look left one

Gormley's new tax

Can you afford topay water charges?

published by the Workers Party

of Ireland

Progressive news and views

Inside:Exclusive news, interviews and opinions

SIPTU Leader JackO’Connor speaks out

Health - the class issue

BNP links to Irish pro-life

groups revealed

March - April €1

lookleft2_look left 16/03/2010 12:57 AM

Throughout Ireland work-

ers and the young are

under mounting pres-

sure. Economic mismanage-

ment sees the spectre of mass

long-term unemployment

return, while politicians force

the poor to pay for the criminal

activities of the rich. In the

south the answer of a specula-

tor elite is to begin openly call-

ing for another generation to

emigrate, in the north a ‘peace

process’ solidifies sectarian

division and the positions of

new tribal ward bosses.There is

only one answer to break the

cycle of corruption, communi-

ties must Look Left.

But the Left has been unpre-

pared. Where unity is needed,

there is division, where new

thinking is needed too often

there is an acceptance of failed

approaches. Instead of chal-

lenging the rightwing consen-

sus some too easily accepts its

confines.

A media that seeks to margin-

alise and ridicule progressive

politics while promoting the

staid rhetoric of the greedy has

played its part in Ireland’s polit-

ical malaise.

Published by the Workers’

Party, Look Left intends to play

its part countering these prob-

lems by providing a non-sectar-

ian platform for progressive

news, views and debate from

working class communities as

well as from a wide a range of

principled left-wing activists.

Divided we fall united we can

triumph.

If you have a news story,

struggle or opinion which needs

to be highlighted contact the

Look Left editorial team at

[email protected]

2

Communities across the Country arepreparing to meet the government head-on over plans to introduce watercharges.Families hard-hit by the recession willface new charges that could soar to over€1000 according to campaigners, whosay people can’t and won’t pay thisdouble-tax.The Department of the Environmenthave confirmed that they hope to rollout new “smart metres” to homes acrossthe country in the coming monthspaving the way for the charge to bebrought in as soon as next year.Environment Minister, John GormleyTD has stated that the Governmenthopes to squeeze €1 billion a year fromhouseholders with the charges.However the government have beenpromised that they will have a fight ontheir hands as left-activists call for acampaign of civil disobedience againstwhat they say is a “double tax”.In February, following an invitationfrom Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins,over 100 delegates from a broad rangeof community and political groupingsmet in the Teachers Club in Dublin.The packed meeting, which featuredrepresentatives from across the left, dis-cussed strategies learnt in the previousbin and water charges campaign as wellas issues around wealth and taxationpolicy in Ireland.Gregor Kerr, former secretary of theFederation of Anti-Water Charges Cam-paign explained that in the mid ‘90sthousands of people refused to pay thedouble tax and managed to beat it andhe believes this will happen again.“It will be a challenge to build anotherstrong campaign but the Governmentwill face serious opposition, Hopefully,communities will put their weightbehind this all across the city. People are

ready to take a stand.”Mr Kerr explained that in the previouscampaign of mass non-payment solidar-ity between communities in strugglewas the key to victory.Organised across Dublin, the campaignmade the charge unworkable and localauthorities were forced to back down.“Thousands of people simply refused topay,” he added.“We made it unmanageable and uncol-lectible. People were reconnected whenthey were cut off.“Neighbours would show up in court tosupport each other and legal challengeswere launched to prevent the courtsforcing people to pay.“That’s how we beat it and we’ll do itagain.Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynanhas highlighted the situation in Britainwhere after privatization water chargesincreased dramatically while the profitsof the water companies rocketed up to1000% in the space of a few years. Tynan highlighted the alarming numberof disconnections, which rose 177 percent, while 10,000 jobs were lost aswater companies sought to cut costseven further. “While it is accepted that this countryand the world will face moreand morewater shortages in the future, the fact isthat it is the management of water, notits availability, is the real crisis,” Tynanadded.“Advocates of privatisation ignore thefact that there have been years of under-investment in our water system and thatit has been deliberately run down to pre-pare it for privatisation.”Tynan added that the Workers Partyhave been opposing double taxationssuch as these for over 25 years, sincethey were first introduced by the FineGael/Labour coalition government.

”There is of course freedom of the pressin Ireland, if you own a press”Tomas Mac Goilla, 1988 Workers Party Ard Fheis

Water chargesBrian Whelan reports

Can you afford to pay this double tax?

News & Editorial

lookleftonline.org


3

Minister for Educa-tion Batt O'Ke-effe hascommitted to a

five-year programme to build 57new primary schools.

Of these new schools, 52 willbe directly Catholic Church-con-trolled, three will be run by theVocational Education Commit-tees and only two will be com-pletely independent of churchcontrol and under the patronageof Educate Together.

This highlights once again thestranglehold of the churches, pri-marily the Catholic Church, oneducation in Ireland.

There are 3,200 primaryschools in Ireland. Of these, theCatholic Church controls justover 3,000, the other churchescontrol over 100 more with amere 57 multi-denominationalEducate Together schools inoperation.

A majority of Irish schoolshave, by law, a Catholic ethos.The Catholic Church is presentlyhaving problems managing theirschools. They do not have suffi-cient clergy or members of reli-gious orders to be involved inBoards of Management orfundraising. Therefore, some ofthe cleverer bishops are nowtalking of “disengaging” from acertain proportion of their tradi-tional schools and handing overto new forms of patronage.

But as ever, the CatholicChurch is not playing straightwith the public. The churchwants to get rid of the job of run-ning some schools, but it stillwants to maintain control of theethos of the schools. That is whythe catholic Church will notsimply hand over control to Edu-cate Together which is a demo-cratic, non-sectarian body.

Instead the church, and itssponsors within the cabinet andDepartment of Education, havedecided to give control of certaingreenfield schools to the VECs.This is an area where the VECshave no expertise, no history,and no publicly-stated desire toinvolve themselves.

The church believes it can doin this decade in primary Educa-tion what it has done since the1970s in second level education– maintain control at arm'slength. In the 1970s, the churchgained a dominant position in thedeliberately-misnamed 'commu-nity colleges'. Now the churchbelieves it can get the VECs todo its bidding.

It is the position of the Work-ers' Party, and left progressivesgenerally, that the continuationof church-controlled educationleads to ignorance, fear and divi-sion in society. If we cannot edu-cate our children together, thenhow can we live together.

Greek protestors

take to the streets

to oppose new

austerity plan

March/2010

NewsChurch grasp on education must endMajority of republic’s schools have a catholic ethos, Mary Diskin writes

LEAKED BNP accounts show the party's

links to a pro-life Businessman from

Northern Ireland who it is believed virtu-

ally owns the fascist party.

Far-right watchdog, Searchlight, have

revealed that documents leaked to them

in recent months show the state of the

BNP's finances from 2007 until 2009.

According to the leaked accounts pro-life

activist Jim Dowson, who also runs the

BNP's Belfast call centre, is currently

bankrolling the party providing hundreds

of thousands in funding.

The spreadsheets reveal that during the

first 11 months of 2009 payments

totalling £334,261 were paid from the

BNP’s Bank of Scotland account to Jim

Dowson’s company Adlorries.com Ltd.

Dowson, who has links to the loyalist

murderer Michael Stone, became

involved with the BNP in 2007 and is

believed to have transformed their

fundraising capability and provided man-

agement training courses for party offi-

cers.

Dowson has a record of funding groups

opposing women’s right to chose forming

Precious Life Scotland, later UK Life-

League, in 1999 after meetings with the

ultra-right Youth Defence.

BNP Irish links revealed


From Jack O’Connor’s officewindow on the 15th floor ofLiberty Hall you can see

straight into the heart of the IFSC.A couple of hundred feet away

from the headquarters of Ireland’sbiggest trade union stands the phys-ical embodiment of Celtic Tiger Ire-land - a place the New York Timesonce labelled the ‘Wild west ofEuropean banking’.

Looking out from the SIPTUleader’s office across the rooftop ofthe Custom House, you can clearlymake out office workers going abouttheir day. It could be the front line ofa cold war, two monumental forcesof opposing ideologies engaged inone long stare-off. Except this isn’ta cold war, it’s a hot one for thefuture of Irish society.

Jack is late for our interview, he’sbeen attending meetings all day inSIPTU’s training college on theSouth Circular Road and it being thefirst fine day of spring, he hasdecided to walk back across town.

This leaves me alone to admire theview of our city and reminders onthe office walls of unions' past glo-ries. Among them is a poster featur-ing Jack London’s definition of astrike breaker: "After God had fin-ished the rattlesnake, the toad, andthe vampire, he had some awful sub-stance left with which he made ascab."

It’s a quote that stands firm to thisday, strikebreaking leaving a sourtaste in the mouth during somerecent disputes.

When we meet, it’s nearing theend of day 13 of the ‘Green Isle’hunger strike by TEEU members inO’Connor’s adopted home town of

Naas. A desperate situation whichO’Connor and his union are doingall they can to rectify, not least byhelping to clear the good names ofthe workers involved of the slursbeing thrown at them from sectionsof the media.

