So, now we know. After months of trying to avoid a referendum on the austerity Treaty – the Fiscal Compact Treaty to the bureaucrats in Brussels – the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste slipped into the Dáil yesterday and told us that there would be a referendum.
This blog wasn’t surprised. Sinn Féin had sought our own legal advice. We were told that a referendum was needed. Had the government tried to avoid its responsibilities on this we would have been taking it to court.
It would have been nice to have had more notice about the announcement. The government was apparently told by the Attorney General at the Cabinet meeting that the treaty is a unique instrument outside the EU Treaty architecture and that on balance a referendum is needed to ratify it.
But instead of sharing that information with opposition leaders and setting aside an adequate period of time in the Dáil for this matter to be discussed they phoned around the offices of the opposition leaders shortly before the announcement was made in the chamber at 3pm. We were told that a statement was to be made but not what it would be about.
The government parties had set their faces against a referendum. Media reports out of the EU had confirmed that the government was trying to avoid a referendum and the Tánaiste, speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs, had also admitted that the government negotiators were actively trying to weaken the text and to put in the words “preferably constitutional” in order to avoid the requirement that it be put to the people.
Having failed on this score the government wanted to make sure that it got its spin in first. Both Kenny and Gilmore had their well prepared scripts available and delivered to the media while opposition spokespersons were responding to the news in the Dáil chamber.
This is another example of the arrogant and discourteous manner in which opposition parties our treated by this government.
The Treaty is due to be signed in Brussels on Thursday. At the end of last November the government nailed its colours to this project and accepted that it was willing to hand over significant new powers to the European Court of Justice and European Commission.
The austerity treaty confers significant new powers on the European Commission and European Court of Justice to compel member states to alter their fiscal and budgetary policies or face significant fines.
This blog believes that the Treaty is anti-growth and anti-jobs and it will impose austerity policies on this state for years to come. This will be bad for those on low and middle incomes and disadvantaged communities. But it is in keeping with a government approach that supports cuts to public services and the privatisation of state assets.
Sinn Féin had consistently argued that there is a democratic imperative on the government to hold a referendum. That will now happen. The people will have their say.
The question is: will the government accept the outcome? Or given the experience with the Lisbon and Nice Treaties will the government refuse to accept a rejection of the Treaty and arrange the usual re-run? Will the government phrase the question in such a way so the people will be able to have an informed debate as opposed to bullying tactics that have been used in the past?
We know that Fianna Fáil will support this. Fianna Fáil and Labour and Fine Gael were all part of the cosy consensus for cuts and this government is dutifully implementing the economic policies of the last Fianna Fáil led government.
I think it is crucially important that the campaign be informed and informative, that the details of the Treaty and its implications for the people of this state and the island be fully discussed and debated.
Sinn Féin is against this Treaty. We have to wait to see the question that will be put. We’re against austerity. We don’t think it’s fair. We don’t think it’s right.
We don’t think it’s proper that working people have to pay for the greed and corruption and bad government that led to the economic crisis or the debts created by the golden circle, the big bankers and the bondholders and developers.
So let’s have a good debate. Let’s have an informed debate. And let’s secure a resounding rejection of austerity policies and the hardship they bring with them.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Constitutional Convention – a route to Uniting Ireland?
Last year, as part of the agreed Programme for Government between Fine Gael and Labour, the two parties agreed to establish a Constitutional Convention to recommend constitutional reform.
Since then this blog has raised this issue regularly in the Dáil with the Taoiseach. I have told him that the Irish diaspora must be represented in the Convention and that part of its agenda must be to discuss extending voting rights in Irish Presidential elections to the diaspora.
In the course of these exchanges the Taoiseach undertook to consult with the opposition parties. He also agreed that the extension of the franchise in Presidential elections to citizens in the north would be part of the convention’s agenda.
Despite frequent requests by me to hold the consultation with opposition parties and the Taoiseach’s repeated assurances that he would - no meetings were held. In an effort to assist this process I wrote to the Taoiseach on February 7th setting out Sinn Féin’s view of the convention and of some of the matters we believed it needed to deal with.
Last week the late evening news on RTE carried a position from the government announcing, without any prior notice to the opposition parties, that the Cabinet had agreed to go ahead with the Convention and that it would consist of 100 members, made up of 66 citizens and 33 political representatives and a chairperson.
The government statement said that the first issues to be discussed would be the reduction of the Presidential term and the voting age, and it then set out a list of other issues to be discussed.
What value a consultation when the government has already decided on the format and terms of reference for the convention?
Fine Gael and Labour spoke often of transparency and accountability and criticised the Fianna Fáil/Green government’s way of doing business and then they do the same thing.
The government’s unilateral announcement on the Constitutional Convention was cynical. It was an effort by it to set the agenda of the convention and maintain control over it. It is not about inclusiveness and an open debate on the future shape of the constitution but about control.
Similarly with the announcement of the sell-off of state assets, which took place a few days later outside the Dáil, this government is in the business of media spin and control and not concerned with political accountability.
The Taoiseach’s office rang my office after the government’s announcement and suggested a meeting next week. This is a very unsatisfactory way of discussing this important issue. I will attend but it should be about consultation not merely notification.
Sinn Féin welcomed the proposal to convene a Constitutional Convention, with a view to comprehensive constitutional reform.
In the Dáil and in a letter I wrote to Taoiseach on February 7th I set out Sinn Féin’s view of the convention and of those issues which we believe it must address if it is to make a constructive contribution to the Ireland of the 21st century.
In my letter I said that the ‘Convention’s Terms of Reference must therefore at a minimum both acknowledge and take account of the relevant prior commitments under the Agreement, including provisions regarding the convening of an All-Ireland Parliamentary Forum, an All-Ireland Consultative Civic Forum, and especially the agreement of an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.’
It must also ‘consider whether and how the Convention could contribute to the fulfilment of these obligations.’
I also suggested that the Constitutional Convention should be ‘able to consider recommending a new constitution for the 21st century which is inclusive, reflects the desire for Irish unity that is shared by the majority of citizens on this island and which protects the rights of citizens, including our unionist neighbours.
The Convention’s Terms of Reference must also ensure that the outcome of this current process of constitutional reform does not prejudice any future process of agreeing an all-Ireland constitution - post a referendum on unity as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.’
Sinn Féin believes that the Convention should have specific priorities.
It must be fully inclusive in its composition and its participatory process. This means it must involve in particular; ‘the economically disadvantaged; the socially marginalised; citizens from all provinces including northern citizens; ordinary unionists and their official representatives; citizens in the diaspora; and our newest citizens – in addition to the political parties, civil society representatives and those with relevant academic and legal expertise – and ensuring the equal representation of women on the Convention.
The Convention’s process must also be fully public, transparent and accountable, from discussion of terms of reference to appointments, and from the debates to conclusion of recommendations. In particular there must be clarity in the Convention’s Terms of Reference as to the expected form and effect of its conclusions in relation to the final text, and the process by which this eventually comes before the people in a referendum.’
