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Internal documents from a lobbying group representing international arms manufacturers show plans to target politicians, influence policymakers and place articles in the media – despite acknowledging the public is not interested in greater arms spending. www.ontheditch.com/documents-sh...

submitted 41 minutes ago • 1 comment

The alleged garda informant who killed law student Shane O’Farrell was convicted of cigarette smuggling in 2007 – The Ditch can reveal – despite previous state probes of the case wrongly finding his first conviction was for theft in 2010. www.ontheditch.com/undisclosed-...

submitted 23 hours ago • 0 comments

An Garda Síochána concealed a conviction of a suspected garda informant – received months before he killed cyclist Shane O’Farrell in 2011 – which contradicts the state’s version of the tragic case. www.ontheditch.com/an-garda-sio...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Children’s Health Ireland won’t confirm if its doctors complied with a legal obligation to refer the spinal and hip surgery scandals to Tusla. It declined to comment. www.ontheditch.com/childrens-he...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

A Dublin-based airline group illegally transported munitions of war to Israel through Irish territory. Some of the goods were flagged as funded by the US. The munitions included components for Israel Defense Forces fighter jets. www.ontheditch.com/dublin-based...

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

The Ditch’s Eoghan McNeill talks Irish neutrality in Balbriggan tomorrow evening at 7.30pm

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Eighteen months since The Ditch broke the story about a Children Health Ireland surgeon’s use of unlicensed, non-medical grade implants on child patients, the state has finally and unreservedly confirmed our reporting.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Comment: 'The housing emergency is more than a national disgrace that has produced record homelessness and mass suffering. It is an attack on our ability to foster meaning in our lives and to develop communities.' www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Foreign affairs minister Simon Harris authorised a US military plane to land at Shannon last Tuesday 1 April even though it was bringing general Michael Kurilla to Tel Aviv for a meeting with the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff to discuss “strategic security issues”

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

A cargo plane that regularly brings tonnes of weapons to Israel touched down in Shannon Airport on its way to Tel Aviv last month. Its journey last month raises questions about the purpose of its stop on the ground in Shannon. www.ontheditch.com/israeli-weap...

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Published with @declassifieduk.org Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk is quietly transporting fighter jet components to Israel, new documents suggest. www.declassifieduk.org/maersk-the-s...

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

'The intolerant struggle, as Paschal Donohoe and Sharon Ní Bheoláin found this week, with good grace and etiquette. But the historically tolerant haven’t achieved much. And considering what we're asked to tolerate, tolerance shouldn't be an aspiration.' www.ontheditch.com/comment-if-y...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

A Galway Fianna Fáil councillor was: twice convicted of failing to file tax returns; ruled to have underdeclared tens of thousands of euro in VAT; and has judgments of more than €30,000 registered against him. www.ontheditch.com/fianna-fail-...

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

In just the past week German national carrier Lufthansa illegally transported more than a tonne of munitions through Irish territory to Israel on three flights. The Ditch first reported these illegal Lufthansa flights six months ago. www.ontheditch.com/german-airli...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

The Department of an Taoiseach claims that releasing the full records of what was discussed at a meeting between an ex-Israeli intelligence officer and then junior minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill could damage Ireland’s international relations. www.ontheditch.com/dept-of-an-t...

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

A US general landed in Shannon on his way to advise the Israeli Defense Forces weeks before it resumed its assault on Gaza. General Kurilla stopped in the Clare airport this month on his way to Israel. www.ontheditch.com/us-general-l...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

'They were told not only did they not need the surgery, the child didn’t even have the condition. Didn’t even have the condition. Let that sink in. That is what is happening to the children of Ireland. And I say this: there is not enough urgency in government.'

submitted 21 days ago • 2 comments

A couple who lived as illegal settlers in Palestine’s occupied West Bank opened a “community hub” as a “safe space for Israelis” in Dublin earlier this year. They establish these centres 'with generous funding and influence from Israel's government'. www.ontheditch.com/dublin-hub-o...