The power of the Irish media is alltoo evident when one thinks ofO’Connor and the trade union move-ment. A quick internet search revealsdozens of examples of commentaryon O’Connor’s beard alongsideclichéd remarks about the ‘dull,dour, red’ union leader who, if youwere to believe commentators in theSunday broadsheets, is as culpablefor the collapse of the free marketsystem and the current recession asa Lehman Brothers stock trader.

The aim of headlines such as‘Wacko Jacko’ has been to under-mine the trade union fightback.O’Connor yearns for objectivedebate.

On meeting him, you quicklyrealise that the media description ofO'Connor, who only Mary McAleesehas more votes than on this island, asdull and drab is far from correct.

In terms of stature, he may not bean imposing figure - but he has a dis-tinct presence. Banging the tablewhen he makes a point and neverfinishing a sentence without makingone, the table gets a lot of abuse.

Despite having left school at theage of 15, O’Connor is highly artic-ulate, in much the same way youimagine early school leavers such asConnolly and Larkin were. It’s whatsome like to dub ‘working classintellectualism’.

But he believes his early retire-ment from the education system puts

him at a disadvantage when debatinguniversity professors and qualifiedeconomists. He admitted: “If I hadgone on to third level, I think I wouldbe able to do a better job, I also thinkthe fact that I haven’t studied ortho-dox economics puts me at a disad-vantage.”

Having left school after his inter-cert, Jack gained employment in hor-ticulture in his native North CountyDublin. He was, by this age, alreadypolitically aware having beeninspired, like thousands of others, bythe worker and student uprisings ofthe late 1960s.

He recalled: “I was about 11 whenthe Parisian students and workersrose up in ’68. This was also aroundthe time of the Anti- War movementin America and the anti-apartheidstruggle, the Prague Spring and theCivil Rights marches in the North. Ican remember being excited by theseevents, I connected with them andfrom there, I began to read about rad-ical politics and radical ideas.”

“I can distinctly remember the1969 election here when Labourstood on a radical socialist policywith the infamous tag line ‘The '70’swill be Socialist’. That election alsocoincided with another event in mylife when my father, who was anagricultural labourer, became ill andcouldn’t work again, so we lived onwelfare. I don’t know what I wasreading at the time, but it certainlycorresponded with a view of theworld that I was forming."

With a socialist view developingat the age of 15, O’Connor decidedto get politically involved for thefirst time.

He said: “I had intended to join the

Bangingthe tablewhen hemakes apoint andnever finishinga sentencewithoutmakingone, thetable getsa lot ofabuse

Interview

Kevin Brannigan meets the country's leading trade unionist,

SIPTU General President Jack O'Connor, who relates how a

life dedicated to socialist politics has led him from youthful

Trotskyism to a belief that a untied Labour movement is the

only force that will bring progressive social change to

Ireland and how, along the way, he has become the right

wing media's number one hate figure.

4

Jack O’Connor


Connolly Youth Movement, I wasabout 16 and I came into town on aSaturday to make contact with them,the Connolly Youth used to sell apaper at the GPO every Saturday, butthey weren’t there that day. Insteadthere were people there selling apaper from one of the Trotskyitegroups so I joined them instead. Fromhere I found my way into the Trot-skyite movement and then later oninto Militant tendency.”

While O’Connor’s entry into theTrotskyite movement may have beenan accident, his first steps into theworld of trade unionism were moreevolutionary. He said: “I used to becriticised for not being active in atrade union. Even though I had beenreading Larkin and Connolly and hadwritten essays on the 1913 lockout, Ididn’t actually connect with the tradeunion movement as being an instru-ment for social change.”

But O'Connor's eyes were soonopened to the importance of tradeunionism and he became involvedwith the Federation of Rural Workers- a union which was founded by‘Young’ Jim Larkin in 1946 and bythe time of Jack joining, had a10,000-strong membership. By thetime he was 18, O’Connor wasorganising.

“The leadership of the FRW werein the conservative wing of theLabour Party. But they were deeplyappreciative of anyone who was will-ing to work. I became heavilyinvolved in trade union work. WhenI was 18, I got work on a pipe lineproject in North Dublin and I wasinstrumental, along with others, inorganising it into a union."

As O’Connor became moreimmersed in the world of tradeunionism, his involvement with Trot-skyism began to wane.

“I found myself drifting increas-ingly away from a Trotskyite analysisof the world and into the more main-stream Labour Party which I com-bined with my trade union work.

“I had by then started work as a binman. This meant I was finished workearly in the day leaving me with a lotof free time, others took on a secondjob but I used the time to get moreinvolved in trade union and politicalwork.” O’Connor became an officerof the Labour Party in the DublinNorth constituency.

These were O’Connor's formativeyears, the decisions he took were toshape the rest of his life and lead himup the lift shaft to floor 15 of LibertyHall. But having spent over 36 yearsinvolved in the Labour movement,how does he feel the two strands ofparty and union, which have domi-nated his adult life, interact and influ-

5

ence each other today?He said: “What we’re (the

trade unions) best at doing isarriving at the door of theLabour Party office the day afterthey enter government, with ashopping list and then criticisingthem when our wishes are notimplemented. If we’re seriousabout the values of the union wehave an obligation to highlightto the members the implicationson the way they vote, we’vealways shied away from that.”

For a man who sits on theLabour Party national executivecouncil, O’Connor’s analysis ofinter-party union relations paintsthe picture of an uneasy and attimes unwanted marriage. It alsoadds little credibility to the Pro-gressive Democrats' final elec-tion shout of ‘Do you want to beruled from Liberty Hall?’.

Jack’s tenure as General Pres-ident of SIPTU is now enteringits seventh year, during whichtime he has tried to turn theorganisation into an 'organisingunion' which would be morepro-active in pursuing workers'rights and social change. Headmits that he thought this taskwould have been easier, but hasmet resistance from within theunion as well as from outside it.

He has also presided over thedownfall of social partnership -a partnership that had lasted 21years but is now a year in theground. It was a period thatO’Connor believes saw benefitsto Irish workers, but damaged

trade unions, due to a failure toprevent the social partnershipprocess weakening the connec-tion with workers.

He said: “It damaged the tradeunion movement. It damagedthe way we were perceived anddamaged engagement at thelevel of the work place. We wentthrough a period of a generationof progress without participa-tion. It wasn’t social partnershipitself that inflicted that damage,but our failure as a movement toensure people's participationwithin the framework of socialpartnership.”

While the left here may lookon with envy at the level ofdirect action taken by workers inGreece and elsewhere againstthe implosion of the capitalistsystem, O’Connor believes thatin Ireland, which has nevervoted in a left of centre govern-ment, such action is some wayoff.

He said: “There is level ofclass consciousness in Franceand Greece that we just don’thave here. Irish trade unions arealso not that confident of main-taining a sustained mobilisationover a long period. Weembarked on a ballot on the 24thof February 2009 with a view toa campaign beginning at thestart of March and you couldsee support for that ebbing awayas the right, through its media,launched its attacks. As a move-ment, we had nothing to countertheir arguments - social partner-

ship had neutralised us.”Outside the window and I can

see the lights are out in theIFSC, while down below thestreets are full of workers, not inrevolt, but rather stuck in trafficon their slow crawl home. Jackhimself has missed two trainssitting talking to me. It’s time togo, but what have we learned?

Jack O’Connor - Dull? Drab?Wacko? Red? Nah... Well, per-haps the last one.

SIPTU GeneralPresident Jack

O’Connoraddresses

workers at aDublin rally,

picture byMichael Gallagher

The Annual Jim ConnellTrade Union Festival inthe village of Crossakiel,near Kells Co. Meath isagain set for the MayDay weekend. Startingon Saturday evening the1st of May with musicon both the Saturday andSunday nights in thelocal establishment, thehighpoint of the week-end is the commemora-tive march around thevillage followed byaddresses by leading fig-ures of the left.

Jim Connell Trade

Union Festival set for

Mayday weekend


Veteran socialist Seán Gar-land, 76, faces extraditionto the United States on the

basis of untested allegations com-piled by the US intelligence serv-ices during the government ofGeorge W. Bush.

They claim Garland conspiredwith the North Korean govern-ment in the late 1990s to under-mine the US economy bydistributing forged near-perfect$100 bills, so-called ‘Big headsuper dollars’.

This is despite a renowned cur-rency expert Klaus Bender statingthat the Asian country could notproduce such notes. Bender’sresearch shows the ink used, in thesample notes provided by the USintelligence services, and the paperthey are printed on, with microfi-bres marked ‘USA 100’, is onlyavailable to the American govern-ment. (Mystery of theSupernotes,2007).

At no time is Garland sup-posed to have handled these ‘superdollars’, the case against him isbased entirely on alleged contactswith a UK criminal gang. Amember of this gang Terence Sil-cock, 62, publicly claimed the USsecret service have attempted topressurise him into implicatingGarland in circulating forgednotes. (Sunday Mercury, August26, 2007).

Garland's supporters, amongthem many elected representa-tives, believe that the case againstthe Dubliner emerged from a blackpropaganda campaign by the Bushadministration.

