In a statement the United Left Alliance (ULA) has said that it fully supports the petition launched by Thomas Pringle TD and the Dail Technical group seeking a referendum on the proposed new inter-governmental fiscal treaty agreed on Monday by 25 EU leaders.

Investors who bought Anglo bonds on secondary markets set to make massive profits at the tax payer’s expense

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett, TD and Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance, condemned the handover of €1.25 billion to the ECB today which will go to wealthy speculators who had capitalised on the demise of Anglo and bought up discounted bonds in the secondary market. Most of the trading on those bonds took place in closed, proprietary bond-trading systems by professional stockbrokers. Mr. Boyd Barrett pointed out that the final recipients of today’s payment are investors who bought Irish bonds in the secondary markets at vastly reduced cost. The ULA TD emphasized that the money to make these payments is coming straight out of public services, to the detriment of the ordinary citizens.

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD has expressed his shock and outrage, after receiving a call this morning from Mental Health Patient advocate and whistleblower, Lousie Baliff, where she informed him that she had been sacked this week by the HSE, in what appears to be a clear act of retaliation against her following her public highlighting of appalling treatment and conditions of mental health patients in St Brendan’s Grangegorman, shortly before Christmas.

Richard Boyd Barrett TD, ULA Finance and Education spokesperson said today that the Government’s about turn on planned cuts to the Deis schools was entirely a victory for people power and the protests mounted by parents, pupils and teachers from disadvantaged areas around the country.

Deputy Boyd Barrett stated that Minister Quinn must now, having admitted his terrible mistake, clarify if there will be a full and immediate reversal of all Deis cuts.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said the Minister must clarify for example, whether Deis bands 1 and 2 will be retained in full as they are and the additional resources referred to by the Department of Education as so called "legacy posts".

In a statement to coincide with the arrival of the EU-IMF “Troika” for the fifth review of the EU-IMF programme for Ireland, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance, warned that continuing down the road of “Troika” dictated bank bailouts and austerity was a dangerous slope leading to a 1930’s style economic depression.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said that with Ireland now facing the certainty of a second bail-out, it was clear that the policy of austerity and propping-up toxic banks was not working, and warned that any such new bail-out programme would be accompanied by demands for even more severe and damaging austerity.