The Convention should examine the ‘need for express guarantees of economic and social rights, the extension of voting rights for northern citizens and citizens in the diaspora, and the architecture necessary to establish a more robustly inclusive, fully representative and accountable democracy with mechanisms for direct participation, in addition to those matters and areas already identified by the Government, which we welcome’.
It is essential that there is the; ‘Maximum human rights guarantees. We believe that the inclusion of enumerated rights is absolutely essential for any future constitution, and that it must contain all the modern equality and human rights protections that reflect the full spectrum of our international obligations and any others that are necessary to establish a rights-based society’.
And finally; ‘Mindful of the Good Friday Agreement obligation to ensure at minimum the equivalence of human rights protections north and south, but also of the freedom to draft guarantees that exceed the existing standard, the Convention must in its work consider and make a complementary contribution towards an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.’
Embarking on a process of comprehensive constitutional reform is a most serious undertaking which provides a huge opportunity to build the sort of inclusive, equality and rights based society envisaged by the architects of the 1916 Proclamation.
It must not be squandered because of a lack of vision or narrow party political positions.
There is the potential, if managed properly and democratically, to create a durable outcome that can advance reconciliation and peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland and between our people.
Since then this blog has raised this issue regularly in the Dáil with the Taoiseach. I have told him that the Irish diaspora must be represented in the Convention and that part of its agenda must be to discuss extending voting rights in Irish Presidential elections to the diaspora.
In the course of these exchanges the Taoiseach undertook to consult with the opposition parties. He also agreed that the extension of the franchise in Presidential elections to citizens in the north would be part of the convention’s agenda.
Despite frequent requests by me to hold the consultation with opposition parties and the Taoiseach’s repeated assurances that he would - no meetings were held. In an effort to assist this process I wrote to the Taoiseach on February 7th setting out Sinn Féin’s view of the convention and of some of the matters we believed it needed to deal with.
Last week the late evening news on RTE carried a position from the government announcing, without any prior notice to the opposition parties, that the Cabinet had agreed to go ahead with the Convention and that it would consist of 100 members, made up of 66 citizens and 33 political representatives and a chairperson.
The government statement said that the first issues to be discussed would be the reduction of the Presidential term and the voting age, and it then set out a list of other issues to be discussed.
What value a consultation when the government has already decided on the format and terms of reference for the convention?
Fine Gael and Labour spoke often of transparency and accountability and criticised the Fianna Fáil/Green government’s way of doing business and then they do the same thing.
The government’s unilateral announcement on the Constitutional Convention was cynical. It was an effort by it to set the agenda of the convention and maintain control over it. It is not about inclusiveness and an open debate on the future shape of the constitution but about control.
Similarly with the announcement of the sell-off of state assets, which took place a few days later outside the Dáil, this government is in the business of media spin and control and not concerned with political accountability.
The Taoiseach’s office rang my office after the government’s announcement and suggested a meeting next week. This is a very unsatisfactory way of discussing this important issue. I will attend but it should be about consultation not merely notification.
Sinn Féin welcomed the proposal to convene a Constitutional Convention, with a view to comprehensive constitutional reform.
In the Dáil and in a letter I wrote to Taoiseach on February 7th I set out Sinn Féin’s view of the convention and of those issues which we believe it must address if it is to make a constructive contribution to the Ireland of the 21st century.
In my letter I said that the ‘Convention’s Terms of Reference must therefore at a minimum both acknowledge and take account of the relevant prior commitments under the Agreement, including provisions regarding the convening of an All-Ireland Parliamentary Forum, an All-Ireland Consultative Civic Forum, and especially the agreement of an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.’
It must also ‘consider whether and how the Convention could contribute to the fulfilment of these obligations.’
I also suggested that the Constitutional Convention should be ‘able to consider recommending a new constitution for the 21st century which is inclusive, reflects the desire for Irish unity that is shared by the majority of citizens on this island and which protects the rights of citizens, including our unionist neighbours.
The Convention’s Terms of Reference must also ensure that the outcome of this current process of constitutional reform does not prejudice any future process of agreeing an all-Ireland constitution - post a referendum on unity as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.’
Sinn Féin believes that the Convention should have specific priorities.
It must be fully inclusive in its composition and its participatory process. This means it must involve in particular; ‘the economically disadvantaged; the socially marginalised; citizens from all provinces including northern citizens; ordinary unionists and their official representatives; citizens in the diaspora; and our newest citizens – in addition to the political parties, civil society representatives and those with relevant academic and legal expertise – and ensuring the equal representation of women on the Convention.
The Convention’s process must also be fully public, transparent and accountable, from discussion of terms of reference to appointments, and from the debates to conclusion of recommendations. In particular there must be clarity in the Convention’s Terms of Reference as to the expected form and effect of its conclusions in relation to the final text, and the process by which this eventually comes before the people in a referendum.’
The Convention should examine the ‘need for express guarantees of economic and social rights, the extension of voting rights for northern citizens and citizens in the diaspora, and the architecture necessary to establish a more robustly inclusive, fully representative and accountable democracy with mechanisms for direct participation, in addition to those matters and areas already identified by the Government, which we welcome’.
It is essential that there is the; ‘Maximum human rights guarantees. We believe that the inclusion of enumerated rights is absolutely essential for any future constitution, and that it must contain all the modern equality and human rights protections that reflect the full spectrum of our international obligations and any others that are necessary to establish a rights-based society’.
And finally; ‘Mindful of the Good Friday Agreement obligation to ensure at minimum the equivalence of human rights protections north and south, but also of the freedom to draft guarantees that exceed the existing standard, the Convention must in its work consider and make a complementary contribution towards an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.’
Embarking on a process of comprehensive constitutional reform is a most serious undertaking which provides a huge opportunity to build the sort of inclusive, equality and rights based society envisaged by the architects of the 1916 Proclamation.
It must not be squandered because of a lack of vision or narrow party political positions.
There is the potential, if managed properly and democratically, to create a durable outcome that can advance reconciliation and peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland and between our people.
Friday, February 24, 2012
State assets sell-off a mistake
It’s not often this blog gets a chance to step in for the Taoiseach and break news to the Dáil but it was that sort of morning.
For those of you not familiar with the Dáil system we have Leaders Questions each Wednesday morning at 10.30. It’s an opportunity for myself and others to quiz Enda Kenny on what we believe to be an issue of importance.
It had been my intention to use my two minutes for a question and one minute for a supplementary to raise the health crisis.
Each day brings new reports of the impact of government cuts on the health service. On Wednesday morning the media was reporting a statement from the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine which revealed that the number of sick children awaiting admission to hospitals and waiting on trolleys has increased by almost 700% in three years. Many children spend longer than 12 hours on a trolley and in some cases more than 24 hours.
Several days earlier the Health Service Executive also revealed that almost 60,000 patients – adults and children - are on waiting lists - a 50% increase on 2010.
And all of this is taking place on Enda Kenny’s watch – the same Enda Kenny who five years ago in opposition, and when 41,000 patients were on the waiting list – stood in the Dáil and listed one cutback after another in the health service. He warned that ‘patients die at the end of waiting lists because services cannot be provided for them.’
