In the face of proposed cuts in local services the People Before Profit Alliance is holding a press conference to announce the start of a

People Before Profit Alliance Councillors Joan Collins and Brid Smyth, Dublin City Council, Richard Boyd Barrett and Hugh Lewis, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Council, and Gino Kenny, Dublin South today condemned cuts in the rate support grant from central government to local authorities which will be reflected in cuts in local services, job losses and increased charges for householders.

Councillor Joan Collins said, “On Monday Dublin City Council will propose a budget including the removal of the waiver for bin charges from the low paid and social welfare recipients. This will hit 40,000 pensioners and social welfare recipients many of whom are facing cuts in their payments as a result of the government budget announced last week. Depending on how often they use the service, they could be faced with charges for each lift, costing up to 150euro a year which they did not previously have to pay. So much for the government not attacking old age pensioners in the recent budget”.

Councillor Joan Collins Welcomes Decision To Keep Crumlin Swimming Pool Open In a statement today Cllr Joan Collins, People Before Profit Alliance welcomed the decision

In a statement today the People Before Profit Alliance said the budget must be resisted. It represents an unprecedented assault on the living standards of the most vulnerable in society.

Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said “This heartless government have shown yet again that it’s determined to punish the poor and those on low and modest incomes for the failures of bankers, developers and the politicians. Throughout the country many people are facing the prospect of a miserable Christmas. This government has decided to impoverish large numbers of people. There was load cheering in board rooms and trophy homes on Wednesday as the government failed yet again to lay a finger on the superrich.
The budget is an unprecedented assault on public sector workers including those on very low incomes. This is at the behest of employers who want to drive ages down across the economy.”

Councillor Joan Collins said “This budget has lots of cuts for workers and the poor. What it does not contain is a wealth levy, the closing down of a tax breaks for the rich or a higher rate of tax for top earners.
Cuts in job seekers allowance for young people will lead to mass emigration. There are no jobs in this budget yet the government wants to pretend that young people are out of work because welfare rates are too high. It is now clear that this government lives in a parallel universe far removed from the problems of ordinary people who just can’t make ends meet.
Cuts in income will seriously deflate the economy and lead to a lengthening of dole queues.

• Resist This Assault On the Poor and Low and Middle Income Earners
• Budget will lengthen dole queues
• Support Major Protest Against Budget on Saturday

In a statement today the People Before Profit Alliance said the budget must be resisted. It represents an unprecedented assault on the living standards of the poor and low and middle-income earners.

Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said “ This heartless government have shown yet again that it’s determined to punish the poor and those on low and modest incomes for the failures of bankers, developers and the politicians. While major cuts are to imposed on social welfare recipients and low paid public sector workers the super rich have got off scott free. The reduction of child benefit will mean more hardship for hard-pressed families.

The government is taking €425 million off social welfare recipients but only €55m from those benefiting from a range of tax breaks with income over €125,000. Over 180,000 public servants earning less than the average industrial wage will lose 5% of their income.”

The current report is based on audit of all 18 CDPs in counties Cork and Kerry. The rationale for the current research is that decisions which are currently being taken to end the current CDP programme cannot be justified on either economic or social grounds. There is no economic or social benefit to the government or civil society arising from the current plans to shut down CDPs. Those who are work at the coal face within the CDPs know the value of the work involved together with its breadth and extent. They know that the contribution that CDPs make to service provision, employment, education, social care and quality of life in communities all over the country is hugely significant and far outweighs the cost to the state of investing in them, both on economic and social grounds. Focusing solely in economics, CDP managers have known for some time that the loss of employment, services, volunteers and other CDP outputs that would arise from shutting them down would be more than equal to the funding they receive. Even on this narrow economic focus, community workers in the CDPs always suspected that there would be no economic saving to the state if the projects were to be closed.

Attacks On Workers And Social Welfare Recipients Must Be Resisted The People Before Profit Alliance will be participating in a number of demonstrations this week