BOROUGH COUNCIL BACKS ICTU PROTEST

The elected members of the Drogheda Borough Council backed an emergency resolution that I tabled at last night’s (November 2nd) monthly meeting supporting the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Drogheda Trades Council’s call to local workers, community organisations and interest groups to join the November 6th ICTU Protest in Dundalk. 

The Dundalk rally this coming Friday afternoon, begining at 2.30pm at the Fairgreen, and is one of eight monster ICTU demonstrations that will be held at different locations right around Ireland, including Dublin, in protest  at the continuing unemployment crisis, proposed government cuts in vital social welfare supports, cuts in public services, workers pensions as well as public and private sector pay.

Meanwhile, the local and national “Golden Circle” of land speculators, developers, auctioneers and bankers ,who “raped” the country’s economy for a decade or more, are to be handed up to 80 billion euro (via NAMA), that will be borrowed on international money markets by the present Fianna Fail-Green government and/or a future Fine Gael-Labour administration, to buy up their massive debts. This money will be then repaid by working families, communities and society in the form of job, pay, pension, social welfare, health and education cuts for (potentially) three or four generetaions of Irish workers  into the future.

The local Siptu, Unite amd Impact trade unions, in association with the Drogheda Trades Council, have come together to organise a number of special busses, departing  from the Drogheda Bus Depot. at 1pm on Friday and returning from Dundalk at the conclusion of the protest rally. Anyone wishing to travel to the protest on these busses should arrive in good time for the planned 1pm departures as the seats will be available strictly on a “first come-first served” basis.

Published below is the emergency motion that I submitted and which was adopted by the members at last Monday night’s Drogheda Borough Council meeting

EMERGENCY MOTION:

“The elected members of Drogheda Borough Council support the call from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Drogheda Council of Trade Unions to local workers, community organisations and other interest groups to join the protest rally taking place next Friday, November 6th at 2.30pm at the Fairgreen, Dundalk as part of ICTU’s National Day of Protest at the failure of government to tackle the jobs crisis and government proposals to cut incomes, vital public services, workers’ pensions and social welfare supports”.

 Cllr. Frank Gallagher (2nd. November 2009).

THANK YOU DROGHEDA NORTH

I’m very proud and priviliged to have been the subject of local and national political history by becoming the Socialist Party’s first ever elected representative  to the  Drogheda Borough Council, and the Socialist Party’s first ever elected public representative in provincial Ireland (outside of Dublin and Cork).

IRISH OPEN – Entertainment Events

Entertainment Events during the 3 Irish Open Golf Championship May 14th – 17th. 

Listing compiled and very kindly supplied by: LIAM REILLY, Millmount Museum & Martello Tower.

Thursday May 14th

THE RAZ REILLY SCANDAL

DROGHEDA BOROUGH COUNCIL  with the full support of every elected local Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour councillor, as well as local Fine Gael T.D. Fergus O’Dowd, will have spent a potential 2 million euro of public money in court costs and legal fees to force  59-year old fireman Patrick “Raz” Reilly to retire, by the time the council’s  Supreme Court appeal  against Raz’s (2008) watershed High Court victory is decided.

WHO CALLED IT FIRST?

The headline over former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald’s thought-provoking, weekly colum in today’s Irish Times (Saturday April 25th) screamed “Reducing pay may attract a better class of politicians”.              

ELECTION FUNDRAISER – THANKS

The Table Quiz  and Raffle organised in support of the Socialist Party’s Local Election campaign in Drogheda, held  on Wednesday night (April 22nd),  was a huge success. A packed Sarsfield’s Lounge enjoyed a great evening  out and contributed very generously and significantly to our Election Campaign Fund.

10,000 Jobless by Christmas

Drogheda’s unemployment statistics are right on course to go above 10,000 by the end of this year.

A “CORPORATE WELFARE” BUDGET

Christmas came early this year for the country’s property speculators. Up to NINETY BILLION EURO EURO in auctioneers, land speculators and property developers debts are to be written off in a specially created “bad bank” (the brainchild of Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton ) which was adopted by the Fianna Fail – Green Party – Harney coalition government in today’s corporate welfare budget.

LOCAL BOSSES FINGERPRINT WORKERS

Drogheda businesses are adopting a sinister American Chamber of Commerce-style tactic of dominating and intimidating local workers by insisting that they “co-operate” with new fingerprint – recognition, clock-in/out security arrangements.

WEST STREET VALENTINE’S DAY PROTEST

Hundreds of lunchtime and early afternoon shoppers signed a protest petition  opposing the Fianna Fail – Green Party government’s public service pension levy and pledged their support for a national one day public sector strike.