Opening today’s press conference Cllr. Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit and United Left Alliance candidate for Dun Laoghaire commented: “Yesterday we saw the ridiculous spectacle of some of the highest paid people in this country lecturing the lowest paid about how they have to accept another pay cut on top of the Universal Social Charge, changes to the tax bands, reduction in Child Benefit.

"This is a green light by the government for an employer’s offensive. The attack on the minimum wage combined with social welfare cuts and the incorporation of the low paid into the tax net is part of a wider agenda of forcing wages down and ensuring that the ‘race to the bottom’ is actively facilitated. But we need to be very clear about this. We can resist these cuts. We are calling on trade union leaders to provide real leadership on the issue and to fight to defend the wages of its lowest paid members.”

The Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Area Committee of 24 Jan passed a motion, proposed by Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett, to reconvene the Baths Sub Committee in order to move the project forward speedily.

The councillors present heard that fifty-three submissions were received during the public consultation process. In the report over 90% of submissions were supportive of the new proposals with many comments and recommendations in relation to various aspects of the plan.

The submissions were released after the request was made by chair of the Save our Seafront (SOS) Campaign and local councillor, Richard Boyd Barrett, for further progress to be made on the Baths proposal taking into account the public’s support and suggestions to improve the plan.

The key issue raised in the submissions was the absence of an adult pool – an issue that was key to SOS’s submission. Other submissions called for the provision of a heated pool and a fully enclosed complex. Broadly the public submissions were supportive of the quality and design of the buildings proposed noting satisfaction with the Councils intent to refurbish the existing Georgian building.

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett, chairperson of the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) and Dail election candidate for the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA), has announced that further protests will take place at the Egyptian embassy in Dublin at 12 noon today (Sat 29th) in support of the popular democratic uprising underway in Egypt.
Cllr Boyd Barrett called on the Irish public to show solidarity with the Egyptian people and other Arab people’s rising up against dictatorship, corruption and poverty.
Cllr Boyd Barrett also called on western governments, including the Irish government and political parties, to end all support and break all links with the Mubarak dictatorship, and to publicly demand that the regime ceased its violent repression of the popular democratic protests in Egypt.
Cllr Boyd Barrett noted that as former Minister for Foreign Affairs, the new Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin had previously signed co-operation agreements with the Mubarak regime (see picture above) and called on him to now condemn the Egyptian dictator’s brutal dictatorship and break links with the regime. Cllr Boyd Barrett also noted that the Irish Labour Party was affiliated to Mubarak’s party, the misnamed National Democratic Party (NDP), and called on the party to immediately repudiate its links with the Mubarak regime and lend its support to the democratic struggle of the Egyptian people.
Cllr Boyd Barrett said: “We should every support for the heroic struggle of the Egyptian people against the brutal and corrupt dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.