DONNCHADHA CAUGHT OUT….AGAIN

From: Gerry Floyd

Frank,

What is the Drogheda Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) doing on November 6th?

Nice to see the local TEEU president (Donnchadha Mac Raghnaill) out canvasing for a yes vote in the Lisbon referendum while his union officially called for a NO!

 

FIANNA FAIL- GREEN PARTY WATER CHARGES PACT

SOCIALIST PARTY PRESS STATEMENT  11/10/2009:

Green Party/Fianna Fail pledge to reintroduce water charges will spark a Water War ….MASS BOYCOTT SET TO ERUPT AGAIN

 

Cllr. Mick Barry (Cork City Council). Cllr. Ruth Coppinger (Fingal County Council). Cllr. Clare Daly (Fingal County Council). Cllr. Frank Gallagher (Drogheda Borough Council). Joe Higgins (MEP). Cllr Terry Kelleher (Balbriggan Town Council).

PAYE workers and hard pressed families will be outraged to see that the Green Party and Fianna Fail have agreed to reintroduce water charges. The revised Programme for Government is clearly a continuation of Government policy of landing the price of the crash in the capitalist economy squarely on the shoulders of working people.
Minister Mary Hanafin, who was part of the Fianna Fail negotiation team at the talks with the Green Party, said some time ago that if water charges had not been abolished in 1996, every household would now face a yearly bill of up to €800. That is a measure of the burden that is being contemplated  for working people’s households even if it first mooted as a low charge.
Fianna Fail and the Green Party are guilty of blatant hypocrisy when they speak of introducing a charge for water ‘to reduce waste’.  As far back as 1995 the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns demanded  that Government and Local Authorities would introduce changes in Building Bye Laws to install mandatory inbuilt water saving features in new homes and provide assistance for owners of existing homes for modifications to the same effect. Nothing was done in the intervening 15 years despite the fact that up to half the present housing stock was built in that time.
The fact is that countless billions of litres of drinking standard water could have been saved every year if all the building constructed over that time had water conservation features. But now it is back to the same old catch cry of reducing waste as an excuse for more taxation on those paying most already.
Should the Government attempt to reintroduce the hated water charges which we worked so hard to abolish in the 1990s we promise them a major water war. Just as happened in the 1990s there will be a massive boycott with people power coming directly into play to defeat any plans to introduce a water tax.  It was such a campaign in the 1990s that forced the Fine Gael/Labour Party Government to abolish water charges for the whole country in December, 1996.

TRADITIONAL BOATS OF THE BOYNE

The Old Drogheda Society’s Annual Corcoran-Garry Lecture takes place at 8pm on Wednesday night, October 7th,  in the Droichead Arts Centre. The theme of the event will be “Traditional Boats on the Boyne” with principal speaker Criostoir MacCarthaigh from the Dept. of Irish Folklore, UCD. 

This seminar-style event will also feature contributions from leading marine archaeologists, local boatmen and boatmakers, as well as from mussel fishermen and their wives. Admission is free and there will be a book stall open on the night.

The Annual Corcoran-Garry Lecture is sponsored by the Old Drogheda Society in memory of the late Moira Corcoran and Jim Garry, founder members of the ODS and renowned local historians.

Notice and information on this event was very kindly supplied to me by Liam Reilly, Tel: 041 9833097 (office hours).

PRESS STATEMENT: JOE HIGGINS MEP

 

Press Statement: Joe Higgins MEP (Socialist Party),  3 October 2009.

 

• Campaign of fear and promises of jobs and economic recovery delivers Yes vote for establishment
• Promises will not be delivered upon –  future reality of Lisbon agenda will be opposed in workplaces and communities.

 

Socialist Party MEP for Dublin, Joe Higgins, responded to the emerging results of the Lisbon Treaty referendum:

“The unprecedented well financed grand coalition of the political establishment, big business , most of the print media and the EU authorities has delivered a Yes vote. Bullying and fear was combined with extravagant promises about jobs and economic recovery. I congratulate those voters who stood up against the intimidation and threats and voted no. I understand the anxiety of many who voted Yes in the hope of better job prospects and security.

“Any hope that this result will bring the promised jobs or economic recovery will unfortunately be quickly dashed as the neo-liberal policies of the EU and Irish government continue to make working class people pay for the economic crisis.

“The 10,000 Opel and Vauxhall workers in Belgium, Germany, Britain, Spain and Poland who are facing losing their jobs are victims of this approach. In Ireland, working people in the private and public sector are victims.”

 “The pro-Lisbon elements in the trade union movement have a case to answer. The striking workers at Coca-Cola and MTL Docks in Dublin, Mr. Binman  in Co. Tipperary and Manor Park Nursing Home  in Co. Longford will see no enhancement of their rights in their fight to maintain jobs with decent pay and conditions . Instead, the race to the bottom will now be pursued more vigorously by the establishment. Employers will still come running to the High Court in Ireland to obtain injunctions to prevent effective strike action.

“The fight against the neo-liberal agenda enshrined by Lisbon will now take place in workplaces and communities across Ireland and Europe. It is seen in the struggle of the taxi drivers against the horrific effects of deregulation and in the important strikes of workers across the country.

“We will now focus our energies on assisting these vital campaigns of workers to defend their jobs and conditions and of communities to fight against the brutal cutbacks which are being imposed.”

For information and confirmation contact:

Michael O’Brien 087 2400331 or Paul Murphy 086 1688050.