There is a depth of hypocrisy and double standards in this that is breathtaking in its brazenness.
That’s what I had wanted to speak to the Taoiseach about. But governments seek to manage news so the Taoiseach and his friends had arranged for the Labour Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin TD, to hold a press conference at exactly the same time as Leaders Questions began. The Minister released details on the government’s plan to sell-off state assets.
Obviously the purpose was to minimise the chance of any of the opposition leaders raising this issue. It’s an old trick and one Enda used to get very angry about when the last government regularly did it to him. Now he’s happy to do it to others. But where there is a will there is a way. And when I stood at 10.40 to put my question I had sufficient information to challenge the Taoiseach.
‘As we sit here’ I said, ‘Minister Howlin is in another building announcing the sale of State assets to the tune of €3 billion. And I as a person who has the privilege of leading the Sinn Féin party as part of the Opposition, I must depend on someone sending me a text to tell me this.’
‘Is this not a matter that should have come to the chamber for us to discuss?’
It is an indictment of this government that this blog had to give details of this planned sell-off to the chamber instead of Minister Howlin or the Taoiseach. The government was treating the Dáil with discourtesy.
It is also trying to hide its decision to sell-off state assets by claiming that this is part of the agreement with the Troika (the European Commission; the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank) and of the bailout.
This is untrue. There is no commitment in the Memorandum of Understanding with the Troika for the sell-off of state assets. Sinn Féin has met with the Troika and they told us that while they believe in privatisation that the Memorandum of Understanding does not bind Fine Gael and Labour to this sell-off of state assets. This is a decision taken by the government.
Claims by the government that this will provide funding for job creation have to be set against the government’s decision to give away taxpayers money to unguaranteed bondholders and bad banks, including €3.1 billion to Anglo-Irish bank at the end of March.
The government is selling off successful self-financing state companies such as Bord Gais Éireann’s energy business and some elements of ESB’s power generation capacity, as well as the possible sale of some assets of Coillte and the states remaining shares in Aer Lingus.
These successful state companies should be part of a job creation strategy that is part and parcel of the solution in creating jobs and delivering growth. They shouldn’t be sold off to private interests whose sole interest is profit.
It is a myth that privatisation and deregulation brings competitiveness and efficiency. In reality it was the right wing deregulation strategies of Thatcher and Reagan and others in the 1980s and the growing gap these policies created between the rich and poor which led to the current economic crisis.
The pattern wherever privatisation has been pursued and profitable state companies have been sold off is one of job losses, increased prices for the consumers and big profits for private speculators. Labour should be ashamed of its endorsement of this right wing conservative economic philosophy.
For those of you not familiar with the Dáil system we have Leaders Questions each Wednesday morning at 10.30. It’s an opportunity for myself and others to quiz Enda Kenny on what we believe to be an issue of importance.
It had been my intention to use my two minutes for a question and one minute for a supplementary to raise the health crisis.
Each day brings new reports of the impact of government cuts on the health service. On Wednesday morning the media was reporting a statement from the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine which revealed that the number of sick children awaiting admission to hospitals and waiting on trolleys has increased by almost 700% in three years. Many children spend longer than 12 hours on a trolley and in some cases more than 24 hours.
Several days earlier the Health Service Executive also revealed that almost 60,000 patients – adults and children - are on waiting lists - a 50% increase on 2010.
And all of this is taking place on Enda Kenny’s watch – the same Enda Kenny who five years ago in opposition, and when 41,000 patients were on the waiting list – stood in the Dáil and listed one cutback after another in the health service. He warned that ‘patients die at the end of waiting lists because services cannot be provided for them.’
There is a depth of hypocrisy and double standards in this that is breathtaking in its brazenness.
That’s what I had wanted to speak to the Taoiseach about. But governments seek to manage news so the Taoiseach and his friends had arranged for the Labour Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin TD, to hold a press conference at exactly the same time as Leaders Questions began. The Minister released details on the government’s plan to sell-off state assets.
Obviously the purpose was to minimise the chance of any of the opposition leaders raising this issue. It’s an old trick and one Enda used to get very angry about when the last government regularly did it to him. Now he’s happy to do it to others. But where there is a will there is a way. And when I stood at 10.40 to put my question I had sufficient information to challenge the Taoiseach.
‘As we sit here’ I said, ‘Minister Howlin is in another building announcing the sale of State assets to the tune of €3 billion. And I as a person who has the privilege of leading the Sinn Féin party as part of the Opposition, I must depend on someone sending me a text to tell me this.’
‘Is this not a matter that should have come to the chamber for us to discuss?’
It is an indictment of this government that this blog had to give details of this planned sell-off to the chamber instead of Minister Howlin or the Taoiseach. The government was treating the Dáil with discourtesy.
It is also trying to hide its decision to sell-off state assets by claiming that this is part of the agreement with the Troika (the European Commission; the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank) and of the bailout.
This is untrue. There is no commitment in the Memorandum of Understanding with the Troika for the sell-off of state assets. Sinn Féin has met with the Troika and they told us that while they believe in privatisation that the Memorandum of Understanding does not bind Fine Gael and Labour to this sell-off of state assets. This is a decision taken by the government.
Claims by the government that this will provide funding for job creation have to be set against the government’s decision to give away taxpayers money to unguaranteed bondholders and bad banks, including €3.1 billion to Anglo-Irish bank at the end of March.
The government is selling off successful self-financing state companies such as Bord Gais Éireann’s energy business and some elements of ESB’s power generation capacity, as well as the possible sale of some assets of Coillte and the states remaining shares in Aer Lingus.
These successful state companies should be part of a job creation strategy that is part and parcel of the solution in creating jobs and delivering growth. They shouldn’t be sold off to private interests whose sole interest is profit.
It is a myth that privatisation and deregulation brings competitiveness and efficiency. In reality it was the right wing deregulation strategies of Thatcher and Reagan and others in the 1980s and the growing gap these policies created between the rich and poor which led to the current economic crisis.
The pattern wherever privatisation has been pursued and profitable state companies have been sold off is one of job losses, increased prices for the consumers and big profits for private speculators. Labour should be ashamed of its endorsement of this right wing conservative economic philosophy.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Protecting their class interests
There is an arrogance about this Fine Gael and Labour government, as there was with the last. They talk and think like economists. But unlike good economists who understand the connection between people and the economy, this government doesn’t look at the social consequences of its actions and policies.
Do they care about what will happen to pensioners unable to keep their homes warm? Are they are at all interested in the efforts of lone parents to make ends meet on dwindling benefits? Do they worry about children going to school without a warm breakfast or the thousands of families who have had to give up their private health insurance and are now left to the mercies of a public health service in crisis?
There is a fundamental disconnect which allows Fine Gael and Labour deputies in the Dáil to repeatedly vote for policies they know are hurting people and against alternative propositions which can work.
The social consequences are all around them in the cuts to essential public services; the numbers of young people leaving our shores; the cuts to DEIS schools; the slashing of school guidance counsellors; the attack on rural communities through the septic tanks debacle; stealth taxes; the crisis in our health service, and now the imposition of cuts to Community Employment schemes which will in effect see the end of many such schemes.
