People Before Profit shares the near universal revulsion at the horrific murder of Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris last week. There can be no justification for this awful act.

The bible story of Christmas tells of the parents of Jesus searching for accommodation and finding that there is no room at the inn. What an appropriate parable for modern day Ireland in the dying days of 2014.

This government's endorsement of water charges today and their clear attempt to force private tenants to pay up against their will by changing the law on deposits raises serious questions about the nature of our so called democracy. In such a situation, people have every right to engage in peaceful mass civil disobedience. That is why we say: Make December 10th the day you have your say on why we must scrap water charges.

Contrary to what this government would have people think, Ireland does indeed have an exemption from domestic water metering and charging as defined in the EU Water Framework Directive (Article 9.4). This was brokered by the Irish government back in 2000, as a result of the massive and successful resistance throughout the 1990s to the attempt then to impose water charges, forcing the government of the day into a full retreat.

People Before Profit expresses solidarity with teachers striking today.

Government plan to collect water charges from private tenants through private landlords will worsen already disastrous housing crisis

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett has called on the government to hold an emergency debate on housing and homelessness in the Dail this week, following the tragic discovery this morning of a dead homeless man in a doorway on Molesworth St, opposite the Dail.

Leaving lead pipes in the system is bad practice and it introduces lead into the water causing health problems, notes Cllr Andrew Keegan.