Dublin South East Fundraiser
Fundraiser Dublin South East candidate Annette Mooney PUB QUIZ Busy Feet & Coco Cafe South William St 8pm, Sat, 12th February Full Bar & Spot
February 4, 2011
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Fundraiser Dublin South East candidate Annette Mooney PUB QUIZ Busy Feet & Coco Cafe South William St 8pm, Sat, 12th February Full Bar & Spot
The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has described proposed cuts to the education budget in the North as “unprecedented in their ferocity and highly alarming” and likely to see between 4 and 5,000 teaching jobs being cut. The cuts, proposed by Sinn Fein Minister for Education, Catriona Ruane, amount to a staggering £871 million over the next four years.
On the day when the People Before Profit Alliance launched its Election Campaign Launch, United Left Alliance candidates Joe Higgins MEP & Cllr Joan Collins have said pressure on the Government from the EU to privatise domestic water supply must stop.
The Dublin-based candidates yesterday protested outside the European Commission’s Dublin offices, claiming the commission is putting pressure on the Government to privatise water services.
They handed in a letter for commission president José Manuel Barroso in which they noted “with dismay” the requirement in the EU-IMF Memorandum of Understanding that “the public provision of water services is to end and this function is to be transferred to a utility company”.
The memorandum, signed by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan last December, stated: “We are also planning to move towards full cost-recovery in the provision of water services.”
It also said that in advance of introducing charges, the Government will have undertaken an independent assessment of transfer of responsibility for water services provision to a water utility and “prepare proposals for implementation as appropriate with a view to start charging in 2012-2013”.
Joe Higgins, a candidate in Dublin West, said Veolia, which operates the Luas, was already charging for water in Sligo and had “made inquiries about Ireland’s reservoirs”. According to its website, Veolia also has water operating contracts in Wicklow, Limerick, Westmeath, Waterford, Dublin, Mayo and Donegal.
Opening today’s press conference Cllr. Brid Smith announced that People Before Profit is running nine candidates in Dublin, Cork and Wexford in the upcoming General Election: “The People Before Profit Alliance is a real alternative to the political establishment. We support a strategy of ‘people power’ to bring change. We are part of an exciting new force in Irish politics, the United Left Alliance, standing in constituencies across the country to fight for genuine change.”
People Before Profit candidates are:
Official launch of the United Left Alliance/People Before Profit Cllr. Joan Collin’s Campaign Tuesday next 8th February at 7.30 p.m. Crumlin College (VEC), Crumlin Road
Cllr Gino Kenny, the People Before Profit-United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin Mid West, has called for a new PAYE revolt against tax hikes.
"In the early 1980s, there were huge demonstrations against the injustice of loading extra tax increases onto PAYE workers while other social groups were exempted. We need a ‘day of wrath’ to express our anger against the latest attempt to make PAYE workers pay for the economic mess. The Universal Social Charge should be called the bankers’ tax. It is a levy imposed on us to pay off bankers and bondholders."
Department of Finance figures indicate that the government hopes to raise €420 million from this new levy this year. Tax hikes on PAYE workers from the reduction in tax credits are due to bring in a further €1.2 billion.
But a 1 percent wealth on the 33,000 Irish millionaires, who have a combined €121 billion in assets between them, could have raised a similar amount.
If we stopped paying off bondholders, there would be no need for any of these changes. The needs of Irish workers should come before the coffers of Goldman Sachs
The government made a political choice to hit out at low and middle income workers rather than tackle the Irish wealthy or their friends among the bondholders. They saw PAYE workers as an essay touch and thought it could get away with these savage attacks without resistance.
New research published by Social Justice Ireland reveals how government polices have not only increased poverty levels in Ireland the gap between rich and poor has dramatically increased. Government policies over the past two decades have moved resources towards the top ten per cent of households in the income distribution.
Richard Boyd Barrett candidate in Dun Laoghaire said "This report reveals what people have working people have always knownThe top 10 per cent of Irish households receive almost a quarter (24.48%) of total disposable income – an increase of 1.34% on the situation in 1987. Disposable income is the amount of money households have to spend after they have received employment/pension income, paid all their taxes and received any welfare entitlements. (cf. page 6 of the Policy Briefing)."
When the income distribution is broken down into deciles (i.e. 10% segments) we see that:
Promises to stand with local people to fight tooth and nail to block ecocidal megaproject planned by Google in Grangecastle in South Dublin. New figures
Revelations about Eamonn Casey point yet again to the gross hypocrisy of the Bishops.These are mostly elderly males who think they have every right to
Calls For Broad Mobilisation To Face Down Far-Right Terror Campaign The riot and arson in Coolock today is another shocking development driven by far right
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