’s (some of them government ministers like Michael Healy-Rae) want to be government and opposition TD’s (Teachtaí Dála) [Dáil Deputies] simultaneously.
After a day of confusion, contradiction and just a hint of chaos, one moment made it crystal clear where the Dáil speaking rights row is likely to go next – and, just as importantly, who is now firmly in the political firing line.
As an until recently rare joint Opposition press conference began to wind down, Opposition leaders were asked for a show of hands on whether they still have confidence in Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
No hands went up. All stayed down.
A stoney silence speaking volumes.
The rarely unified opposition is mainly from the left. Although they do not have the numbers to defeat the FFFGBG coalition, they can make life impossible for Ceann Comhairle (speaker) Verona Murphy.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald was backed by Labour Party Leader Ivana Bacik
Deputy McDonald’s view was quickly repeated by other Opposition leaders, including Labour’s Ivana Bacik.
“I was particularly dismayed and disappointed to see the Ceann Comhairle push through the order of business in the face of clear opposition from members of the Opposition,” she said.
“We’re still processing what happened today because it is unprecedented, it was extraordinary to see how the business was conducted by the Ceann Comhairle and the Government today.
“It certainly will not end here for us,” Deputy Bacik added.
Richard Boyd-Barrett (People Before Profit) chimed in :
“I said it to the Ceann Comhairle today, that [what happened in the Dáil] was orchestrated, what happened today looked in every single way orchestrated,” said.
Mr Boyd Barrett added: “It happened too quickly, it was too organised, how they put through a vote that clearly was not agreed, how they suspended questions of promised legislation, how even when the two tellers who were supposed to have signed off on the vote didn’t and then immediately Mattie McGrath and Carol Nolan run down pre-prepared to sign off on the vote.
“There was winks and nods going on, the whole thing looked orchestrated, it’s sad that the Government have dragged the Ceann Comhairle into this debacle and it raises very serious issues of confidence in the Ceann Comhairle that we’re going to have to consider very seriously.”
McGrath (ex FF) and Nolan (ex SF) are Trump-like Beggar-Gombeen far-right Beggar-Gombeen TD’s who want to pretend they are part of a Dáil opposition!
Verona Murphy listens. Beggar-Gombeen King Michael Lowry SpeaksPeople Before Profit General Election Poster November 2025
The dogs on the street know FFFG have walked themselves into a black hole 🕳 – what happens next 🤔?
Will Verona Murphy Jump Before She is Pushed?
The government has a Dáil majority, but that is like the tip of a very dangerous iceberg.
No confidence
Given the repeated use of phrases like “very serious”, “questions to answer” and “very significant damage” to the Ceann Comhairle’s reputation, among the Opposition at least, the obvious next step would be for a no confidence motion in Ms Murphy.
Such a move would be unprecedented in modern political times, with the last time it came close to happening being during the John O’Donoghue expenses saga in October 2009.
While the exact end-result of the Veronagate scandal is unclear, only a fool would predict this will end well for the dodgy FFFGBG coalition.
A friend has begun vital work – examination of the 2025 FFFGBG Programme for Government, which contains lots of measures these parties did not propose during the recent general election campaign.
Alarming things
The programme for government has a few alarming things in it – (and the government has a few alarming people in it) eg there’s lots of commitment to reduce carbon emissions alongside actions and plans that will directly increase carbon emissions. There’s a bunch of mangled science around the particular characteristics of methane and it’s basically a valentine card to those involved in data center construction.
Shutting people up over Israel’s genocide
It also has a commitment to recognise a particular and highly contested definition of anti- semitism which would help those who want us to shut up about Israel’s genocide and occupation – and which was as far as I can remember not part of any single party or politician’s election platform. It would be very interesting to find out how and from where and on whose request this made it into the programme.
Louisiana’s governor Jeff Landry issued a deadly threat to the people living in the city of New Orleans :
This story – dateline November 13 2023, did not hit international headlines.
By contrast, on January 1 2025, we are in the middle of a breaking story about another mass shooter event in an American city : at least ten people are dead because an assassin opened fire into New Orleans citizens celebrating the new year.
The city of New Orleans uses the Mississippi River as drinking water. Our current governor (Louisiana’s Jeff Landry) begged the state to remove funding from the city of New Orleans to fix the pumps and the decaying sewage and water system UNTIL the District Attorney agrees to prosecute women for abortions.
Must read article by @geauxgabrielle.bsky.social.“IN A HORRIFYING INTERSECTION OF REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, JEFF LANDRY HAS URGED THE STATE TO WITHHOLD FUNDS BECAUSE OF HIS PERSONAL FEELINGS ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS.”👇🏽
Tomás Ó Flatharta 