One news report at the weekend produced new figures that confirmed what many of us have been saying for some time; that the government’s austerity taxes are disproportionately impacting on lower and middle income families while those at the other end of the scale are slightly better off.
The figures revealed that anyone earning between €17,542 and €20,000 have seen a 215% increase in their tax and are now paying three times more than they did in 2010.
Those earning between €20,000 and €30,000 are paying 36% more and those earning between €40,000 and €50,000 are paying 23% more.
In stark contrast those earning between €100,000 and €125,000 paid and increase of 6.8% while those between €400,000 and €450,000 paid only 1.1% more.
At the same time at the government is imposing harsh new stealth taxes on low and middle income families it is insisting in handing billions of taxpayers money over to criminal banks – as much as €20 billion last year. Next month €3.1 billion – almost as much as the total the government cut in its pre-Christmas budget – will be paid to Anglo-Irish Bank – a bank that is dead and no longer trades.
People are being squeezed. They can’t take anymore. The accumulation of three years of austerity has not fixed the economy but more importantly, it has pushed people too far. And this Government not only plans four more years of the same but has signed up to an Austerity Treaty that will make austerity a legal requirement on any government and impose even more cuts.
That’s why hardly a day goes past when one community organisation or another, or group of school children or trade union isn’t outside the gates of Leinster House protesting.
Week after week this blog challenges the Taoiseach in the Dáil and other shinners confront his Ministerial colleagues on these vital issues. He and they are immune to the detrimental affects of their decisions.
The same cannot be said about the government party’s backbenchers, especially the Labour TDs. They sit and squirm and occasionally shout back but it is clear from their body language that they know their constituency is deeply unhappy with the course of action being pursued by the government.
So, why does the Government believe its economic model and not ours or some other will work?
This is a question which tugs at my mind when common sense, never mind the economic imperative, demands an end to the austerity strategy.
To break it down simply, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore and their friends in Government are for austerity. So too is Fianna Fail.
Their thinking runs like this. There is a deficit. The way to reduce the deficit is to cut spending and increase taxes. They believe the tax to spending cuts ratio must entail more spending cuts. They believe the taxes must be levied across society rather than targeted at high earners. This means low and middle income families taking up the burden of stealth taxes and increases in VAT.
They want spending cuts across all spending areas, rather than targeted at waste etc. They pretend to want to create jobs because they know the public is demanding this but in reality they make no substantial investment available to achieve this. And anyway they believe that the private sector will create the jobs.
Sinn Féin differs from them in many ways but especially in that we do not focus on the deficit alone. We believe the deficit is the result of a crisis. Leaving the causes of that crisis untreated means the crisis won’t go away. One cause is a collapse in employment as a result of an economy being built on the back of unsustainable industry, in this case, property. Another is the collapse in the banking sector as a result of corruption and of right wing policies which refused to regulate the banks.
Republicans want to create jobs which in turn will increase the amount of tax going to the state, increase consumer spending (keeping businesses going) and lower social welfare spending. In the meantime, we want a change in the tax system to make it fairer, so we would target high earners, and we want spending waste trimmed.
We also believe that the state should stop paying billions of taxpayers money out to criminal banks.
But for now Fine Gael and Labour are locked into austerity policies. Why. Because they protect their class interests and the status quo.
Do they care about what will happen to pensioners unable to keep their homes warm? Are they are at all interested in the efforts of lone parents to make ends meet on dwindling benefits? Do they worry about children going to school without a warm breakfast or the thousands of families who have had to give up their private health insurance and are now left to the mercies of a public health service in crisis?
There is a fundamental disconnect which allows Fine Gael and Labour deputies in the Dáil to repeatedly vote for policies they know are hurting people and against alternative propositions which can work.
The social consequences are all around them in the cuts to essential public services; the numbers of young people leaving our shores; the cuts to DEIS schools; the slashing of school guidance counsellors; the attack on rural communities through the septic tanks debacle; stealth taxes; the crisis in our health service, and now the imposition of cuts to Community Employment schemes which will in effect see the end of many such schemes.
One news report at the weekend produced new figures that confirmed what many of us have been saying for some time; that the government’s austerity taxes are disproportionately impacting on lower and middle income families while those at the other end of the scale are slightly better off.
The figures revealed that anyone earning between €17,542 and €20,000 have seen a 215% increase in their tax and are now paying three times more than they did in 2010.
Those earning between €20,000 and €30,000 are paying 36% more and those earning between €40,000 and €50,000 are paying 23% more.
In stark contrast those earning between €100,000 and €125,000 paid and increase of 6.8% while those between €400,000 and €450,000 paid only 1.1% more.
At the same time at the government is imposing harsh new stealth taxes on low and middle income families it is insisting in handing billions of taxpayers money over to criminal banks – as much as €20 billion last year. Next month €3.1 billion – almost as much as the total the government cut in its pre-Christmas budget – will be paid to Anglo-Irish Bank – a bank that is dead and no longer trades.
People are being squeezed. They can’t take anymore. The accumulation of three years of austerity has not fixed the economy but more importantly, it has pushed people too far. And this Government not only plans four more years of the same but has signed up to an Austerity Treaty that will make austerity a legal requirement on any government and impose even more cuts.
That’s why hardly a day goes past when one community organisation or another, or group of school children or trade union isn’t outside the gates of Leinster House protesting.
Week after week this blog challenges the Taoiseach in the Dáil and other shinners confront his Ministerial colleagues on these vital issues. He and they are immune to the detrimental affects of their decisions.
The same cannot be said about the government party’s backbenchers, especially the Labour TDs. They sit and squirm and occasionally shout back but it is clear from their body language that they know their constituency is deeply unhappy with the course of action being pursued by the government.
So, why does the Government believe its economic model and not ours or some other will work?
This is a question which tugs at my mind when common sense, never mind the economic imperative, demands an end to the austerity strategy.
To break it down simply, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore and their friends in Government are for austerity. So too is Fianna Fail.
Their thinking runs like this. There is a deficit. The way to reduce the deficit is to cut spending and increase taxes. They believe the tax to spending cuts ratio must entail more spending cuts. They believe the taxes must be levied across society rather than targeted at high earners. This means low and middle income families taking up the burden of stealth taxes and increases in VAT.
They want spending cuts across all spending areas, rather than targeted at waste etc. They pretend to want to create jobs because they know the public is demanding this but in reality they make no substantial investment available to achieve this. And anyway they believe that the private sector will create the jobs.
Sinn Féin differs from them in many ways but especially in that we do not focus on the deficit alone. We believe the deficit is the result of a crisis. Leaving the causes of that crisis untreated means the crisis won’t go away. One cause is a collapse in employment as a result of an economy being built on the back of unsustainable industry, in this case, property. Another is the collapse in the banking sector as a result of corruption and of right wing policies which refused to regulate the banks.
