Donie Fell, a Glass Blower for 38 years at Waterford Crystal and standing as a People Before Profit Alliance candidate in Waterford City South in
Syd Smith will be the People Before Proft Alliance Candidate for Dundalk Town Council- West Ward in the upcoming Local Elections. Syd, who is the
The Alliance calls for jobs, high quality public services and real democracy not bails outs for bankers and developers. The People Before Profit Alliance today called for the nationalisation of the banking system. Outside the Bank of Ireland in College Green its 13 local election candidates called on the government to stop the bailing out the banks.
Councillor Joan Collins (pictured below) said; “The bailout of the banks will cost us at least €24 billion. Already €3.5 billion has been pumped into Bank of Ireland and they are saying it is not enough. This money could be used to reverse cuts and invest in job creation. The state should take over the banking system and run the banks in the interest of the people. The banks should be run by elected representatives of the Irish people not overpaid executives”.
On April 28th in the Unite Hall in Dublin, over 150 filled the room for the launch of the People Before Profit Alliance’s ‘Alternative Economic Agenda’ Document.
The meeting was chaired by Cllr Joan Collins, who is standing in the local elections for People Before Profit Alliance in Crumlin/Walkinstown.
The launch was addressed by Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit Alliance local election candidate in Dun Laoghaire, Cllr Catherine Connolly (Independent, Galway), Cllr Declan Bree (Independent Socialist, Sligo), Cllr Chris O’Leary (Independent, ex- Green Party, Cork), Vincent Browne (Journalist) and a worker from the Visteon Factory occupation in Belfast.
Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit Alliance, Dun Laoghaire)
Vincent Browne (Journalist)
Cllr Chris O’Leary (Independent, Cork)
The People Before Profit Alliance will be launching its Local Election Campaign on Thursday May 7th. The Alliance is running thirteen candidates in Dublin City,
Get out on the Streets and Protest;
Assemble 16th May 2.30pm Central Bank, Dame St Dublin
The bail-out of the banks costs €24 billion.
Donie Fell, a Glass Blower for 38 years at Waterford Crystal will stand as a People Before Profit Alliance candidate in Waterford City South in the forthcoming local elections with the endorsement of UNITE the Union.
People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett joined the panel on Vincent Browne’s TV3 Nightly News show on Thursday 30th April . Watch the show here
The latest ESRI Quarterly Report makes frightening reading. It claims that Ireland is entering a depression that is worse than any industrialised country experienced since the 1930s.
The economy is due to shrink by 9.2 percent – which is of the same magnitude as the US experienced after the Wall St Crash of 1929.
Unemployment is set to rise so that almost one in five workers will be without a job.
In its Quarterly Report of last Winter, the ESRI predicted that the economy would shrink by 4.1 percent – just half of their current prediction.
The obvious question is: why is the prognosis getting worse? Why is the Irish economy going down much faster than any mainstream economist thought?
The ESRI cannot answer this question because it is locked into the conventional wisdom of the Irish economic establishment.
It concludes its report by advocating more wage cuts and more cuts in public spending to make Ireland ‘competitive’.
But it is precisely the wage cuts which have made the recession deeper.
Richard Boyd Barrett and Hugh Lewis of the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) recently held a public meeting in Dun Laoghaire to set up a Community and Unemployment Action Group in the area.
Hugh Lewis (Ballybrack PBPA)
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dun Laoghaire PBPA)
PBPA have been leafleting estates and the lengthening doles queues in Dun Laoghaire are calling on all those affected by or angry about spiralling unemployment to attend the meeting and get involved in establishing a group to campaign for action on the jobs crisis.
PBPA also believe that the savage cutbacks in social welfare in the recent budget, such as the scrapping of the Christmas bonus and cuts in rent allowance, make the setting up of organisations to protect the unemployed a priority.
PBPA believe that the Council should establish direct labour units to give jobs to the unemployed doing important work in the community, such as, repairing boarded up council houses, upgrading schools and hospitals and providing local amenities and community services.
The wishes of the public for the future of Dun Laoghaire Baths were dealt a major blow at a specially convened council meeting on Wednesday 1st April to discuss the new Dun Laoghaire County Development Plan.
At the meeting the County Manager included a Special Local Objective “SLO” for the provision of an East Pier to Sandycove Enhancement Scheme in his draft written statement. Councillors had the option of accepting, amending or rejecting this objective.
The Manager’s objective came despite the fact that the enhancement scheme was roundly rejected by the public following a series of street marches, public meetings and hundreds of public submissions.
Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance, Cllr Gene Feighery, and Bob Waddell of the Sandycove Baths Action Group, were united in their condemnation of the recent decision taken by Councillors to ignore public opinion on Dun Laoghaire Baths in favour of the County Manager’s objective.
At the meeting Cllr. Feighery put forward a motion rejecting the Manager’s special local objective and requesting Councillors to support her in replacing it with the following motion which she believes reflects the democratic will of the people with whom she marched.
Cllr. Feighery’s motion read:
That Development of Dun Laoghaire Baths will retain the existing building with a modest extension to accommodate proposed public amenities/facilities which includes swimming facilities, and which does not include high rise or residential development. That infill development is minimised to provide adequate sea defences and that the scale of any upgrading and renewal project is limited to the area between the East Pier and the Baths.
Unfortunately, she only found support in four of her fellow councillors and the motion fell.
The accusation made by Aodhan O Riordain that the Anti-Budget protest by People Before Profit Alliance and others from the community in the North Inner City outside Cyprian Brady’s clinic intimidated constituents from consulting their local representative is ridiculous.
Speaking after the protest People Before Profit candidate in the North Inner City Colm Stephens said "If Cllr. O Riordain had bothered to turn up he would have seen that we actively encouraged people to go into the clinic and make their views known."
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