A number of leading figures within the League of Ireland, as well as a former Ireland manager and women’s captain, have signed an open letter calling on the FAI to refuse to play Israel in the UEFA Nations League later this year.
A campaign by Irish Sport for Palestine, titled “Stop the Game” has been launched, with an open letter backed by high-profile figures in Irish soccer.
Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland chair and Shamrock Rovers captain Roberto Lopes – who is set to play in this summer’s World Cup for Cape Verde – urged the FAI to reverse its stance.
“We have to stop the game. As players and fans, our natural instinct is always to get out there and compete, but this is a moment where we need to look at the bigger picture. We can’t ignore the humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine; the sheer loss of life there has to take precedence over any sporting consideration. Ireland has an opportunity here to lead—to be a pioneer and do what others won’t. We need to be brave enough to say enough is enough. We can’t just stand by. Please, stop the game,” Lopes wrote.
Former men’s national team manager Brian Kerr and 2019 FAI women’s player of the year Louise Quinn are among those from inside the sport that added their names to the campaign.
Christy Moore, Fontaines DC and Kneecap are also among the 38 signatories.
The open letter addressed to the FAI called on them “to refuse to participate in the two scheduled UEFA nations league games against Israel.”
With “the clear and ongoing serious breaches of UEFA & FIFA statute regarding Israeli teams playing on occupied Palestinian lands”, adding “as a member of UEFA you have a duty to upload [sic] these rules if UEFA will not”.
The letter also highlights the landslide vote of FAI members last year, where 93% voted to instruct the organisation to call for Israel’s suspension to UEFA.
The FAI confirmed it would be fulfilling the fixtures, stressing that “serious consequences” would result from forfeiting the games, which would “materially harm the long-term sporting interests of Irish football”.
The governing body said at the time they had consulted with the government and An Garda Síochána and were satisfied that the home tie could be staged in Dublin.
“I don’t see a difference between Fifa and Uefa banning Russia and not Israel,” – Irish Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson
Heimir Hallgrímsson wants Israel thrown out of UEFA and FIFA competitions ; “Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson believes Fifa and Uefa should remove Israel from their competitions in the same way that they banned Russia.
Both Fifa and Uefa banned all Russian clubs and international teams on February 28th 2022, four days after the invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t see a difference between Fifa and Uefa banning Russia and not Israel,” said Hallgrímsson. “I don’t see the difference.
“I am not speaking on behalf of the FAI – I just don’t see the difference.”
People at the vigil for Yves Sakila on Henry Street. Photo by Shamim Malekmian.
It reminded him of George Floyd, pinned to the ground and dying under the knee of a cop on the streets of Minneapolis, said Jude Hughes, a Black Irish community activist.
“It’s literally George Floyd on the streets of Dublin. I can’t believe that scene and that guy with his knee on his neck,” he said, in a Zoom meeting on Monday night.
The emergency meeting was organised by the Africa Centre for Black people across the country to come together and process their feelings about what had happened on Friday – and strategise on how to respond.
More than 100 people had joined.
On Friday, Yves Sakila was pinned to the ground on Henry Street by a few men, a video circulated on social media showed.
At one point, one of them, an older man in a black suit, throws himself onto his neck and pushes down with his right knee.
A few seconds later, he removes his knee, but keeps pressing on his neck with his hands. Someone else is pinning his head to the ground. Other men press on his body.
You can hear Sakila grunting and moaning amidst the chatter of the passersby.
By the end of it, he seemed unconscious. He was later pronounced dead.
On May 19 2026 Ebun A Joseph posted this important message on her facebook page
Yves Sakila is dead. A man lost his life on the streets of Dublin over an alleged case of shoplifting. Let that sink in.
What makes this even more disturbing is that, had the 4:44 minutes footage not emerged, many people would likely have accepted a simplified version of events without questioning what actually happened. The video raises deeply troubling questions: multiple men restraining one individual, excessive force being used, knees pressed onto his body, hands pulled back. It is impossible to watch without feeling shock and real distress.
No one should die over an unproven allegation of shoplifting. What were they thinking? Are people losing their humanity? 🤐
A life has been lost over something allegedly taken from a shop — something replaceable. Yves Sakila is not replaceable. He was a human being.
There is also a wider and painful reality that many Black people recognise too well: the disproportionate suspicion, surveillance, and criminalisation of Black bodies in public spaces, including shopping centres and retail environments. These experiences cannot be separated from the public concern and grief surrounding this case.
This cannot become another social media moment that fades away without accountability or answers. There must be a thorough, transparent, and independent investigation into all the circumstances surrounding Yves Sakila’s death.
A man is dead. His family deserves answers. The public deserves accountability. And communities deserve reassurance that justice applies equally to everyone.
The ex-taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader is helping to create a new far-right cover which will be used to justify fresh atrocities at accommodation centres, random attacks on immigrants, racist violence and murder.
There is blood on Bertie’s hands. Perhaps Fianna Fáil will expel Ahern again.