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

An arms industry lobbyist who regularly features in Irish media discussions about neutrality – without his interests being disclosed – facilitated a meeting between Irish businesses and senior Ukrainian military officials. www.ontheditch.com/academic-med...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

With apologies to the UN’s Francesca Albanese: Prime Time DOESN’T LIKE talking about illegal flights carrying weaponry through Irish territory (covered however by international media) or Israeli war bonds (which are sold through our Central Bank, the subject of ongoing protests)

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

The head of Israeli bonds, which are sold through the Central Bank of Ireland, directly linked the bonds to funding Israel's military operations in Gaza – contradicting the Irish bank’s position that they’re just for "general financing”. www.ontheditch.com/israeli-bond...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

A flight carrying 150kg of replenishments for Israel's bombing of Gaza illegally passed through Irish airspace this morning – hours after Israel killed more than 400 people. Last week government 'distanced itself' from plans to inspect these planes. www.ontheditch.com/as-idf-resum...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

This report was delivered to Children's Health Ireland in January. Affected families have neither seen the report nor been contacted by CHI. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said she hasn’t seen the report. The Ditch is publishing the report in full. www.ontheditch.com/not-for-disc...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

Comment: Attacks on democracy rarely come in the form of an angry mob – they arrive disguised in technocratic language, invocations of the law and procedural justifications. It's how Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael operate. www.ontheditch.com/comment-fian...

submitted 40 days ago • 2 comments

The operations manager for a group that lobbies government for Lockheed Martin is also director of flight operations for an Irish airline shipping weapons to the Israel Defense Forces. www.ontheditch.com/arms-lobbyis...

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Gardaí have faced nearly 60 complaints of sexual abuse, harassment and misconduct over the past three years – with three cases forwarded to the DPP. Eighteen investigations are ongoing. www.ontheditch.com/nearly-60-se...

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Nearly 80 percent of hip operations at a Children’s Health Ireland hospital were unnecessary according to a leaked expert report obtained by The Ditch. Last year a whistleblower worried some of these operations were 'purely for financial gain'. www.ontheditch.com/nhs-consulta...

submitted 47 days ago • 2 comments

Lobbyists “standing up for Israel” wrote to government last year requesting the state adopt a controversial definition of antisemitism – and the Department of Justice assured that Ireland’s hate speech legislation would address some of their concerns. www.ontheditch.com/lobbyists-st...

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

Comment: Micheál Martin has repeatedly misrepresented the status of legislation that would ban trade with Israeli settlements deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice. And it’s a matter of national sovereignty. www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

🚨Unpublished attorney general advice on Occupied Territories Bill🚨 'lt would be a political choice' Attorney general Rossa Fanning wrote to Simon Harris and Micheál Martin about the – blocked – Occupied Territories Bill Here's the advice in full www.ontheditch.com/lt-would-be-...

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

Government didn't publish this advice. Legal counsel appointed by the attorney general approved an opposition bill banning the state investing in companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements – but government has blocked the legislation since 2023. www.ontheditch.com/attorney-gen...

submitted 55 days ago • 2 comments

The attorney general told government that replacing the Occupied Territories Bill rather than amending it would be a "political choice" and not a legally necessary one. He also said there's 'a stronger and more defensible legal basis' for the bill. www.ontheditch.com/attorney-gen...

submitted 56 days ago • 1 comment

Two flights carrying parts for IDF F-35 fighter jet flew through Irish territory on their way to Israel earlier this month. Lufthansa delivered the munitions from the US to Israel's Nevatim air base, with both flights stopping in Germany. www.ontheditch.com/german-natio...

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

The Central Bank of Ireland has collected almost €40,000 from the Israeli state since 2021 for facilitating the sale of its bonds – which are marketed as a way to support Israel during its war on Gaza. www.ontheditch.com/central-bank...