Garland has devoted his adultlife to political activity. On NewYear’s Day 1957, aged 22, he led alegendary, but ill-fated, IRA attackon Brookeborough RUC station inwhich his young comrades SeánSouth and Fergal O’Hanlon died.

Since 1962, Garland, alongwith the late Tomás Mac Giollaand Cathal Goulding, sought to

transform the republican move-ment into a socialist political forcethat would unite Protestants andCatholics.

During the Northern Irish trou-bles, Garland was an outspokencritic of terrorism, from whicheverquarter it came from. As a leaderof the Workers' Party, he has beena relentless critic of US foreignpolicy.

On May 19 2005, a US grandjury court, based purely on infor-mation provided by the US intelli-gence services, issued a secretarrest warrant for Garland. Thisprocess was overseen by KennethL. Wainstein, then a US Govern-ment Attorney, later George W.Bush’s Homeland SecurityAdviser.

With the governments of TonyBlair and Bush having agreed in2003 a near-automatic right toextradition between their twostates, the US intelligence serviceswaited until Garland was visitingBelfast on October 7 2005 to acti-vate their arrest warrant.

Allowed return to the republicfor medical tests, Garland wasdiagnosed with bowel cancer. Heremained at his Navan home fortreatment.

In the last days of the Bushgovernment, the then US Secretaryof State Condoleezza Rice issued anew warrant. On January 30 2009,Gardai arrested Garland.

He is currently on £200,000bail, raised by supporters, had tosurrender the deeds of his familyhome, must carry a mobile phonewith him at all times so he can betracked and has to sign four days aweek at a Garda station.

Garland’s supporters believethat the source of the chargesagainst him make a fair trial in theUS impossible. They are callingon US President Barack Obama torecognise Garland’s contributionto peace and Irish society andwithdraw the threat of extradition.

Among the many prominent people and0rganisations calling for the threat of extra-dition to be removed from Sean Garland are:

Mick Finnegan (President of the The Workers' Party), Rev.Chris Hudson MBE (Chairman of the Stop the Extraditionof Sean Garland Campaign), The Executive Council of theIrish Congress of Trade Unions, Dublin City Council, TheParliamentary Labour Party, Sinn Fein Parliamentary Group- Northern Ireland Assembly, Dublin City Council, SouthDublin Co. Council, Cork City Council, Galway CountyCouncil, Kerry County Council, Gerry Adams MP (Presi-dent of Sinn Fein), Dawn Purvis MLA (Leader of the Pro-gressive Unionist Party), Bairbre de Brún MEP (Sinn Féin),Joe Higgins MEP (Socialist Party), Alan Kelly MEP(Labour), Seán Kelly MEP (Fine Gael) and former GAAPresident, Mary O’Rourke TD (Fianna Fail), Phil HoganTD (Fine Gael), Ruairi Quinn TD (Labour), Caoimhghín ÓCaoláin TD (Sinn Fein), Jack O'Connor (General President,SIPTU), Jimmy Kelly (Irish Secretary, UNITE), May MacGiolla (the wife of the late Tomas Mac Giolla), Pete Seeger(Folk Singer and US political activist), Tommy Sands (Folksinger), Bobbie Hanvey (Broadcaster), Dr. Kieran Allen(UCD sociologist). Numerous other trade unionists, socialand political activists. Surviving members of the IRAcolumn, led by Sean Garland, which attacked Brookebor-ough RUC Barracks on New Year's Day 1957: Pat ORegan, Michael Kelly, Sean Scott, Philip O'Donoghue, PatConnolly, Patrick Tierney, Michael O'Brien

Defend Sean GarlandA hangover from the discredited regime of George W Bush, an

elderly Irish political activist faces being dragged from his

homeland on dubious charges, Francis Donohoe Reports

6

Sean Garland pictured outside WP HQ in North Dublin

by Paula Geraghty

seangarland.org


It is July 2005 and I am sit-ting in the shade on a smallfarm in rural Colombia. The

sun is beating down relentlesslyand the local Colombians aretalking about capitalism, neo-lib-eralism and imperialism - and thedevastation that these policies arehaving on their daily lives.

They tell us how the US andEuropean Union are pursuingpolicies in Colombia to encour-age small farmers to switch tocash crops. This policy in turndrives people off the landbecause when the market col-lapses on African Palm for exam-ple, the farmer is left withsomething they cannot eat. So thechoice is sell up and move to ashanty town on the outskirts ofthe nearest city or starve on thefarm. I am taken aback at theabsolute political clarity of theseColombian farmers.

Over a few weeks in Colombia,I met hundreds of people from allwalks of life: mothers whosesons had been kidnapped and dis-appeared by the paramilitaries,Coca Cola workers under threatfor joining a union, small farmersfearing loss of their land andindigenous people whose ances-tral home lies in the way of a gaspipeline. They all point the fingerin the same direction: UncleSam and his vicious capitalism.They know what is to blame.They call it capitalism.

It is Ireland and its 2010 and Iam sitting in a pub talking poli-tics with people on the broad left.More often than not nowadays, Ifind myself having a row aboutsomething like water charges. Ifind myself arguing that theintroduction of a water tax wouldbe a regressive step which wouldmake people on low to middleincomes contribute even more intax. At the same time, those withthe most and on high incomeswould contribute much less. Iexplain that water tax is a flat tax– an additional €500 in tax to afamily with an income of€20,000 is a harsh blow – tosomeone on €200,000 a year, it'sa drop in the ocean.

In response, I'm usually toldthat water charges would begood for the environment andwould help conserve water. Itdoesn’t seem to matter that in theUK, which has water charges,average household water con-sumption is higher than in Ire-land. Nor does it seem to matterthat the best way to conservewater is to modernise our infra-structure to reduce leakages andcreate much-needed jobs. Andhow about conserving water atno cost at all to the taxpayer byupdating our building regulationsto ensure measures such as dualuse flushes in toilets or rainwater harvesting?

Time after time, the argumentsof the establishment and the rightare repeated to me with convic-tion by members of the broadleft. The clarity of analysis Iheard in Colombia is missing.No one mentions capitalism as asource of the problems we face.No one mentions class.

The politics of the right andcapitalism have been exposed asnever before over the last yearand a half in Ireland. The bankshave been guaranteed, bailed outand rescued. The governmenthas implemented pay cuts in thepublic sector, not once but twicein less than 12 months. Cuts insocial welfare have been accom-panied by closures of vital com-munity development projects anddrugs rehabilitation schemes. Atthe same time, the great gas andoil give-away of €420billion to

multinational corporations con-tinues. And yet on the broad left,there is a gaping deficit ofdebate, alternative analysis andclarity.

The last year has exposed notjust capitalism but also a rot onthe Irish left over the last 20years. The gradual withdrawalfrom educational work, fromanalysis and class politics has ledus to where we are today. Witheverything that has happened inthe last 18 months, we should bein a position to strongly chal-lenge the right wing consensus.Capitalism is revealed on a dailybasis in people’s everyday livesas a failed system - in the dolequeues, in the re-possessedhomes, in the growing emigra-tion. Yet the response from theleaders of the left has been toactually endorse the govern-ment’s agenda of €4billion incuts and further economic con-traction.

There is, in my view, no exter-nal factor that justifies the lackof clarity and analysis on the left.Left co-operation is a must toensure that we can challenge theconsensus and offer an alterna-tive. The starting point for suchco-operation should be opposi-tion to the introduction of watertaxes and the agenda of cuts inwages and public services andinstead supporting a stimulus ofinvestment in education, publictransport, health and infrastruc-ture funded through re-nationali-sation of our oil and gas fields.

The politics of the right and capitalism

have been exposed as never before

7

ForumLabour Councillor,Cian O’Callaghan

writes on the need for clarity, co-operation and

analysis on the left

seangarland.org


Sean Garland remembers his life-long comrade Tomas Mac Giolla

Giant of the leftBrón ar an bás - sé dubh mocroise (grief on the death, it

has blackened my heart) theopening lines of PadraigMacPiarais’s poem, BeanSléibhe Ag Caoineadh AMic conveys the feelingsone experienced on hearingof the death of Tomás Mac-Giolla. And despite the passing oftime it will be many a longday before we forget TomásMacGiolla and his uniqueand lasting contribution toour Party and society. For over 60 years Tomáswas active in politics,always seeking and develop-ing new ways to achieve hisand our objective of aRepublic. When he became Presidentof Sinn Féin in 1962 he,along with his close friendand comrade Cathal Gould-ing, undertook the mammothtask of rebuilding the repub-lican movement not as anarrow nationalist organisa-tion but as a socialist repub-lican party committed tobringing about change inIrish society in which allIrish men and women wouldbe equal and all would liveand work together as Toneand Connolly envisaged. In his many speeches downthe years, most especially atthe Party’s Ard Fheis, Tomáswould spell out to membersthe current political analysisand the activities the Partywould have to engage in tomake the Party relevant anda power in the country.Because of his integrity andhis total commitment mem-bers always took on boardTomás MacGiolla’s viewsand the road he sought todirect the Party. I recall a visit to Moscow in1973 to the Congress of

World Peace when Tomásdelivered a major speech tothe delegates. He raised theissue of sectarianism whichhe equated with racism andof the need for people torecognise this fact and tocombat the effects of sectari-anism. He emphasised thathe thought sectarianism wasnot just an Irish problem butan international issue citingIndia, Cyprus and Lebanonas examples where imperial-ism had left a legacy of adivided society filled withhate by one section foranother.