Republicans want to create jobs which in turn will increase the amount of tax going to the state, increase consumer spending (keeping businesses going) and lower social welfare spending. In the meantime, we want a change in the tax system to make it fairer, so we would target high earners, and we want spending waste trimmed.
We also believe that the state should stop paying billions of taxpayers money out to criminal banks.
But for now Fine Gael and Labour are locked into austerity policies. Why. Because they protect their class interests and the status quo.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Jobs Action Plan deeply flawed
At the start of the week the Taoiseach finally launched his ‘Jobs Action Plan’. Today this blog asked the Taoiseach to specify clearly the number of citizens he expects this plan will have taken off the live register by March, or June or September or by year’s end?
He couldn’t answer the question. Why? Because the Taoiseach’s ‘Plan’ contains no new money to create jobs, and no meaningful targets to judge it by or to aim for.
While I welcome the Governments renewed focus on the Jobs crisis and the Taoiseach’s decision to take personal responsibility for delivering on this plan, there is a serious flaw in the government’s approach to tackling the economic crisis and in particular the creation of jobs.
This is because the government is locked into an austerity programme that is about cutting jobs and funding from the public sector, and is driving down growth through stealth taxes.
Since the Government came to power a year ago there has been a consistent increase in the number of citizens on the live register in county Louth. In January this figure reached 17,775.
There has also been a slight increase in the number of under 25s on the live register in recent months.
This figure would have been much worse but for the 6,000 citizens, mainly young people, who are immigrating each month across the state, including from Louth.
Across the state there are 440,000 people on the Live Register. 200,000 people (an increase in 14.5% over the year) have been unemployed for a year or more.
Business insolvency has increased with over 1640 businesses going under in the last year. This an increase in 7% over the year. These companies leave behind €1.1 billion in debt.
The government’s response to this has been to cut, cut and cut. In 2009 Enterprise Ireland received €359.49 million. This year its budget has been reduced to €307.8 million - a reduction of 14.3% over four years.
In 2009 City and County Enterprise Boards received €21.67 million. This year they are set to receive €15 million - a reduction of 30% over four years.
The IDAs funding has been cut by €10 million from last years budget.
It should also be remembered that although Foreign Direct Investment is important, over 72% of our employment is in small and micro sized industries.
The total amount invested by the government in the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Enterprise Boards for this year will be less than half a billion euro.
In stark contrast next month the Anglo Irish Promissory note will cost the people of this state €3.1 billion.
This is the contradiction at the heart of the government’s approach to this jobs crisis. You cannot stick to austerity policies, which are further depressing the economy, pushing down growth and restricting its ability to stimulate the economy, while also claiming to have a meaningful policy to create jobs! It won’t work.
The government is also engaging in smoke and mirrors by producing job plans that it has launched before – some of them several times. For example, the government has again launched a Micro Finance Loan Fund. This is a much needed initiative but it has been announced now on four occasions and is still not operational after a year.
It is worth noting that the EU PROGRESS MICRO ENTERPRISE Fund has been running since June and Business can avail of up to €25k. The overall programme is worth €200million. This programme needs a sponsor in this state i.e. bank or the credit union sector. The Government has yet to put this in place.
The same approach has been taken by the government to the ‘Temporary Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme’. This too has now been announced four times and is still not operational.
What is needed is a different economic strategy which puts citizens first and invests in jobs and growth. In our pre-budget submission Sinn Féin set out a €3.5 billion package of new measures to close the deficit in 2012. In addition we have proposed a €7billion jobs stimulus package and a €596 million household stimulus package.
It focussed on job creation, on non-deflationary taxes for those who can afford them, on slashing public spending waste instead of frontline services, and on placing the needs of the Irish people above the needs of banks and bondholders.
This is a costed route by which the economy of this state can be put back on track without imposing hardship on low and middle income families.”
He couldn’t answer the question. Why? Because the Taoiseach’s ‘Plan’ contains no new money to create jobs, and no meaningful targets to judge it by or to aim for.
While I welcome the Governments renewed focus on the Jobs crisis and the Taoiseach’s decision to take personal responsibility for delivering on this plan, there is a serious flaw in the government’s approach to tackling the economic crisis and in particular the creation of jobs.
This is because the government is locked into an austerity programme that is about cutting jobs and funding from the public sector, and is driving down growth through stealth taxes.
Since the Government came to power a year ago there has been a consistent increase in the number of citizens on the live register in county Louth. In January this figure reached 17,775.
There has also been a slight increase in the number of under 25s on the live register in recent months.
This figure would have been much worse but for the 6,000 citizens, mainly young people, who are immigrating each month across the state, including from Louth.
Across the state there are 440,000 people on the Live Register. 200,000 people (an increase in 14.5% over the year) have been unemployed for a year or more.
Business insolvency has increased with over 1640 businesses going under in the last year. This an increase in 7% over the year. These companies leave behind €1.1 billion in debt.
The government’s response to this has been to cut, cut and cut. In 2009 Enterprise Ireland received €359.49 million. This year its budget has been reduced to €307.8 million - a reduction of 14.3% over four years.
In 2009 City and County Enterprise Boards received €21.67 million. This year they are set to receive €15 million - a reduction of 30% over four years.
The IDAs funding has been cut by €10 million from last years budget.
It should also be remembered that although Foreign Direct Investment is important, over 72% of our employment is in small and micro sized industries.
The total amount invested by the government in the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Enterprise Boards for this year will be less than half a billion euro.
In stark contrast next month the Anglo Irish Promissory note will cost the people of this state €3.1 billion.
This is the contradiction at the heart of the government’s approach to this jobs crisis. You cannot stick to austerity policies, which are further depressing the economy, pushing down growth and restricting its ability to stimulate the economy, while also claiming to have a meaningful policy to create jobs! It won’t work.
The government is also engaging in smoke and mirrors by producing job plans that it has launched before – some of them several times. For example, the government has again launched a Micro Finance Loan Fund. This is a much needed initiative but it has been announced now on four occasions and is still not operational after a year.
It is worth noting that the EU PROGRESS MICRO ENTERPRISE Fund has been running since June and Business can avail of up to €25k. The overall programme is worth €200million. This programme needs a sponsor in this state i.e. bank or the credit union sector. The Government has yet to put this in place.
The same approach has been taken by the government to the ‘Temporary Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme’. This too has now been announced four times and is still not operational.
What is needed is a different economic strategy which puts citizens first and invests in jobs and growth. In our pre-budget submission Sinn Féin set out a €3.5 billion package of new measures to close the deficit in 2012. In addition we have proposed a €7billion jobs stimulus package and a €596 million household stimulus package.
It focussed on job creation, on non-deflationary taxes for those who can afford them, on slashing public spending waste instead of frontline services, and on placing the needs of the Irish people above the needs of banks and bondholders.
This is a costed route by which the economy of this state can be put back on track without imposing hardship on low and middle income families.”
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Freedom is shaped by people
Last Friday was spent in the Boyne Valley Hotel in Drogheda where key leadership activists from all levels of Sinn Féin and from all parts of the island, Britain, and the USA came together to discuss the party’s strategy of building toward a united Ireland.
