2010 is now thought to be the warmest year on record. Previously, the accelerated warming of the arctic was insufficiently taken into account by one of the main global temperature records. Now, new data paints a dramatic picture of our warming planet: due to a sharp rise in carbon dioxide output from industrial activity over the last two decades, the world is warming faster than we thought.

Dublin’s Socialist Party MEP, Paul Murphy, who was assaulted by members of the Garda Siochana last week while taking part in a peaceful sitdown protest in Rossport, Co. Mayo, has called the decision to approve new exploration licenses to gas companies reprehensible.

Dublin MEP Paul Murphy was part of a Socialist Party contingent on a peaceful protest organised by the community in Rossport and the Shell to Sea campaign today. At that protest he, and the other peaceful protesters were brutally assaulted by the Gardai. Here Paul Murphy reports on what happened.

Hydraulic Fracturing or “fracking” is a technique for extracting gas from deep within shale rock and coal beds. It looks set to become big oil’s newest gold rush and, as usual, their desperation for profit makes them blind to the environmental costs of their folly.