In all the speeches that hegave and articles that hewrote a number have made alasting impact. In the veryearly seventies one of hismost important articles was‘The IRA Speaks’. In it hereiterated what the IRA (Offi-cial) stood for and howimportant it was to have theirpolitical aims and objectivesclearly stated and of howthese were to be achieved.This article, along with otherfactors, played a major role inbringing about the OfficialIRA Ceasefire of 1972. Tomás MacGiolla’s speech atCarrickmore, Co. Tyrone inJuly 1972 is widely regardedas one of his most important. In an epilogue to Carrick-more speech delivered in2000, Tomás made the pointin relation to the period in1972 and I quote “The prizeis freedom. Oppression is theenemy. Our weapon is thepeople through the Party.”And again he returns to theobjective of a RevolutionaryParty. “The objective of theWorkers’ Party is freedom –freedom from oppression. Toachieve that we need demo-cratic control of the means ofproduction, distribution and

exchange. Economic free-dom must guarantee the rightof an individual to be freefrom want; we must thenguarantee the right of freeexpression, social and cul-tural freedom and the right tofulfilment in people’s lives.This means lifting a wholeseries of lids of oppression.It is for this we have beendrawing on the great sourcesof thought and vision andaction at home and world-wide in Tom Paine, Tone,Davis, Marx, Davitt, Con-nolly, Mellowes, Frank Ryanand Billy McMillen, to helpus forge our ideology andorganise our Party. With themwe hungered to right wrongs,we engaged in struggle, someof our comrades died, all forthat vision of true freedom”. After the betrayal of the Partyin 1992 by the group stylingitself as Democratic Left,Tomás played a crucial rolein maintaining the integrityand organisational principlesof the Party. In a majorspeech to Party members inMay 1992 Tomás made itclear what the motivation andthe aims of those who plottedthe destruction of The Work-ers’ Party were. He stated:“Our socialism grew fromstruggle and practice and thetheory came later. It wasn’tuntil 1983 when we alreadyhad some electoral successthat we established friendlyrelations with the CPSU. Bythen the Workers’ Party wasalready in full flower as thefinest political organisation ofthe working class that hadever existed here. We didn’tneed the Soviet Union as aprop for the Workers’ Party.Rather we were showingthem solidarity as, despite theobvious corruption from theBreznev era we saw them as

’


Giant of the left

9

the only international bulwarkagainst naked US aggressionand exploitation of the ThirdWorld. The collapse of commu-nism in Eastern Europe wastherefore quite traumatic for usin the international sense. But ithad less impact on the Workers’Party organisation and member-ship than many commentatorsthought because there was nochange in the economic andsocial conditions which led tothe building of the Party and ofcourse our foundations werefirmly rooted here! The major-ity of members saw that theneed for the party was as great ifnot greater than ever thoughthey did not recognise that thelanguage of socialism mustchange, our methodology mustbe reviewed and also our rela-tionship with other organisationsat home and abroad. Howeverthe principles, direction andobjectives of the Party were notfor change. If they were tochange them we would nolonger be The Workers’ Party. But that is precisely what somemembers of the Party wanted todo. They wanted a new party ofthe centre, with acceptableestablishment politics, with no“baggage of the past”, that is nohistorical roots. They obviouslybelieve we have reached “the

end of history”. Their purposehas less to do with the collapseof communism than with theirown personal ambitions born outof the electoral successes of1989. If there is some political contentin the decision of the Demo-cratic Left Party to start a newparty I would like to hear it.There is so little space for themthey are already standing oneach others toes. Without theanchor of some political princi-ple or objective every issue isopen to debate amongst them-selves with decisions made onthe basis of Proinsias DeRossa’s democratic principlewhich is “if you don’t agreewith me you are an undemocra-tic Stalinist”. I know you are all looking foranswers as to what happened inthe Party and why it happenedand how we can ensure itdoesn’t happen again. I amafraid I can’t help you with allthe answers. But I can tell younow that it would be very diffi-cult to take measures to preventit. Some people have describedit as a “coup” against the partyand its membership. There wasof course evidence for sometime of plotters and connivers inthe Party we were satisfied tocontinue working with these

people in the knowledge that theleadership and membershipwere quite competent to dealwith any plots which mightemerge. But when the Presidentof the Party betrayed the trustgiven to him by the membersand, together with the newlyappointed General Secretary,joins the plotters, holds secretmeetings around the country andcoldly and deliberately plans thebreakup of The Workers’ Party,there is little one can do exceptrely on the integrity of the mem-bers of the Party. This is whatwe did. We told no lies, madeup no stories, exerted no pres-sures on members and stole nomoney. But our trust was wellrepaid. We have clearly retainedthe members with the mostcommitment, those with thegreatest integrity, those who areprepared to struggle for theirclass without hope of personalgain, those with both passionand compassion, the young withgreat idealism and older peoplewith great hope for the future.The greatest assets of the Work-ers’ Party with the public havebeen its commitment and itsintegrity – its refusal to bowunder pressures and attacks.Our members now can ensurethat those assets are undimin-ished. The Workers’ Party did

not bow under any pressure and didnot betray anyone’s trust. Thosemembers who did had to leave theparty to do so. The trauma and the hurt, both politi-cally and personally for me and forall members of the party has nowbeen overcome and is already part ofour history. But the work of rebuild-ing the party proceeds apace. Awhole leadership and middle leader-ship must be replaced by youngerpeople and new candidates selectedfor local and national elections”. In looking back over the life ofTomás MacGiolla, as a Dublin CityCouncillor, Member of Dáil for tenyears 1982-1992 as Lord Mayor ofDublin 1993-1994 and most espe-cially as a member, leader, guide andteacher over many decades, we alsorecall his courage and commitmentin the struggle for peace and aSocialist Republic; his great patienceand generosity. He never shirkedany challenge and he was alwaysavailable to Party members and con-stituents to advise and assist in solv-ing any problems. To his lifelong comrade, friend andwife May we extend our deepestsympathy on her and indeed ourgreat loss. If we are to honour andrespect the life and memory ofTomás MacGiolla we can best dothis by joining in the struggle tobuild a society where the many arenot exploited by the few. A humorous man who loved his pipeand a jar with friends and when hehad a few jars you could expect toget Paul Robeson’s great song Ol’Man River, as we write these words Ican hear him now singing;

“O' man river, Dat ol' man river,

He mus'know sumpin', But don't say

nuthin', He jes' keeps rollin', He keeps on

rollin' along.”

Tomas pictured with Sean Garlandin May of 2008

Giving the oration over Tomas’scoffin, Dessie O’Hagan, watchingon is May MacGiollaFebruary 2010


10

A tale of two

Struggle

Revelations about the goings-on at Tallaght Hospital have once again laid bare the reality ofIreland’s two-tier health system, where lowerearning members of the working class must taketheir chances in an underfunded, demoralisedpublic system, while those with private insuranceare fast-tracked.

It will be early May till thebacklog of 58,000 x-rays thatlay unchecked by a qualifiedradiologist, as well as thou-sands of GP referral letters

lying unopened at Tallaght hospital,have been gone through. The failureto check these x-rays and letters in atimely fashion may already have costone life.

The health authorities, headed by ajet-setting Minister, Mary Harney,refuse to disclose how many of the X-rays and letters concern publicpatients and how many were private.This information remains undisclosedbecause more than likely the vastmajority, if not all of them, werepublic.

Once again, as with cancer treat-ment scandals to failures in childcare,we are faced with overwhelming evi-dence of a two tier health systemwhere the only reliable way of beingtreated is by having private insurance.

Although these health debacles costlives the sad fact is these scandals arenot the result of problems in theDepartment of Health or HSE’s plansbut merely the largely unavoidableworking out of a strategy of dividingcare between public and private.

The only logical explanations forthe policies pursued by Harney, in hersix years dismantling an already dys-functional heath service from within,are a slavish adherence to the promo-tion of the interests of the privatehealth care providers.

From the onset in 2004, even in a

country supposedly awash withmoney, Harney refused to providemuch needed new hospital beds.Instead she set about handing overstate lands to private health consor-tiums, made up of our native devel-oper elite backed by US healthmultinationals, to build so-called “co-located” fully private hospitals.

Profit rather than care would drivethe health system according to theperverted logic of the PD/Fianna Failgovernment, that these co-locatedhospitals never materialised, and bedshortages continue, matters not.

‘Competition’ was the buzz wordused to excuse our sick and elderlywaiting days on trolleys in dilapidatedhospitals. Rather than implement thetype of health policies tried and testedacross Europe Harney made it herbusiness to jet around the world seek-ing to whip up business for privatehealth multinationals. Her formerIBEC and FAS boss husband BrainGeoghegan more often than not intow.

No doubt these for-profit medicalbusinesses were assured of a steadyflow of people escaping an under-mined public health system. Thosesuffering for Harney’s failed ideologi-cal experiment were not her familyand neighbours but the commonpeople of Ireland – not her sort ofpeople.