This blog had the honour of opening the day’s proceedings before several keynote speakers set out the multiplicity of tasks before us. Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald, Caral Ní Chuilin and Lucilita Bhreatnach who has the onerous task of leading our uniting Ireland project, were among those taking part in the workshops and discussions.
The ‘away day’ took place after a very successful conference in the Millennium Forum in Derry. Almost 1000 people, including a sizeable section of unionist opinion, attended that event. The Millennium conference was the sixth in a series that have attracted large numbers of people from every walk of life to capacity packed halls in Monaghan, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Newry and Derry.
Uniting Ireland is Sinn Féin’s key political objective. The Good Friday Agreement and the all-Ireland political institutions are an important step in this direction but more effort is needed.
Suffice to say there are many difficulties and challenges facing us but this blog believes there are also many, many opportunities.
Republicans need to have the confidence to rise to these challenges and to seize the opportunities to advance our cause.
We are republicans, we are socialist republicans. We want to see that type of society shaped on this island. We can’t get that until we get rid of partition. Partition has failed the people of Ireland, north and south, the unionists and the rest of us.
A new agreed Ireland based on the rights of citizens is needed. This is best achieved by unity through reconciliation. That means building on the progress that has been made toward uniting Ireland.
So, this isn’t just an emotional or patriotic or inspirational dream that we have. This is a very hardnosed realisable objective as part of that process of building a new republic.
It is worth going back to read Tone. Read Connolly and Pearse. Take a half an hour and read what Bobby Sands wrote about these big issues.
What they all had in common, and Connolly famously talked about the re-conquest of Ireland by the Irish people, is a recognition that we can’t free Ireland. An elite, a vanguard cannot free Ireland. Obviously there is work for a vanguard. The people who take the initiatives; who take the chances; who make the sacrifices; and who go on the offence, can create the political conditions for change.
But the only true freedom of people is when people shape that for themselves. So this is the big democratic phase of our struggle.
It’s also worth reminding ourselves that this isn’t 1798. This isn’t 1916. This isn’t 1981. So what did all these men and women have in common with us?
They took these core principles of republicanism and they modernised them and made them relevant to their own times. That’s what we have to do – we have to take the core values of our political ethos and make them relevant to our time.
That’s what Friday’s meeting was about.
The fact is Sinn Féin is still too small. Republicans therefore have to punch above our weight. We have to find ways to get the maximum effect, of making the maximum contribution, while at the same time we have to build capacity; build the party; educate; and recruit and fundraise. We have to build the necessary critical mass of activism to make a difference in a very positive way.
We also need cohesion. We need joined-up-ness. We need political integration across the island, from the national down to the local of all of our structures, our programmes of work and our agendas.
We also need to tap into the international good will. Sinn Féin and the broad republican struggle enjoy huge support, sympathy, affection and admiration from progressive people throughout the world, not least in our own diaspora, and it is not limited to our own diaspora. Wherever people struggle for freedom they know about Ireland.
As well as doing all these things we also need time to think. That’s what today’s about. It’s about arguing; it’s about debating; it’s about strategising; it’s about finding ways for us to integrate our uniting Ireland project into our daily work.
Wherever that work is the uniting Ireland objective and process must be part of it. This has to become as natural to us as breathing.
A new structure is in place within the party leadership to drive this project. So we will continue to come forward with initiatives, events, publications and so on but that has to be integrated into the party as well.
The key objective is to turn the broad emotional, in many cases passive, support for Irish unity, into core political commitment. It’s also to win over a section of unionist opinion and persuade them that Irish unity serves their interests better than partition.
So, Friday’s conference was about raising awareness about how the party integrates this big historic project into our work and to agree a consensus around a number of big things that we can do in the upcoming period.
It was a good days work but only the beginning. There will be other ‘away days’ as this process of integration and cohesion moves up a gear. If you are interested in joining this endeavour than join Sinn Féin and help complete the work of Tone and Emmet, of McCracken and Pearse and Connolly and Sands and Farrell.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Demand a referendum
In his television address on December 4th, just prior to the budget, the Taoiseach said:
“I want to be the Taoiseach who retrieves Ireland’s economic sovereignty, and who leads a Government that will help our country to succeed.”
Yet last Monday this same Taoiseach signed up to an austerity treaty that hands significant new powers over to the European Court of Justice and European Commission to impose economic policies on democratically elected governments and to impose heavy fines where they believe these policies have not been adhered to.
How can he claim to be for restoring sovereignty while giving away important Irish fiscal and budgetary powers to unelected bureaucrats, and at the same time refusing the people their right to vote on an issue that will significantly affect their lives for years to come?
The austerity treaty confers significant new powers on the European Commission and European Court of Justice to compel member states to alter their fiscal and budgetary policies or face significant fines.
The Treaty is anti-growth and anti-jobs.
If ratified, it will place an economic straight jacket on this state for decades.
Its debt and deficit limits are draconian and will mean decades of austerity imposed on a people crying out for investment in jobs and growth.
No one should be surprised by the Taoiseach’s support for the Treaty. He has long advocated cuts to public services and stealth taxes as the way of tackling the financial crisis.
In addition it is abundantly clear that fearful of the anger of the Irish people to this strategy the government negotiated a treaty text that would avoid the necessity to hold a referendum.
A high level EU official confirmed this in the Irish Times on Wednesday.
So too did the Tánaiste, speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs. He confirmed that government negotiators actively sought to weaken that text and to put in the words “preferably constitutional” in order to avoid the requirement to put this proposition before the people.
But rather than face up to this and tell the public the truth the Taoiseach and his colleagues are now passing the buck to a cabinet colleague – the Attorney General – to decide whether a referendum is necessary. They already know the answer. They negotiated a treaty text to avoid a referendum!!!
This is one time when TDs and Seanadóirí from the every party and none need to put the people above party self-interest and come out publicly to demand a referendum.
This blog believes that if it is ratified this austerity treaty will have a profound and adverse impact on the Irish economy and people for decades to come.
Thursday saw the Irish Central Bank downgrade the growth forecast for 2012 by 1.3%. This is the sixth downgrade of Irish growth forecasts for 2012.
Thursday’s figures represent a serious challenge to the government. The Minister for Finance is on the record in response to questions from Pearse Doherty that a 1% reduction in GDP as a rule would see a loss of €800 million in revenue from the state.
This may well force the government to introduce a mini budget to make more cuts.
It already plans to cut €8.6 Billion from the economy in the next three years to meet the Troika Deficit target of 3%. Monday’s austerity treaty demands that this be reduced to a 0.5% target. This is predicted to mean a further €6 billion in cuts and new taxes!!
What is needed is a strategy for jobs and growth through stimulus.
The summit noted that there are 23 million citizens unemployed across the EU but not one additional cent has been allocated to job creation.
But there are solutions.
Sinn Féin is for:
Investment in jobs and growth. We have a National Pensions Reserve Fund with €5.3 billion. Combine this to the resources of the European Investment Bank and utilise that to invest in various projects, for example, the roll-out of next generation broadband.