Ahern resigned from FF in 2012, days before he was due to be expelled. The state’s Mahon Tribunal ruled he was financially corrupt. This was Ahern’s stellar achievement : the dimmest dogs 🐶 in Irish ☘️ streets know the Fianna Fáil party has been corrupt since its foundation in 1926! The former leader rejoined the Soldiers of Destiny in 2023.
Getting expelled from an organization more financially dodgy than the average Swiss Bank is an Olympian feat.
Bertie continues to cause no end of trouble for his party – so, perhaps, he will jump into the Independent Ireland party, where he can wallow in racist gutters alongside other ex-colleagues such as the dangerous and eccentric Cork North-Central TD Ken O’Flynn.
Two Ukrainian activists, Andrii Movchan and Nina Potarska, have been arrested by the armed forces of the genocidal Israeli state.
Israeli Navy’s criminal attack on Gaza flotilla: Ukrainian team among detained crews. Release them all now!
April 30, 2026
The European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU) has learned that the vessel carrying the Ukrainian team as part of the Sumud Global Flotilla 2026 was one of those illegally seized by the Israeli Navy early this morning.
According to an Al Jazeera report seven out of the 58 vessels were captured by Israel near Crete, over a thousand kilometres from the coast of Gaza.
ENSU coordinator Szymon Martys described the raid as “a blatant and cynical attack on unarmed vessels navigating peacefully in international waters”. He demanded the immediate release of the detained crews, which include the Ukrainian team of Nina Potarska and Andrii Movchan.
Martys said that ENSU, which is supporting the two Ukrainian peace and human rights activists, had no information as to their situation, but assumed that they, along with other crews, were being held illegally on an Israeli navy vessel.
“They must all be freed immediately”, he added, and called on the Ukrainian government, along with the governments of all the kidnapped crews, to demand their immediate release.
Martys commented that the Israeli’s government’s action–attacking the flotilla when it was far from Gaza and before public attention on its mission would be at a peak–betrayed its fear of the power of international solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“We in the Ukraine solidarity movement understand this truth”, he added. “Powerful governments, like Netanyahu’s and Putin’s, although armed to the teeth, can be brought low by the mass mobilisation of all who stand for the rights of peoples. The Sumud Global Flotilla is symbol of popular indignation at the murderous violence of war and of people’s determination to stand with the oppressed.”
The Ukrainian team had joined the Sumud Global Flotilla to help the humanitarian effort for the blockaded people of Gaza, towards whom they, as members of a nation also victim of brutal invasion, feel a special duty of solidarity.
I invite you to read my new English translation for Спільне / Commons: “Breaking the Gaza Blockade: Ukrainians on the Sumud Flotilla.”
It is a thought-provoking interview with Ukrainian activists Andrii Movchan and Nina Potarska about Gaza, Ukraine, occupation, human rights, and solidarity.
Press Statement – Government decision ‘heartless and cruel’ and must be opposed says Irish Left With Ukraine
Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU) has condemned as “heartless and cruel” the government decision to withdraw accommodation supports for Ukrainian refugees, and has called on the trade union movement and all progressive forces to immediately launch a campaign to “reject firmly the government’s pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment.”
“In the midst of a housing crisis, the threat to throw 16,000 Ukrainians out of state-provided accommodation will mean evicting many of these people into homelessness,” said ILWU in a statement. “It will mean people being uprooted from their communities, children having to leave schools in which they are settled and have made classmates and friends, and people having to quit their jobs.
Alongside this, the decision to cut and eventually end altogether the Accommodation Recognition Payment will impact directly on a further 42,000 people who are currently accommodated in people’s homes across the country.
1 way or another, if these numbers are right, Wales is headed for a left-wing majority at the May 7 Senedd elections. A Plaid Cymru/Labour/Green coalition would have 56 seats, a healthy majority of 16 against the vile racist right Reform-Cons. it’s a proportional representation election.
🏴Senedd | Plaid lead by 5pts🟩Plaid: 30% (+9)➡️Ref: 25% (+24)🔴Lab: 15% (-21)🔵Con: 12% (-13)🟢Grn: 10% (+6)🟠Lib: 6% (+2)– Seats –🟩Plaid: 39 (+17)➡️Ref: 27 (+27)🔴Lab: 13 (-31)🔵Con: 12 (-18)🟢Grn: 4 (+4)🟠Lib: 1 (+1)Poll: @Ipsos, 2-8 April (+/- vs 2021) x.com/LeftieStats/…
If these numbers are right, the Scottish National party will win the May 7 Scottish parliament election, either with a majority over all other parties, or in coalition with the Greens. The vile racist far-right coalition Reform-Cons will only get 23 seats out of 129.
Once again, thanks to the editor of the Cedar Lounge Blog for drawing the attention of readers to very good Éamonn Sweeney left-wing analysis to the current Dublin government, which administers the 26 county bit of Ireland.
On this blog we describe the Mícheál Martin / Simon Harris government as FFFGBG – that is : a coalition of Fianna Fáil (FF), Fine Gael (FG), and Beggar-Gombeens (BG’s). The BG’s were assembled by the North Tipperary ex-FG minister Michael Lowry, who was thoroughly investigated by the Mahon Tribunal following credible allegations of financial corruption in the 1990’s. Fine Gael’s ethical standards are extremely low, but the party was obliged to expel Mr Lowry.
