Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘United Left Alliance’ Category

The United Left Alliance in Dublin Central

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The United Left Alliance (ULA) has held a series of launch meetings since the February 25 General Election.

This is a report of the Dublin Central Gathering, held on Monday May 30 in the Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square.

About 34 people attended. 

The meeting was chaired by Eddie Conlon of the ULA A Steering Committee and the speakers were :

Joan Collins TD ULA/People Before Profit (PBP) Dublin South-Central.

Paul Murphy Member of the European Parliament (MEP) ULA/Socialist Party (SP) –

[Paul took over the seat vacated by Joe Higgins, who is now a TD for Dublin West]

Colm Stephens PBP/Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) Dublin Central.

Joan Collins opened the meeting with fresh news that an actor who shares the socialist TD’s name was recently hit by the property crash – Read the rest of this entry »

Eamon Gilmore – Are You telling the Truth, or Is that what you are telling the American Embassy?

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Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore, lord-lieutenant to King Kenny in the Dublin Government, is having a difficult time.

Did he have one policy in opposition, and is he following an opposite line in government?

Yes,  we will come to that – but first something completely different

Gene Kerrigan  reports on the Labour Party leader’s reaction to the defeat of the first Lisbon treaty referendum in 2008: Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 6, 2011 at 9:54 pm

Water Privatisation Protest – Croke Park Conference Centre, Tuesday May 31, 8.30am

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Water Privatisation is Coming – the five United Left Alliance TD’s have called a Protest at 8.30am, Tuesday May 31, Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin 1 – Primary Privateer is Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment

http://www.eventznet.com/evx/acs/iquest/watersummit11/Speakers.aspx

No to Water Tax! No to Meters! Keep Water Public!

Protest at during Minister’s speech at big business conference organised
to prepare for water meter installation – Supported by the United Left
Alliance
www.unitedleftalliance.org
For more info tel Michael @ 0872400331, Eddie @ 0876775468 or Sinéad @ 0877712160

This
week a senior engineer told Cork City Councillors that 60% of that
city’s water supply leaked out of the system. This situation is repeated
up and down the country to one degree or another.

However
instead of investing the resources needed to repair our water supply as
a matter of urgency this government is determined to press on with the
crazy strategy of installing water meters in homes that don’t already
have one. This is estimated to cost €600 million. The government
intends to fund this by introducing a flat rate ‘utility charge’ next
year and then once meters are installed to begin charging people based
on their use of water. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

May 29, 2011 at 8:19 pm

Alternative to Bank Bailouts And Cutbacks – United Left Alliance Public Meeting, May 30, Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square

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The Alternative to

Bank Bailouts

And Cutbacks

8.00pm, Monday May 30
Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

May 29, 2011 at 1:23 pm

United Left Alliance “A Work in Progress” – Steps Towards a New Party

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The Irish election returned five TDs for the United Left Alliance, with 2.8 per cent of the first preference votes. But this victory for the Left is only part of a bigger picture of political change, writes Brendan Young, in an article commissioned by Scottish Left Review. Republished here with kind permission of the author and SLR.

This article is also published on the Irish Left Review Site  :

United Left Alliance A Work In Progress – Steps Towards a New Party

Joe Higgins TD - Socialist Party and the United Left Alliance

Described as a sea change by commentators, the biggest shock of Ireland’s recent general election was the collapse of the vote of Fianna Fáil (FF), the State’s largest party; from 41.5 per cent in 2007 to just 17.4 per cent this time. FF has governed in Ireland for 61 out of the 79 years since it was formed in 1932 and has won 14 out of the 19 general elections. Yet it now has only one TD (member of parliament) in Dublin – down from 13. Its first preference vote in Dublin was only 12.5 per cent, whereas the United Left Alliance, on its first outing, got 7.1 per cent. What stands out is the loss of support for FF among working class voters – confirming what has already been happening in local elections. Read the rest of this entry »

English Queen and US President Obama Close the Phoenix Park

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A common argument in favour of the Obama and English Queen Visits to Dublin and other parts of Ireland is that tourism will be boosted :

Tourism Ireland Chief Niall Gibbons believes  “the visits of US President Barack Obama and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in May to yield a significant long term boost for the Irish tourism sector.”

http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/news/4tourism-chief-says-obama-queen-visits-will-boost-industry47/

Perhaps Mr Gibbons will comment on how the close down of Dublin City Centre for a week will affect tourism?

Horrendous Restrictions are planned : Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

May 13, 2011 at 8:42 am

Bernadette McAliskey Says Vote for People Before Profit in the May 5 Stormont Assembly Election

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Well Done Bernadette! :

http://www.eamonnmccann.com/1/post/2011/04/bernadette-mcaliskey-voting-for-people-before-profit.html

The former Mid-Ulster MP is also supporting Patricia Campbell And other independent left candidates :

http://www.facebook.com/people/Vote-Patricia-Campbell/100002194692882

A left unity strategy is happening in the six counties, as well as the twenty-six (let us hope the United Left Alliance continues to develop in a positive way after the February 25 result, when  five ULA TD’s won seats in the current Dáil).

Written by tomasoflatharta

Apr 25, 2011 at 10:22 pm

Labour Voters – How Cool Are They About Coalition With the Right?

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John Meehan has put together a statistical analysis of Labour Party lower preferences, where no other Labour candidate is in the contest (these are known as terminal transfers), and candidates from both the left and right are still in the race.

The table is at the end of this article.

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Healthy debate is developing on this blog and other Irish sites on the composition of the Labour Party’s electoral base.  The February 2011 General Election broke new ground in many ways, and we can learn a lot from detailed study of the numbers.

An interesting question is : how keen are Labour voters on coalition with the right?  How sympathetic are they to the arguments of left rivals that helping to elect Enda Kenny as taoiseach is a very bad idea? Read the rest of this entry »

The February 25 General Election changed something in Ireland

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The article below  – by John Meehan –

has been  published in the British Magazine Socialist Resistance :

http://socialistresistance.org/1775/70-votes-for-socialism

 

Writing in the North American online magazine Counterpunch Harry Browne zoned in on two key features on the Irish February 25 2011 General Election Result

 

 

Same Old at the Top – but Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

Same Old, Same Old at the Top, But – Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

The same old :

A Fine Gael / Labour coalition takes over the government after 14 years of Fianna Fáil rule. Since 1932, Fianna Fáil have been the governing party for 61 out of 79 years.  They have won 19 out of 25 General Elections. On the rare occasions Fine Gael dominated coalitions have come to power the smaller right-wing party never held on longer than one term in office.

That said, the scale of the 2011 Fianna Fáil defeat is without precedent Read the rest of this entry »

Should Irish Times ex-Trot Journalists Throw Stones in their Glass-House?

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This is a fascinating article about the far-left history of many new TD’s.

Left Lineages

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0304/1224291281717.html

where the talented author Patrick Smyth observes “Today the majority of them, now firmly in the bosom of Labour, have rejected revolution, embrace wholeheartedly its centrist social democratic values, and are politically indistinguishable from their Old Labour colleagues.”

Absolutely right.

Ex-comrade Patrick Smyth advises his current fellow-thinkers not to get too alarmed by the growth of the real fighting left “Although the ULA should work as an informal marriage of convenience, attempts to create a party out of its constituent elements may prove more difficult. Ideological purity on the hard left comes easier than the much-desired oxymoron that is “left unity”. Read the rest of this entry »