Cleanse the European Banking system of toxic debts through a new round of rigorous stress tests and deleveraging followed by recapitalisation where necessary funded by the European Central Bank.
There should be debt-restructuring agreements for over indebted economies involving debt-write-downs to assist them return to debt-sustainability. This would allow the state to end the €3.1 billion annual payment to Anglo which will cost the Irish taxpayers up to €76 billion before it concludes in 20 years.
Within existing EU treaty provisions the European Council must ensure that the European Central Bank takes all necessary action to stabilise sovereign bond interest rates and ensure market access for all member states.
On the day after the treaty was agreed the EU released its youth unemployment statistics. Nearly one third of young people in Ireland and almost half of Spanish young people out of work.
Thousands of young people have to leave the State every week to try to make a living elsewhere.
This austerity treaty will only make this dire situation worse.
Demand a referendum.
“I want to be the Taoiseach who retrieves Ireland’s economic sovereignty, and who leads a Government that will help our country to succeed.”
Yet last Monday this same Taoiseach signed up to an austerity treaty that hands significant new powers over to the European Court of Justice and European Commission to impose economic policies on democratically elected governments and to impose heavy fines where they believe these policies have not been adhered to.
How can he claim to be for restoring sovereignty while giving away important Irish fiscal and budgetary powers to unelected bureaucrats, and at the same time refusing the people their right to vote on an issue that will significantly affect their lives for years to come?
The austerity treaty confers significant new powers on the European Commission and European Court of Justice to compel member states to alter their fiscal and budgetary policies or face significant fines.
The Treaty is anti-growth and anti-jobs.
If ratified, it will place an economic straight jacket on this state for decades.
Its debt and deficit limits are draconian and will mean decades of austerity imposed on a people crying out for investment in jobs and growth.
No one should be surprised by the Taoiseach’s support for the Treaty. He has long advocated cuts to public services and stealth taxes as the way of tackling the financial crisis.
In addition it is abundantly clear that fearful of the anger of the Irish people to this strategy the government negotiated a treaty text that would avoid the necessity to hold a referendum.
A high level EU official confirmed this in the Irish Times on Wednesday.
So too did the Tánaiste, speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs. He confirmed that government negotiators actively sought to weaken that text and to put in the words “preferably constitutional” in order to avoid the requirement to put this proposition before the people.
But rather than face up to this and tell the public the truth the Taoiseach and his colleagues are now passing the buck to a cabinet colleague – the Attorney General – to decide whether a referendum is necessary. They already know the answer. They negotiated a treaty text to avoid a referendum!!!
This is one time when TDs and Seanadóirí from the every party and none need to put the people above party self-interest and come out publicly to demand a referendum.
This blog believes that if it is ratified this austerity treaty will have a profound and adverse impact on the Irish economy and people for decades to come.
Thursday saw the Irish Central Bank downgrade the growth forecast for 2012 by 1.3%. This is the sixth downgrade of Irish growth forecasts for 2012.
Thursday’s figures represent a serious challenge to the government. The Minister for Finance is on the record in response to questions from Pearse Doherty that a 1% reduction in GDP as a rule would see a loss of €800 million in revenue from the state.
This may well force the government to introduce a mini budget to make more cuts.
It already plans to cut €8.6 Billion from the economy in the next three years to meet the Troika Deficit target of 3%. Monday’s austerity treaty demands that this be reduced to a 0.5% target. This is predicted to mean a further €6 billion in cuts and new taxes!!
What is needed is a strategy for jobs and growth through stimulus.
The summit noted that there are 23 million citizens unemployed across the EU but not one additional cent has been allocated to job creation.
But there are solutions.
Sinn Féin is for:
Investment in jobs and growth. We have a National Pensions Reserve Fund with €5.3 billion. Combine this to the resources of the European Investment Bank and utilise that to invest in various projects, for example, the roll-out of next generation broadband.
Cleanse the European Banking system of toxic debts through a new round of rigorous stress tests and deleveraging followed by recapitalisation where necessary funded by the European Central Bank.
There should be debt-restructuring agreements for over indebted economies involving debt-write-downs to assist them return to debt-sustainability. This would allow the state to end the €3.1 billion annual payment to Anglo which will cost the Irish taxpayers up to €76 billion before it concludes in 20 years.
Within existing EU treaty provisions the European Council must ensure that the European Central Bank takes all necessary action to stabilise sovereign bond interest rates and ensure market access for all member states.
On the day after the treaty was agreed the EU released its youth unemployment statistics. Nearly one third of young people in Ireland and almost half of Spanish young people out of work.
Thousands of young people have to leave the State every week to try to make a living elsewhere.
This austerity treaty will only make this dire situation worse.
Demand a referendum.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Slán
Wee Harry was buried yesterday. Hundreds of his friends and comrades from all parts of the island and further afield came to pay their final respects to a good friend, a generous friend, a hero.
Martin McGuinness paid a wonderful tribute to Harry earlier in the day at the mass that was celebrated by Fr. Matt Wallace. Grainne Holland gave fine renditions in Irish and English.
Here’s some of what I said:
“This is St. Brigid’s day, the celtic day, the first day of spring. St. Brigid was a mighty woman and it’s very appropriate because Harry had a great grá for the women in his life, and for Irish women in struggle.
The big loss here is Kathy’s and I want to acknowledge her mother who is here as well. Harry called her granny. And other brothers and sisters of Kathy who are here also.
Harry’s immediate family; his brother Tony the Master, Seamus, John and Joe and his sister Lily.
And then Áine and Tommy and KC. And Máire and Kieran, Gabrielle and Harry óg; Ellen and Steve, Louise, Niall and Niamh with Colin, and Kieran eile with Mairead, and Aisling with the Wolf.
I knew Harry over 40 years and for those of you who were in the chapel Martin McGuinness spoke for me in all that he said; except that he said that I wasn’t a good singer and Harry actually thought I was a brilliant singer.
Harry was also Colette’s best friend.
That friendship was forged in the dark days after Kathleen Largey died. Harry was left with Áine and Máire, and Colette was there with Gearoid and the three of them were reared to a large extent together.
Everybody here has their own little story to tell about Harry. But in all the ins and outs, and ups and downs of our lives, as Martin said of his clann, and of my family’s life, our lives have been tied up with his.
A year or so after Kathleen’s death he went down to Galway. And what could a fella do. Her hair was blond and her eyes were blue; and that was it and along came five more.
Kathy must have the heart of a lioness. She didn’t know the north.
Belfast was a city under occupation at that time. Collusion was going full blast.
And even worse she had to take on Áine and Máire.
She did and she came to live among us.
And I have to say that in the last months she has been a rock, for Harry, for all of us and for her family.
She is one mighty woman.
Harry was born in 1944, which was less than 30 years after the 1916 Rising.
He was from Ballymacarrett and that stayed with him.
At the time of partition the people of that little community had been abandoned but they were such a resilient and versatile people.
The ‘master’ (his brother) taught him his trade.
He became a plumber and was active in the trade union movement.
Now this was the 60s. Belfast was a mean city.
Harry started to be influenced by members of the old communist party some of whom worked in the shipyard and was on May Day marches.