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill held a meeting with an ex-Israeli spy at the taoiseach’s offices last May when she was junior defence minister The ex-spook was an intelligence officer at the Israeli PM’s office and an IDF unit accused of human rights abuses www.ontheditch.com/fine-gael-de...

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

Senior Department of Defence officials discussed establishing quarterly meetings with arms industry lobbyists – with internal records showing talks about “effective communications” between both parties ahead of an EU defence policy paper. www.ontheditch.com/department-o...

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

Lobbyists for international arms manufacturers organised a secret meeting with Department of Defence officials – and instructed attendees to maintain secrecy about it. There was “no advance publicity or social media promotion” of the meeting. www.ontheditch.com/lobbyists-fo...

submitted 78 days ago • 1 comment

A “Michael Lowrey” – with an E – took ownership of a new home before selling to independent TD Michael Lowry’s daughter for €50,000. Lowry’s refrigeration company later bought the house from his daughter for €290,000 and remains the current owner. www.ontheditch.com/michael-lowr...

submitted 79 days ago • 2 comments

'When Starmer speaks of taking measures to avoid compensating Gerry Adams, a victim of imperial violence, what's at stake isn't just money, but the legitimacy of British rule itself.' Starmer seeks to protect 'the national myth that sustains Britain'. www.ontheditch.com/comment-deny...

submitted 82 days ago • 1 comment

The airline the Department of Transport is probing over illegal weapons flights has resumed transporting munitions to Israel through Irish sovereign airspace. The Ditch first reported Challenge Airlines' illegal flights last August – they've recommenced. www.ontheditch.com/airline-unde...

submitted 86 days ago • 0 comments

The Housing Agency won’t release records to at least 13 homeowners affected by the defective block crisis because the publication of these records, the agency claims, could “endanger the life or safety” of Housing Agency staff. www.ontheditch.com/housing-agen...

submitted 91 days ago • 0 comments

Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty claimed in private messages that “Israeli settlements were conducted under international law” and expressed frustration that Hamas had asked the UN to look after Palestinian refugees instead of “their own bloody government”. www.ontheditch.com/fine-gael-me...

submitted 93 days ago • 5 comments

Independent Ireland councillor Michael Clarke, who hid his ownership of land with planning permission for six houses, claims he sold the plot 'a number of years ago' – even though it’s still registered in his name. www.ontheditch.com/independent-...

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

Comment: Ireland's social problems won't be solved through private sector know-how. Eoghan Murphy, Eoin Hayes: two faces of a professional political class that can’t tell the difference between management and leadership. www.ontheditch.com/comment-trus...

submitted 120 days ago • 2 comments

A flight illegally carrying munitions to the Israel Defense Forces passed through Irish territory days before Simon Harris said Ireland is 'anti the killing of civilians' in Gaza. The Ditch continues to gather evidence for a legal case against the state. www.ontheditch.com/illegal-muni...

submitted 120 days ago • 2 comments

To understand how Hutch commanded such support, Bacik should consider why many in his corner of Dublin feel as though they're in direct conflict with the state. But that would mean examining Labour Party policies, which members maintain were justified. www.ontheditch.com/comment-labo...

submitted 131 days ago • 2 comments

The Central Bank of Ireland has claimed it doesn’t have the authority to stop facilitating Israeli bond sales – but failed to consider the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) January ruling that Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza. www.ontheditch.com/we-cant-stop...

submitted 133 days ago • 1 comment

Comment: Despite Sinn Féin’s poor result, the left needn’t indulge analysis of last week’s election that doesn’t prioritise the collapse in historic support for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It was their lowest ever combined first preference share. www.ontheditch.com/comment-dont...

submitted 134 days ago • 1 comment

Comment: For more than a century now, we've been told there's no other way to run this country – that Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael were the only "realistic" choices. Another Ireland is possible. A left government is the first step toward achieving it. www.ontheditch.com/comment-anot...

submitted 138 days ago • 0 comments