Micheál Martin meeting Trump Saint Patricks Day White House 2026
The BG’s got many perks for propping up the FFFG Martin-Harris duo – the biggest was the position of Dáil Ceann Comhairle (speaker) handed to the Wexford racist, and former FG member, Verona Murphy.
Some of the BG’s might be tempted to join their racist-fascist soul-brothers who lead the fuel blockade movement.
A coherent left-wing alternative is very badly needed.
An effective heavy vehicle blockade campaign brought the 26 county bit of Ireland to a halt in the second week of April 2026.
Parties and individuals based on the left have offered significantly different opinions about these protests.
There is no doubt that far-right organisations are involved. This poses a big problem for all forces on the left – parties, trade unions, social movements that are pro-feminist and anti-racist, and so on.
It is essential to start with concrete analysis. Left-wing actors such as People Before Profit (PBP) say they support the blockaders :
“ There is “no question” that there are far-right people trying to intervene and be present in the protest…So some of these people (the far-right) are present and are trying to shape the protest, but one: the vast majority of people who are participating in the protest have nothing to do with the far right, whatsoever. “And two: I really have a strong sense that ordinary working-class people in Dublin, people who live in Dublin South-West that I represent, have a lot of support for these protests,” Murphy said.
The article below, and several other reliable sources, demonstrate that Paul Murphy’s analysis is based on wishful thinking rather than concrete analysis.
The far-right are not “trying to intervene and be present in the protest”. Far-right actors initiated this campaign.
This has serious implications for all forces on the Irish left.
Summing up: socialists have to recognise the hardships caused by high fuel prices (on top of all the other high prices). Blaming the right-wing government is fine. But – an extremely big But :
The Left must pledge : no co-operation with fuel-protester fascists and racists.
James Geoghegan is a spokesperson for the Fuel Protesters’ Campaign
The policy of the PBP and others on the left is “support the fuel protests”.
The only way you can implement this policy is practical collaboration with the far-right on the streets and elsewhere. That means putting the lives and welfare of your own members and supporters in danger.
The left can do much better – a useful starting point for for a more progressive policy is here, written by the SIPTU researcher, Michael Taft :
The far-right political rulers of the USA and the Russian Federation, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, are promoting the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, ahead of a general election in the Eastern European state on Sunday April 12 2026. The implications of this political development are widely understood; a selection of reactions which have appeared on Bluesky should put an end – for ever – the obviously ludicrous theory promoted by some on the left that the 2022 Russian genocidal invasion of Ukraine was a disguised USA V Russia war (a “Proxy” war).
Trump calls into an Orbán campaign rally to endorse him, as Bloomberg reveals secret tapes of Orbán's private conversations with Putin in which he promises him absolute loyalty.
-Trump threatening to wipe out entire civilizations.-JD Vance courting dictators, Orban and Putin.🚨 We are in the middle of a national emergency, and the only way it ends is with Trump's removal. This is ALL we should be talking about right now.
JD Vance is off to Hungary, another Trump official working (with Putin) to prop up Orban. Re-upping this piece abt why many self-styled “classical liberals” abandon all principles when it comes to Orban: they like the authoritarianism and want it for America.donmoynihan.substack.com/p/make-ameri…
If he was telling the truth, he would have added "on Moscow's terms" immediately after saying "Trump and Orban have done the most to end the war".It is a completely new low for the Vice President of the United States to perform such blatant political interference in a foreign country. Disgraceful.
Vance in Budapest: Orbán as the Far Right’s Proof of Concept
What Pinochet Was to Neoliberals, Orbán Is to Christian Nationalists
When US Vice-President J.D. Vance travelled to Budapest to endorse Viktor Orbán ahead of the 2026 Hungarian elections, the ideological logic of the Trump–Orbán alliance came into focus. For American nativist Christian nationalists, Orbán’s Hungary is a proof of concept: evidence that a programme combining Christian nationalism, anti-migration politics, and systematic dismantling of democratic opposition can hold power for sixteen years. Jan Bělíček dissects Vance’s Budapest speech — its Great Replacement tropes, its anti-EU demagoguery, its hollow invocations of workers’ rights, and the irony of preaching Christian civilisation to a comparatively secular Hungarian audience. The underlying agenda, Bělíček concludes, is replication: Vance and Trump want to build in the United States what Orbán has built in Hungary. [AN]
Watching yesterday’s second appearance by J.D. Vance in Budapest, I think I finally understood why the second-highest-ranking US politician has travelled to lend his support to Viktor Orbán ahead of the elections. [1] For nativist Christian nationalists like Vance, Orbán’s Hungary represents much the same thing that Augusto Pinochet represented for the neoliberal right. [2] It demonstrates that their political experiment — grounded in Christianity, aggressive nationalism, and hostility to expert knowledge and the left — can succeed and hold power for an extraordinary sixteen years.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 