He joined the Army but always retained that sense of acute progressive social consciousness.
And the notion that all struggle is about people, particularly working people.
He also retained friends from amongst our protestant and unionist neighbours.
Through all the 30 years of conflict there would be someone in Harry’s house visiting from Sandy Row, or the lower Shankill or the Donegal Road or East Belfast.
He had a great gift for friendship.
One of the things he taught me is that friendship is greater than anything else; more important than anything else; transcends anything else. Is bigger than politics. Bigger than differences.
And he had a gift of giving that friendship to people and of connecting to people in a very quiet and unassuming way.
We were in jail together for a short time. And like many others there are lots of stories of our time behind the wire. But its too cold today to take you through those.
Harry travelled with me a wee bit in more recent times.
He bought me a big green coat when we were going to Downing Street so that we would look ok when we were meeting the Brits. He bought Martin McGuinness a big black coat.
And then when I was elected the TD for Louth he bought me this coat because he thought the other one was looking a bit threadbare.
He was generous to a fault.
He must have been the worst businessman in the world. Because he was always helping people. Very frequently when work needed to be done in the house, and I hope no one takes offences at this, he would engage recovering alcoholics, recovering gamblers and recovering republicans, with very limited skills to do plumbing and renovation and other repairs.
We went to Gaza most recently. It’s a brutal place. Worse than anything ever happened here in this city.
I can’t think of circumstances except in Cromwellian times here that people are being treated in Gaza City and the Gaza strip.
We stayed for a couple of days and we met dozens of groups and we were very well receuived.
And we had to go and meet the Prime Minister Ismail Haniy of Hamas and of course he was target for attack by the Israelis so we were taken away secretly to meet him.
And our delegraiton presented themselves. Ted Howell, Sinn Féin; Richard McAuley, Sinn Féin. And all the Palestinians looked over to Harry and he said I’m their military wing.
So, I’ll miss him a huge amount, and so will Colette, and so will Gearoid but of course as I said at the beginning the big loss is Kathy’s.
The girls - Harry had a special unique relationship with every one of these seven girls and also with the twin, and with Nicky.
It’s a sign of the man that he was able to do that.
We were walking, myself and Bill and Tangus and Brendan and Harry used togo for a walk on the Hill up here behind us and he couldn’t get a breath.
That’s how we knew he was sick.
A friend of mine who isn’t a republican but has a huge affection for Harry said he’ll get six months if he’s lucky and that’s when it hit me like a sledge hammer.
And Harry faced up to that. He could have his ups and downs. He could be a bit depressed in himself at different times but he was a star.
He was a hero.
He prepared everybody for what was coming.
And on Saturday last we had a big Uniting Ireland conference in Derry and Harry had wanted to go and of course he wasn’t well enough.
And I went up to see him before we went.
And when we were driving up I wrote this little verse:
Ar an slí go Doire
Daichead bliain i ndiaidh Domhnach na Fola
Níl Harry liom
Bhí sé ina luí i mBéal Feirste ar maidin
Ag caint faoi sean uaireanta liom
‘S é ag fanacht sa bhaile anois
Ag fanacht is ag fanacht
Agus muidinne ag dul trasna ag Kyber Pass go Dungiven
Sneachta ar na sléibhte
Agus an spéir liath le fearthainn
Is Ted ina chodladh, Tangus ciuin, is Bill ag tiomaint
Ar an slí go Doire
Gan Harry
Tá súil agam go mbeidh sé ann nuair a thiocfaidh muid arais arís
Daichead bliain i ndiaidh Domhnach na Fola
Harry died well.
We were all with him.
And he died bravely.
He also said to me – because he could be quite caustic at times – youse will not be too long behind me.
I hope he’s wrong about that.
To Kathy and especially to the girls and the gar paistí – your Daddy was great – your Daideo was brilliant – your husband was wonderful your brother was smashing.
Ní chifidh a leitheid an arís.
Slán Harry
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Ravensdale Residents reject septic tank legislation
Councillor Tomás Sharkey, Councillor Jim Loughran, mise agus Councillor Edel Corrigan
Monday night was cold. Then that could be said of most nights recently. But it was especially sharp in Ravensdale, in the Cooley Mountains, on the border between south and north.
Ravensdale is one of those idyllic places. It’s full of history and culture. A mix of mountain, forest, long walks and a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water. On the north by Carlingford Lough. To the east by the Irish Sea, and to the south by Dundalk Bay.
I have been in and out of it for decades and I never tire of driving or walking its roads and lanes.
And like many rural parts of the south many local residents depend on septic tanks to deal with sewage waste and are now facing additional costs and the possibility of significant bills for upgrading or replacing these systems.
This blog wrote about this issue a few weeks ago. I return to it briefly because on Monday night over 100 people braved the cold and packed into Ravensdale Community Centre for a public meeting on septic tanks organised by Sinn Féin.
It was an opportunity for the shinners to set out our efforts on this issue, listen to the views of those directly affected by the government’s legislation and to plan for future action.
Local councillor Jim Loughran opened the community centre, turned on the heating, helped set out the seats and then chaired the meeting. Councillors Edel Corrigan and Tómas Sharkey joined this blog on the platform.
The meeting lasted just over a hour. It was clear from the outset that people are angry.
Angry that the government is foisting another charge on families already faced with a host of other stealth taxes from the household charge to the universal social charge to VAT increases and more.
Angry that urban communities have seen billions of euro put into improving or constructing new waste water systems – which rural taxpayers helped pay for – while rural dwellers are expected to carry the financial burden on septic tank improvements.
Angry that the EU Waste Directive (75/442/EEC) regarding domestic wastewater disposed of via onsite wastewater treatment systems, was imposed in 1975 and despite Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and Labour all having been in power since then they did nothing about it.
Angry that the government, which was elected in part on a commitment to be more accountable, open and transparent, refused to listen to the concerns of rural dwellers, ignored the arguments and amendments put by the opposition parties and guillotined the Dáil debate and rushed through the Water Services legislation.
Everyone at Monday night’s meeting recognised the need to protect our environment, our water and the health and welfare of citizens. No one had any objection to registering septic tanks and inspecting and upgrading where necessary.
But to force rural households to bear the financial brunt of this when billions of public money was spent on urban systems and at a time when families are finding it difficult to make ends meet, was criticised by speakers as discriminatory and inequitable.
In my contribution to the conversation I explained that the government will publish in February the date for the commencement of a four week consultation period. Sinn Fein will make a submission to the consultation which will call on the government to:
• Provide clear standards to be applied to septic tanks.
• The need for a fully funded grants scheme.
• Withdraw the threat of criminalising rural communities.
It is very important that the government receive thousands, tens of thousands of submissions from groups and individuals. I asked those in Ravensdale to make submissions to the Consultation once the date and its remit is known and to encourage their relatives and friends and neighbours to do the same. Some said they would organise public meetings. They also agreed to lobby Fine Gael and Labour TDs, and the Minister for the Environment.
The legislation may have been passed but the campaign around the rights of rural dwellers and septic tank charges is far from over.
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