It was only possible for Harney toimplement her plans because ofclearly existing class divisions withinwhat passes for our republic’s health

system. Irish hospitals consultants on average

‘earn’ nearly three times the wage ofsimilarly qualified professionals oper-ating within the British National HealthService. In 2008 a new public consul-tant’s contract was negotiated with theIrish Medical Organisation which guar-antees a minimum wage of approxi-mately €220,000 paid by the state.

This is only for public work andallows consultants to continue to spendaround a third of their time earningmore money through private consul-tancy. It is simply not sustainable thathospital consultants in the south arepaid a minimum of €220,000 a yearwhile across the border the sameperson would earn £75,000 (€82,600).

But these huge sums from the publicpurse are not enough for the southernconsultant class. The most recent fig-ures from the HSE indicate that thevast majority take more time with theirprivate patients than their €220,000contract allows. The result of breakingtheir legal pledge to the public healthcare system, at most a warning letter.

Unlike other countries which havedeveloped a functioning free educationsystem Irish doctors have continued tobe in the main drawn from the narrowranks of the middle class, many look-ing upon the treatment of others not asa vocation but a family business to sup-port lifestyles well in excess of similarprofessionals in other European coun-tries.

This professional class have zeal-ously defended their earning powerboth now and in the past, such as whenin alliance with the Catholic Churchthey defeated an attempt by Clann naPoblachta Health Minister Dr NoelBrowne to introduce universal care fornew born children and mothers in the1950s. Few break ranks amongst themedical elite but one, Dr Ciara Kellywriting about the Tallaght Hospitalscandal recently wrote; “outsidenormal office hours our hospitals arestaffed mostly by junior doctors intraining — often poorly supervised and

A protesting mother sends

a message to Harney during

a recent protest at Crumlin

children’s hospital pic by Michael Gallagher

In the last decade twenty children have died in the care of the HSE

Health systemsFrancis Donohue


11

lacking in experience. There is a tacit availability of consultants, who can be called

into work at night in emergency cases, but they are not on handto routinely review patient care. The main reason they’re notthere is an issue of cost. In our health service, it costs approxi-mately €1 million to pay the annual salaries of four hospital con-sultants. With respect to the generally excellent job they do,that’s not great value. In the UK for example €1 million will payfor the services of approximately 12 hospital consultants.”

In other areas of health provision class divisions are also clear.In the last decade twenty children have died in the care of theHSE. It has emerged that reports into their deaths were to beallowed lie gathering dust rather than be made public. Would thisbe the case if these children were from families based in Foxrockor Montenotte?

The number of children that were meant to be in the care of theHSE from ethnic minority backgrounds now missing is meas-ured in the scores. It is time these issues were tackled — thisprocess must start with an independent inquiry into the TallaghtHospital debacle.

A protesting mother sends

a message to Harney during

a recent protest at Crumlin

children’s hospital pic by Michael Gallagher

The campaign against Shell’sinland refinery and high-pressuregas pipeline near Rossport in CoMayo has seen a small rural com-munity thrown into the frontlineof those supporting responsibleeconomic development versusmultinational exploitation.

February of this year saw yetanother of the local campaign’sleaders imprisoned with fisher-man Pat O’Donnell sentenced toseven months on the relativelyminor charges of “breach of thepeace” and "obstructing aGarda". Dozens of others havealso come before the courts inrecent months for opposing theShell project and many havereceived fines, driving bans orshorter custodial sentences.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Ter-ence Conway, a local farmer,said, ‘The sentences are totally

disproportionate to any allegedlaw-breaking. Pat O'Donnell hasbeen a constant thorn in Shell'sside as he has refused to bebought off, and has upheld hislegal and traditional right to fishin Broadhaven Bay.”

The recent jailings are justanother sad chapter in an overdecade long struggle which hasseen the creeping criminalizationof a proud community in theinterests of profit. However as inthe past the heavy handed estab-lishment approach has back firedby reinvigorating the commu-nity’s support for the Shell to Seacampaign.

Gas was discovered in theCorrib field, 80km west of CoMayo, in 1996. An experimental,cost-saving method for bringingthis gas ashore was proposed:instead of processing gas at sea,

as is standard practice world-wide, the plan was to lay anextremely high-pressure pipelineto carry raw, odourless gasthrough the community of Ross-port to an inland refinery.

This would save Shell hundredsof millions in costs while placinglocal homes within a 200 metre‘kill zone’ in the case of a cata-strophic pipe line explosion.

Last June Pat O’Donnell’s fish-ing boat was sunk in mysteriouscircumstances just days before anoff shore pipe-laying stage of theproject was to begin. DespiteO’Donnell and his crew’s state-ments that armed men boardedthe vessel and scuttled it noarrests have been made. Themen’s call for an independentinvestigation has also fell on deafears.

In the following weeks 300Gardai were deployed, alongside200 IRMS private security staff,2 Irish Navy gunboats and an AirForce plane, to suppress resist-ance to the pipe-laying.

Last November, An BordPleanála vindicated the stance ofthe local community when itfound that up to half of Shell'sproposed onshore pipeline routewas ‘unacceptable’ on safetygrounds.

Campaigning has intensifiedfollowing the jailing of PatO'Donnell. Protests have takenplace across the country in sup-port of Pat and his family andlocal Shell to Sea groups havestepped up their campaigns withdistribution of 120,000 copies ofa leaflet titled 'Someday Inde-pendent’, describing the back-ground to the campaign.

No PasaranDespite an establishment and media onslaught a Mayo community stillstands in the way of Shell’s Corrib Gas pipeline, writes Caoimhe Kerins

Francis Donohue


12

On March 4 at the Green Islefood plant in Kildare, animportant victory was won in

the struggle to halt employers' groupIBEC's strategy of undermining work-ers' rights.After independent mediation, GreenIsle agreed to pay compensation tothree workers who had been summar-ily sacked last summer.This brought to an end a hunger strikeby one of the dismissed workers, JohnRecto, and two of his colleagues,TEEU shop steward Jim Wyse, whohad been surviving on water and saltfor 15 days, and former Offaly foot-baller John Guinan.A hunger strike is one of the mostpotent - and controversial - tactics thatcan be undertaken in any political orindustrial dispute, but was onlyembarked on after the company hadrefused to engage with the workers forsix months.It followed a company slur campaignagainst the workers, aided and abettedby a compliant Tony O'Reilly media.The company's allegations had beendismissed by the Labour Court whohad ruled last year that the men shouldbe awarded €180,000 in compensationif they were not reinstated.Workers' Party President MickFinnegan said: “This strike was ofvital importance not only to Green Isleworkers and their families, but forevery private sector worker in thiscountry. Green Isle Foods, their parentcompany Northern Food Plc (a UK-based food conglomerate) and IBECattempted to bulldoze their way to vic-tory. They attempted to trample allover workers who join a union, theunion itself, as well as the entire stateapparatus of industrial relations.”"The company also descended to the

most base level of black propagandaagainst the striking workers. Despitethis, the company was forced back tothe table to negotiate a deal which wasunanimously accepted by the work-ers.”A confidentiality clause accepted byboth the company and workers meansthat the details of the deal cannot bedisclosed.

Francis Donohoereports on the Green Isle hunger strike

Struggle

As a very basic priority the Irish constitutionmust enshrine the rights set out in the UnitedNations Charter on the Rights of the Child(UNCRC) adopted over 30 years ago.The UNCRC vision is that children, as chil-dren, have rights and that these rights neitherderive from, nor are subsidiary to, the rights ofthe parents/ family unit..Workers Party’s spokesman Andrew McGuin-ness said; “We believe that the three guidingprinciples as set out in the UNCRC should beincorporated within the Irish constitution.These principles are: Non-discrimination (Art.2), Best interests of the child (Art. 3) and Rightto be heard (Art 12)”.

“For the last 90 years the irish state has givenall the rights to “the family” and no rights tothe child. It is this denial of rights that has con-tributed to the widespread abuse of children.”The Workers Party has welcomed the recentpublication of proposals from the All PartyOireachtas Committee on Children. Howeverthe proposals as set out in the Oireachtas reportare not sufficient and must be expanded.McGuinness added; “We hope that all progres-sive groups, and all groups concerned with thewelfare of children and the development of ahealthy society come together to ensure thatwhen a referendum comes before the people itis one that is fit for purpose.”

