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.
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
The People Before Profit Alliance this evening called for a campaign of widespread opposition to government plans to cut public services and pay by €4 billion. If the leaders of the trade union movement will not lead such a campaign they should step aside.
Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett said “There can be no doubt now that this government is determined to make ordinary people pay for a crisis they did not create. Wide-ranging cuts are to be implemented which will see services cut, social welfare cut and the pay of public servants cut. This disastrous and incompetent government’s action will further damage the economy creating more unemployment in the process. These cuts will have a devastating effect on working class communities across the country.
1 p.m. Wednesday 9th Dáil Eireann, Kildare Street/Molesworth Street Called by Dublin Council of Trade Unions Dublin Council of Trade Unions Budget Day Protest against
A public meeting will take place on Tuesday December 1st at 7.30pm in Weirs Pub, George’s St, Dun Laoghaire.
Many of the library’s users are young people, senior citizens and those on low incomes, who simply will not be able physically or financially to travel to Dun Laoghaire library, if Sallynoggin is closed.
Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit Alliance) said in a statement:-
We must resist this unacceptable attack on local amenities.
It is a disgrace that Sallynoggin, which is already suffering neglect and a lack of local facilities, should lose one the few amenities it has. Why should the people of Sallynoggin pay for the greed of the bankers, developers and the politicians that were in their pockets.
While Sallynoggin library is below the standard that it should be in terms of its location in a make-shift classroom and limited opening hours, losing the library will be a major blow to the area.
In a statement tonight People Before Profit Councillor Joan Collins condemned the decision of Dublin City Council to sack six engineers whose responsibilities include water and flood defence. With the backing of Councillor Brid Smyth a motion has been tabled for the next meeting of the Council calling for the decision to be reversed.
Tuesday saw 250,000 public service workers strike to defend their wages and conditions. Schools, courts, colleges, hospitals effectively closed down, across the country except for emergency services.
Above: Brendan O’Sullivan of District 14 INTO speaking to the thousands of teachers who gathered for the rally at the Department of Education on the first day of strike action on Nov 24th.
In Dublin over 2,000 teachers march to the Department of Education and Science and over 700 maintained a picket there throughout the day. In Sligo over 1,000 teachers took part in a rally. Elsewhere, pickets shut colleges, courts, local authority workplaces and more. Further action is now planned for DEc 3rd. The trade union leaders should get out of the talks and led the people in a real fight to get rid of this cruel and heartless government.
In 1980’s Britain, Margaret Thatcher famously remarked that “there is no such thing as society, only individuals”. This is the economics of rampant unchecked capitalism where any hurt inflicted on the vulnerable is seen as collateral damage in the pursuance of profits and is a philosophy the Irish Government believes in.
Pic above: Members of People Before Profit (Tralee) at recent Cuts Protest in Limerick
Another name for it is neo-liberalism. Community development projects (CDP’s) are essentially a concept, the opposite to this mind set. The first CDP’s were set up in Ireland in 1990 as a way of overcoming poverty, disadvantage, marginalisation and discrimination in both rural and inner city areas.
Get our Weekly newsletter with all of the latest from People Before Profit
