Archive for the ‘Ireland’ Category
Show Me The Money: Austerity Treaty – fact sheet from ULA Steering Committee member Eddie Conlon
Show Me The Money
The Yes side’s key argument is that if we don’t vote Yes, we will not be able to access ESM funds for a potential second bailout Therefore, they suggest, we will not be able to access any funds and the result will be a need to close the deficit gap in one year – hence more austerity.
They have been assisted by the media in turning this into the question of the debate, rather than debating the actual contents of the Austerity Treaty, the austerity it imposes, and the attack on democratic rights.
We need to be able to answer this question in such a way as to not turn it into the 18 billion euro question, and instead to turn the discussion back to austerity. When they say “show us the money” we should say “show us the cuts”.
The first thing we should say is:
- Seeking another bailout us an admission that government policy has failed. It is ludicrous of the government to tell us that we must take all of the pain associated with austerity so that we can get back to the markets and regain our sovereignty and at the same time tell us we must vote yes so that we can have another bailout and give up our sovereignty yet again. The need for another bailout is because austerity has failed. Therefore we need an alternative to austerity.
- A bailout will come at a cost. Firstly we are committed to providing €11b to the ESM if required. Secondly any money that comes from the fund will come with demands for more cuts, privatisation etc. As the Amendment to Art 136 says “The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism (ESM) will be made subject to strict conditionality”
But we should be clear that:
- The government has colluded in linking the treaty to the ESM
- It has a veto on the ESM.
- There are other sources of money if the government really wants them
- The EU has given commitment to further funding in the future perhaps for its own reasons.
- The government have colluded in linking the treaty to the ESM and is engaging in blackmail
The ESM Treaty was agreed unanimously at the European Council in February. Therefore the government did not oppose it. The government are presenting the link between the two treaties as an unfortunate reality. The link was not in the original ESM Treaty of July 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Clonmel Connolly Larkin and Labour Party
South Tipperary TD Seamus Healy Opposes Austerity Policy of today’s Labour Party – Revives Radical Tradition of Connolly and Larkin – 100 Years Ago they Proposed Labour Party Foundation in Clonmel.
Protest at Labour Commemoration, Clonmel Town Hall, Sunday May 27, 11.00am
The sole Labour Party representative on Clonmel Borough Council will unveil a plaque in the Town Hall at 12 mid-day next Sunday, May 27 to mark the centenary of the successful proposal of James Connolly and Jim Larkin to the Irish TUC AGM to form a 32-county All-Ireland Labour Party.
The Workers and Unemployed Action Group led by Seamus Healy TD is the largest party on the Council having 5 elected members on the 12 member Council. WUAG is an affiliate of the UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE.
WUAG takes the view that the austerity policy being imposed by the Labour Party in Government is the direct opposite of the policies advocated by Connolly and Larkin which led them to propose the formation of a Labour Party in 1912. This policy includes wage reductions (JLC BILL), cuts in child benefit…
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Syriza Member of Greek Parliament to Speak in Dublin on Thursday May 24 in Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey Street, 8pm – Supporting Campaign for a No Vote on the Austerity Treaty in the May 31 referendum
The Irish Government’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan explains the crisis in Greece by guessing how much feta cheese Irish people buy each week.
Let Them Eat Greek Cheese
Defending these comments he said :
I’m trying to stop contagion. It’s one of my jobs as finance minister to protect the Irish economy.
According to a well-researched article on politico.ie, Deputy Noonan has got that wrong too :
http://www.politico.ie/social-issues/8569-michael-noonan-there-he-goes-again.html
If you are in Dublin on May 24, come to the meeting addressed by the Syriza MP – we will publish more details as they become available.
International Viewpoint has published three contrasting articles called “What next for Greece?”
Campaign Against House Tax Conference Votes for Opposing the Austerity Treaty
A conference of the Campaign Against the Household and Water Tax (CAHWT) meeting on Saturday May 19 in the Red Cow Hotel decided for voting No to the Austerity Treaty in Ireland on May 31. Eight motions calling for a No Vote were discussed in the morning session chaired by Tommy McKearney. The mood of the conference is summed up in the Dublin South Motion :
Conference Agrees that nationally the CAHWT calls for a No Vote in the forthcoming Referendum on the Fiscal Treaty
A very large majority of the 250 people attending the conference supported the Vote No Policy. No counter-motions were proposed, but members of the anarchist Workers’ Solidarity Movement argued against the majority view.
http://nohouseholdtax.org/national-conference-may-19th-2/
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0520/breaking16.html
Austerity will send Greece to hell, warns Syriza Leader Alexis Tsipras
Austerity will send Greece to hell, warns Alexis Tsipras
A Guardian Article we recommend :
Emboldened by yet another poll showing his party’s wide appeal, the leftwing Syriza leader, Alexis Tsipras, said the international accord that Greece had signed up to in return for rescue loans was catastrophic for the country. Instead of a rescue, the debt-stricken nation has been thrown into its worst recession since the second world war.
“With this policy [bailout agreement] we are going directly to hell,” he told CNN. “To save Europe we need to change direction,” insisted the politician who has pledged to “tear up” the €130bn (£104bn) “memorandum of understanding” that Athens reached with the EU and IMF earlier this year.
The latest Opinion Poll Figures from Greece :
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_14/05/2012_441959 Read the rest of this entry »
50 per cent have not paid the house tax – latest figures
It is official – only 50 per cent of eligible victims have signed up to the house tax – many thanks to Nama Winelake for the story.
In advance of the referendum on 31st May, there appears to be a temporary lull in talk of austerity, at least talk by the Government. It almost feels like being back as a child at home when there are visitors, and you have committed some real or imagined transgression and you know as soon as the visitors leave, you’ll be in for a leathering. And the anxiety is that as soon as the referendum is out of the way on 31st May, we won’t be able to escape wall-to-wall coverage about household charges, septic tank registration fees, fines, prosecutions and the results of the expert group looking at charging structures for a new property tax in 2013 – the only certainty is the commitment with the IMF which states in the Memorandum of Understanding (page 83) there will be “an increase in property tax.”
But what about the household charge for…
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Tomás Ó Flatharta 