A report into the cronyism that blightedthe work of the Dublin DocklandDevelopment Authority is being with-held from the public by Green leaderJohn Gormley in an attempt to cover upfor widespread Fianna Fail aided cor-ruption.The report carried out by current

DDDA boss Niamh Brennan is believedto partially reveal the links between theBoard of the DDDA, Anglo Irish Bankand a number of Fianna Fail connecteddevelopers in failed property specula-tion projects which are likely to cost thestate billions of euros and leave muchof the Dublin docks a half build waste-land.The report has been in the possession

of Minister for the Environment Gorm-ley for some time. He has so far refusedto publish it, he and other governmentministers are now claiming that theyawait the attorney Generals advicebefore publication, this means that ifand when it is published it will have somany blanked out passages that it islikely to be unintelligible.Brennan, the wife of former PD leader,

Michael McDowell, was instructed tocarry out an “independent report”.However some local residents havecomplained that there was no attempt toascertain information from them ormeasure the adverse social impact of thefailed schemes. It is also questionablewhether the report’s remit even allowedfor a proper analysis of governmentmembers role in the DDDA debacle.DDDA now has a deficit of at least

€230m which will be made up by thetaxpayer. This arises in part from thepurchase of the Glass Bottle site, whichthe DDDA claims is now worth €50m.However looking at figures comingbefore the Commercial Court in othermatters it would seem that if the DDDAwas to offload this site they would haveto pay someone to take it as the costs ofclean up due to methane gas contamina-tion would be enormous. In order toacquire this site the DDDA borrowingpower was extended by Brian Cowen asMinister for Finance.He also authorized the DDDA to guar-

antee the interest payments on loans ofseveral hundred million from AngloIrish Bank this was while two directorsof this bank sat on the DDDA board.Many other DDDA projects are simi-

larly expected to come under the remitof NAMA, with the state covering bil-lions in lossesThe area which was controlled by the

DDDA was extended from the Dock-lands up to the North Strand Road forthe sole purpose of the DDDA buyingthe Readymix site for an inflated value.The result of this on the ground is thatalmost all the commercial property onone side of North Road is now derelict.Of course another of the favoured fewwas able to complete developments onthe Ossory Road, now within theDDDA area. There was no consultationwith residents in relation to this exten-sion.It is imperative that Brennan’s report is

immediately published in full.

Fianna Fail cronyism in the Dublin Docklands will cost the state billions,

Malachy Steenson reports

Children’s rights are a priority

more at greenislestrik

e.org


13

Children’s rights are a priority

Bill Leahy, 75, journalist, teacher andpolitical activist, who died 8th January,was born during the Great Depressionin an Irish neighbourhood onChicago’s northwest side to an Irishfather and Italian mother. He likenedhis time growing up there to the harshenvirons novelist James T Farrelldescribed in his famed gritty trilogy onStuds Lonegan, a fictional local toughon the city’s South Side. Bill liked torecall running wild with other neigh-bourhood kids while all their dadswere working long hours or awayfighting during the Second World War.He reminded would-be romanticizersof the ‘good war’ what we now callpost-traumatic stress disorder wasnothing new, remembering plenty ofsad, cracked-up war veterans who sub-sisted in basement flats of familydwellings afterward, never reallyrecovering. Bill’s family lores was nothing if notcolourful. An older cousin gotinvolved with the Chicago mob – haul-ing along cold-blooded killer cronyTony Spilotro (who inspired the JoePesci character in Martin Scorsese'smovie ‘Casino’) to his parent’s homeon a memorable occasion – and conse-quently died young and messily. Bill,however, was inspired in his lifelongegalitarian leftwing views by a racon-teur grandfather who was a democraticsocialist of the Daniel De Leon stripe.Bill became a marvellous font ofknowledge of Chicago’s lowdown pol-itics, both highly critical and vastlyamused by its “we don’t want nobodysent” culture. Any foreign visitor whowanted to hear chilling tales of the way‘clout’ is used in Chicago I simplyintroduced to Bill. I recall one eveningwhen a woman reproved him for beingso ‘serious’ and his ready retort that thepoor thing didn’t appreciate how muchfun being serious could be. Bill then knocked about as a freelancejournalist and visiting lecturer in vari-ous locales. In the early to mid 1970sBill lived in Dublin, eventually becom-ing deeply involved with the Workers’Party to a degree he told me the Spe-

William J Leahy

Obituary

Socialist – Internationalist Born 16th November 1933 Died 8th January 2009

cial Branch emphatically did notappreciate. They harassed him. Hepublished short stories and was alsoa frequent contributor to RTE’s“Sunday Miscellany”, among otheroutlets. Leaving Dublin under someduress, he taught at the AmericanUniversity in Cairo, having hislongest live-in relationship with anAfghani highborn lady, whomfriends gathered was the love of hislife – if it wasn’t an Irish womanwhom he often talked about wist-fully. Billy, despite affairs of someduration, never married. Returning to Chicago in the late1970s he filed splendid insightfulreports over the next decade or so onthe Chicago scene for the IrishTimes, The International HeraldTribune and other major outlets. Healso self-publicised an intermittentcult newsletter entitled ‘Leahy’s

Corner’, where he ‘leaked’ whatmainstream newspapers did not seefit to print, and which, if there’s anyjustice, will become a collector’sitem. He managed to settle into alectureship at Chicago City Colleges,a job he held until retiring in the late1990s. He truly cared about helpinghis mostly minority pupils there,whom he viewed as no different thanan earlier generation of ‘shanty Irish’who needed a chance to understandthe world, and shake it up. In the early 2000s close friendsbegan to notice he was becomingerratic and forgetful. Bill soon wasdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or aform of dementia close enough, andeventually was taken into care in2004. The now familiar horror of thedisease is that, so far as anyone couldtell, he died long before he physi-cally expired.

Kurt Ja

cobsen, frie

nd &comrade writes


14

Tá geamaireacht eile fós ar siúlfaoin nGaeilge anois ---Plean 20Bliain mar dhea. Sé Eamon OCuív an príomhaisteoir agus arndóigh tá aisteoirí cúnta aige ---

na heagraíochtaí Gaeilge a bhfuil an bioránsuain curtha aige iontu le fada agus atá agbraith i gcónaí ar dheontais óna Roinn lenagcoinneáil ag imeacht

Tá an chluain Mhuimhneach curtha ag OCuív ar urlabhraithe na Gaeltachta le fadafreisin. Tá na heagraíochtaí pobail coillte aigeó thaobh airgid de --- cuid den deachma achaithfear a íoc leis na bancanna, an dream ascrios an tír, iad féin agus na "speculators". Fósféin níl de leigheas ag ionadaithe na Gaeltachtaar fhadhb ar bith ach "cruinniú eile le EamonO Cuív.".

Cá ndeacha an meon a bhí sa nGaeltachtnuair a troideadh ar son Udarás na Gaeltachtaagus Raidió na Gaeltachta a bhunú? An bhfuildearmad déanta cheana gur as feachtas agóidepobail a tháinig TG4?

Maidir le Udarás na Gaeltachta sí an aidhmmhór atá ag O Cuív anois Udarás na Gaelge adhéanamh de---go mbeadh sé ag freastal archúrsaí Gaeilge ar fud na tíre ar fad. Tá Forasna Gaeilge ann cheana féin. Céard a bheas siad-san a dhéanamh?

Má dhéantar Udarás na Gaeilge de is beagan aird a bheas ag gnáthmhuintir na Gaeltachtaair. Obair, postanna agus forbairt atá uathusanagus na rudaí sin ar fad a bheith ceangailte leisan nGaeilge. Mura mbeidh ann ach cineálcraobh eile de Chonradh na Gaeilge ní bheidhmeáchan soip acu ann.

Tá pointe eile ann freisin: sé Udarás naGaeltachta an t-aon eagraíocht réigiúnach sa tíra bhfuil daoine tofa ar an mBord acu. Sa tír seoatá an córas rialtais is lárnaí san Eoraip ar fad.I mBleá Cliath atá an chumhacht agus níl fonnar bith ar an dream a bhfuil sí acu aon phioc di

a roinnt leis an gcuid eile againn. In áit a bheithag lagan Udarás na Gaeltachta séard ba chearta dheánamh é a neartú go mór --- tuilleadhcumhachta a thabhairt dó agus, ar ndóigh, tuil-leadh airgid. Tá airgead an Udaráis gearrtha godúid ag O Cuív. Fiú amháin nuair a bhí airgeadfairsing ghearr sé ciste an Udaráis. Chuir sépolasaí na bP.D.s i bhfeidhm orainn ansin---acmhainní an Stáit a dhíol. Díoladhmonarchana agus píosaí talún. Níl aonduine ágceannacht anois agus tá an tUdarás fágtha aran bhfairíor géar.

Bhí an tAire O Cuív ag cruinniú de BhordUdarás na Gaeltachta lá. D'fhiafraigh mé de cénfáth ar ghearr sé an t-airgead orainn?D'admhaigh sé gur ghearr "ach," a dúirt sé, "támé féin á chaitheamh agus tá mé á chaitheamhgo maith." Ba bheag nach bhfuair sé bualadhbos óna Dílseoirí dá chuid a bhí sa seomra.

Chaith sé an t-airgead ceart go leor---"smallthings for big families," mar a dúirt polaiteoirmór le rá eile as Fianna Fáil uair amháin."Beads for the Indians," lena rá ar bhealacheile. Cé hiontas go bhfuil ionadaithe naGaeltachta faoi dhraíocht aige? "Beads for theIndians"---úsáideadh é sin go minic armhachairí Mheiriceá. Ach chuala mé scéal uairamháin faoi shaighdiúir as an Seventh Cavalrya bhí i ndúnfort dá gcuid thiar i South Dakota.D'oscail sé an geata maidin amháin agus céarda d'fheicfeadh sé ag teacht chuige aníos an t-ard ach na hIndiaigh Dearga ar a gcuid capall,an phéint chogaidh ar chuile fhear acu agus iadag liúireach go feargach in ard a gcinn agus angutha. Rinne sé iarracht an geata a dhúnadhchomh scioptha agus a d'fhéadfadh sé agusd'fhógair sé ar an dream istigh. "The Indiansare up and it's too late for beads."

Nár ba fada go bhfeicfidh mé Indiaigh naGaeltacha ag teacht de ruaig i dtreo na Roinnesna Forbacha agus iad ag troid mar is cóir arson a bpobail agus a ndúchais.

Fillfidh muid anois ar an bPlean 20 Bliain.Tá daoine á mholadh nach bhfuil sé léite chorar bith acu. Tá daoine eile ag dul ó chruinniúgo cruinniú ag sárú faoi. Sin é an chaoi is fearrle O Cuiv é. Is fánach a bhfuil de stráitéis sagcáipéis ó thús go deireadh agus maidir leairgead a chaitheamh leis an obair a chur igcrích ná labhair air sin an fhad is atá na bil-liúin euro le tabhairt do na bancanna.

Sa deireadh thiar thall tá ceist na Gaeilgesimplí go leor: 1. An mbeidh na daoine a bhfuilGaeilge acu sásta í a thabhairt dá gclann? 2.An mbeidh córas oideachais ann le Gaelge amhúineadh do dhaoine nach bhfuil sí ag a gcuidtuismitheoirí? 3. An gcuirfidh an Stát deiseannaar fáil lena húsáid amach anseo?

Is deacair a cheapadh gur freagraí dearfachaa bheas ar na ceisteanna sin nuair a fheiceanntú na céadta múinteoirí ag múineadh na Gaeilgeagus gan trí fhocal Gaeilge acu féin. Dámbeadh an rialtas dáiríre faoi sin chuirfidíscoláiste ar bun láithreach leis an scannal aleigheas. Dhún an Stát na Coláistí Ullmhúcháinblianta ó shin. Níl ina n-áit ó shin ach cur igcéill agus geallúinti leibideacha.

Ar ndóigh is measa ná riamh cás na Gaeilgesa gcóras Stáit fré chéile. Lá den tsaol bhí dual-gas ar dhaoine a bhí ag obair don Stát smeadarGaeilge de chineál eicínt a bheith acu. Inniu isé meon an "establishment" gur "backwardness"a bheadh i bpolasaí mar sin.

Na daoine a bhfuil cás na Gaeilge agdéanamh imní dóibh ina gcroí istigh éirídís asa bheith ag cur a muinín in Eamon O Cuiv agusina chuid "mental reservations". Feachtascearta sibhialta eile ar son na Gaeilge agus naGaeltachta atá ag teastáil. B'fhéidir godteipfeadh orainn ach ar a laghad ar bithbheadh sé le rá go deo nach maidríní lathaí nálucht lúitéise a bhí ionainn ach gur throid muidan cath go fearúil agus go fiúntach.

Seosamh O Cuaig, Comhairleoir Contae agus comhalta tofa ar Udaras na Gaeltachta

Cultur & Stair’

Pleanfichebliain


15

Nearly eighty years ago, left-wing repub-licans founded an organisation, whichalthough short-lived, would leave a lastingeffect on Irish socialism. The RepublicanCongress attempted to weld international-ism, socialism and patriotism into adynamic force capable of organising Irishworkers. The failure of their endeavourwould condemn Ireland to further decadesof conservative rule, but also holds impor-tant lessons for political activists today. March 1934 saw the IRA split, with sev-eral of its best-known officers leaving andsetting up a new organization - the Repub-lican Congress. The reason for the schismwas dissatisfaction among the IRA’s leftwing about the organization’s lack ofdirection after two years of Fianna Fáilgovernment. Peadar O’Donnell, a memberof the Army Council and the best-knownsocialist in the IRA’s ranks argued that thearmy was drifting aimlessly while FiannaFail was monopolizing republicanism.Unless the IRA embraced social agitation- as O’Donnell argued it had done in thelate 1920s - the organization woulddecline. Backed by George Gilmore andFrank Ryan, O’Donnell argued for a newcongress of republican opinion combiningrepresentatives of the IRA, the rank andfile of Fianna Fáil, Labour, trade unionsand small farmers groups.This would be an all-Ireland body thatwould provide a rallying point for a newmovement which would win back theslogan of ‘the Republic’ from Fianna Fáil.At the IRA’s general army conventionO’Donnell’s motion won the support of asmall majority of delegates but wasdefeated by the votes of the Army Counciland Executive. Mick Price, the IRA’sDirector of Training, then moved a sepa-rate motion that the IRA pledge itself toremain in existence until a workers' repub-

lic was achieved. This motion was alsonarrowly defeated. All four men leftthe convention and began to canvasssupport for a new organization. In the weeks after the convention IRAofficers from Offaly, Westmeath,Galway, Mayo, Leitrim and SouthDublin added their names to the Con-gress proposal. Leading Cumann namBan members also supported themove, as did Nora Connolly O’Brienand her brother Roddy and a number oflabour and trade union figures. By May1934, Congress had begun publishingits own newspaper edited by FrankRyan and was organizing branchesnationwide.One of the groups affiliated to Con-gress was the Irish Citizens Army,which had been kept alive in Dublin byveterans of the 1916-23 period. Aninflux of ex-IRA volunteers gave theICA a nationwide base, with units inDublin, Cork, Belfast, Limerick andKilkenny. Unlike the IRA, the CitizensArmy, as it had in 1916, allowedwomen to became members and iturged all its volunteers to be active inworking class politics as well as trainedin arms.During the summer of 1934, Congressand ICA members were active instrikes and anti-fascist activity. Mem-bers were arrested raiding a strike-bound quarry in Bray and there wereseveral clashes with Blueshirts. Con-gress involved itself in housing agita-tion and tenants' struggles in Dublinand in land agitation in Achill. North of the border, Congress allieditself with the Northern Ireland Social-ist Party, a mainly Protestant organiza-tion that helped Congress to establisha presence on the Shankhill and New-townards Road districts of Belfast. InJune 1934, several dozen Protestantsocialists from Belfast came to Boden-stown with the Republican Congressfor the Wolfe Tone commemoration.They carried a banner bearing theslogan ‘Break the connection with cap-italism’ - a photograph of which hasbecome an iconic image on the repub-lican left since then.About 17,000 people attended Boden-stown that year, the vast majority ofthem IRA supporters. Prior to theevent, the IRA had warned all politicalgroups not to carry unauthorized ban-ners, an order designed to enforce con-trol over rivals like Congress. On theday, about 800 marched with Congress,led by the ICA carrying a Starry Ploughflag. Congress supporters refused toput away their banners and IRA stew-ards moved to prevent them marching.Clashes broke out which saw theShankhill Road banner torn in half asCongress supporters tried to force theirway on to the parade. The incidentcaused much bad feeling, although atthe time nobody claimed that it was the

result of anti-Protestant sectarianism. However, after its promising begin-nings, at a meeting in Rathmines inSeptember 1934, the Congress splitover whether to carry on with a broadrepublican campaign as suggested byO’Donnell and Gilmore or become anopenly socialist party as argued byMichael Price. O’Donnell and Gilmorebelieved that Congress should provethat both de Valera and the IRA hadabandoned real republicanism. AsO’Donnell put it: "My quarrel with deValera is not that he is not a socialist,for he makes no pretence to be one. Myquarrel with him is that he pretends tobe a republican."For O’Donnell the struggle for theRepublic and the breaking of theBritish connection would inevitablylead to the overthrow of capitalism.But Price and his supporters arguedthat to most people Fianna Fáil and theIRA did represent real republicanismand there was no way of winning backthat ground. Instead the slogan of aWorkers' Republic clearly distin-guished them from both de Valera andthe IRA. It also identified to Protestantsin the North the difference between thesocialist idea of a republic and theIRA’s - ‘it is the phrase “Irish Repub-lic” that separated us from the mass ofworkers in the north’ argued Nora Con-nolly O’Brien. With the support ofcommunist delegates, O’Donnell’s sidewon the day at Rathmines and bothfactions went their own way amidmuch rancour - and undisguised gleefrom the IRA. Though seriously weakened, theRepublican Congress continued activ-ity until 1936, working on unemploy-ment and housing protests andorganising an alternative ArmisticeDay event during November 1934 thatbrought together ex-British soldiersand republicans in protest againstimperialism and war.Price and his supporters would eventu-ally join the Labour Party. Both Priceand Roddy Connolly were largelyresponsible for getting the LabourParty to briefly adopt the Workers'Republic as its objective in 1936. Lackof finance, condemnation from theCatholic Church and violent attacks byanti-communist mobs all contributed toCongress’ decline -although many hadalso been disillusioned by the in-fight-ing of 1934.The last action of Congress was toorganize support for the republicanside in the Spanish Civil War duringthe summer of 1936. Leading activistsincluding Frank Ryan travelled toSpain to fight alongside the Interna-tional Brigades. Despite its failure,Congress was a real attempt to marryrepublican and socialist activity - thelast serious attempt to do so until the1960s.

Frank Ryan and John Robinson, international brigade volunteers in Spain

Brian Hanley on The Republican Congress


February 2 marked the firstanniversary of the protest picket out-side St. Patrick's Geriatric HospitalWaterford demanding the reopeningof a key high dependence ward.

The decision by the HSE to closedown St. Bridgid's Ward which had26 high dependant patients wasopposed by the workers, patients rela-tives, city council, and trades council.Hundreds attended public meetingsand marches to protest against theclosure.

HSE officials claimed that St.Bridgid's ward should be closed onhealth and safety grounds. A spuriousclaim with the chief fire officer ofWaterford City Council confirmingthat he was neither consulted aboutthe situation nor had he made a rec-ommendation to close the ward.

The Friends of St. Patrick's have todate spend over €400,000 improvingthe facilities at the hospital and wouldfund any requirement to bring St.Bridgid's Ward up to HIQA stan-dards.

Last February the staff in St.Patrick's embarked on a lunch-timeprotest to oppose the closure and thisprotest has continued every day since.The ward was finally closed in Sep-tember last year and the patients weredispersed to other wards within thehospital and to private nursinghomes.

The HSE promised to build a new50 bed unit to replace St. Bridgids'sWard. To date they have not evencontacted Waterford City CouncilPlanning Office to lodge a planningapplication or to go to tender on thedesign.

Picket will remain until ward reopened

Dublin City Council shouldnot wait on private devel-opers but take the lead in

redeveloping the commercial andsocial heart of the Finglas area,according to local Workers’ Partyrepresentative Owen Martin.Existing plans to provide Finglas

with a new town square have ranaground due to the majority ofproperties in area being in the handsof private developers, who despitethe needs of the local community,are unable or unwilling to fund thedevelopment.Martin believes it is now time for

the community’s interest to be putto the fore by Dublin City Councilby pushing ahead with the FinglasDraft Development Plan. Thiswould not only create local jobs butalso provide the area with the newsocial centre needed.He said: “I believe that about a

quarter of the property on the pro-posed town square site is owned bythe City Council. It is now up to theCity Council to get this projectgoing.

“Private developers will not moveuntil they are assured of making bigprofits out of the area. We need afocus for the Finglas area which isnow spread over many differenthousing and commercial sites. Theplan to have a single hub or centreis I believe the best way to go. Wehave the experience of the Bally-mun area, where a huge project waspushed ahead by the public sector,that such a scheme is possible inFinglas.”Despite ongoing problems with its

development, the Ballymun areaadjacent to Finglas, now has a cen-tral location where public events,including a weekly farmers' marketand entertainment, are held.Martin added: “This helps build

and sustain a community spirit, amost important aspect of life forworking class communities whichare suffering the full brunt of arecession which is in large part dueto the policies of very same devel-oper class who are now being fool-ishly expected to get us out of thecurrent economic and social mess.”

Finglas needs its heart back

Waterford City Council has entered intoa new partnership with Waterford-Wedge-wood - Royal Doulton (WWRD) to keepthe traditional glass making industryalive.Last year the city experienced a devastat-ing blow when Waterford Crystal's Kil-barry Plant was shut, with the resultingloss of hundreds of jobs. However majorworks are now taking place on landowned by Waterford city council on theMall, opposite city hall. this site willhouse new civic offices, a glass factoryand showrooms. The aim is to have the€37 million project, of which €9 millionwas invested by Waterford City Council,

up and running by June 2010 producingglass for the high-end market.The work-force will be recruited fromformer workers of Waterford Crystal thuskeeping the skills alive and working. It isexpected to employ in the new glass fac-tory up to 70 workers in the productionline, cutting, blowing, engraving with afurther 30 - 40 in sales and administration.The former Waterford Crystal show-rooms, which closed earlier this year, hadattracted upwards of 300,000 visitors peryear where they where treated to demon-strations of glass production and the newfactory hopes to successfully tap into thatmarket

Nearly €2 million has been reserved forinternational marketing of the brand.While Waterford City Council and Water-ford Enterprise Board have combined toprovide a small manufacturing and retailoutlet in Henrietta St. in the heart of thecity's Viking Triangle. This Enterprise hasbeen initiated by four former workers ofWaterford Crystal which will producecoloured glass and chandeliers.It's a credit to Waterford City Manager,Michael Walsh that the City Council arepartners in these ventures that will ini-tially employ up to a 100 workers andmaintain glass making as a living craft inthe city.

Good news for former Waterford Crystal workersCouncilor Davy Walsh writes on a new Council initiative

lookleftonline.org


Stormont,are they working for you?

Progressive news and views

Inside:Exclusive news, interviews and opinions

published by the Workers Party

of Ireland

March - April £1

- John Lowry on Left Unity- Remembering Tomas Mac Giolla- History; Republican Congress


Throughout Ireland work-

ers and the young are

under mounting pres-

sure. Economic mismanage-

ment sees the spectre of mass

long-term unemployment

return, while politicians force

the poor to pay for the criminal

activities of the rich. In the

south the answer of a specula-

tor elite is to begin openly call-

ing for another generation to

emigrate, in the north a ‘peace

process’ solidifies sectarian

division and the positions of

new tribal ward bosses.There is

only one answer to break the

cycle of corruption, communi-

ties must Look Left.

But the Left has been unpre-

pared. Where unity is needed,

there is division, where new

thinking is needed too often

there is an acceptance of failed

approaches. Instead of chal-

lenging the rightwing consen-

sus some too easily accepts its

confines.

A media that seeks to margin-

alise and ridicule progressive

politics while promoting the

staid rhetoric of the greedy has

played its part in Ireland’s polit-

ical malaise.

Published by the Workers’

Party, Look Left intends to play

its part countering these prob-

lems by providing a non-sectar-

ian platform for progressive

news, views and debate from

working class communities as

well as from a wide a range of

leftwing activists.

Divided we fall united we can

triumph.

If you have a news story,

struggle or opinion which needs

to be highlighted contact the

Look Left editorial team at

[email protected]

2

The recent political haggling betweenthe DUP and Sinn Fein, played out atHillsborough Castle over 3 weeks laidbare the shortcomings of the Good FridayAgreement. Never has the cementing ofsectarian division in the institutions ofgovernment been more transparent. Neverhas it been more obvious that while weare in a much better place by virtue of theending of terrorist campaigns, at the sametime so little has changed in the politicallife of Northern Ireland. At the very timewhen multi national companies werelaying off thousands of workers, the pri-orities for the top dogs of unionism andnationalism were parades and policing.After weeks of haggling at Hillsboroughduring which the smaller unionist andnationalist parties hung around as if theytoo were deeply involved in these farcenegiotations. a much over hyped and oversold agreement has been reached on thedevolution of policing and we are stillunclear as to what has or has not beenagreed on parades.. Yet the truth is that inthe past few years parades and policinghave not been the contentious issues theyhave been previously. Putting them at thetop of the political agenda says moreabout the continuing sectarian shadowboxing of the Stormont Parties than itdoes about the real concerns of people onthe streets. One billion pounds of taxpay-ers money has been promised by theBritish and Irish Governments to fund thisfarcical agreement. One billion pounds oftaxpayers money which surely would befar better spent on funding frontline serv-ices in the health and educationsectors,creating badly needed sustainableemployment or helping those in danger oflosing their homes because of the greedand recklessness of the finiancial servicessector.

It seems the green and orange Tories upon the hill don’t think so. As we approacha Westminister election in May and elec-tions to the new local councils and theStormont Assembly next year sectariancommunal politics remain the order of theday. Yet more and more people are askingif we are getting anything out of those wehave sent to represent us at Stormont?Where are the new, innovative and differ-ent policies devolution promised todeliver? What we have had is the contin-uation of the very same anti people poli-

cies pursued by the Northern IrelandOffice civil servants. Unionist and nation-alist ministers have delivered privatisa-tion in health and education, followedeconomic policies which do nothing morethan assist the business community andhave stalled as long as they can beforethey introduce water charges.

And all the while sectarianism and divi-sion are more firmly rooted in societythan ever. Hardly surprising given that thewhole architecture of the political institu-tions are themselves grounded in and per-petuate that very sectarianism. Changes tothe rules governing the running of theStormont Assembly are certainly needed.But change far greater than that is alsorequired. There is no socialist voice in theAssembly. There is no one who articulatesa clear and unequivocal socialist agenda.

Northern Ireland has a proud labour tra-dition and a trade union movement whichhas played its part in bringing Peace toNorthern Ireland. The May Day parade inBelfast every year is a wonderful andcolourful gathering of literally thousandsof socialists marking labour day and artic-ulating socialist demands for the present.Yet this significant political constituencyis not represented in Northern Ireland pol-itics. It is long past time it was. All thosewho describe themselves as being on theleft or as socialists have a responsibilityto do something about this. The WorkersParty at its Northern Ireland Regionalconference held every October in Belfasthave always extended a broad invitationto those on the left to participate in dis-cussion of matters of common interest tosocialists. Over the years representativesof The Socialist Party, British Labour inNI, the Irish Labour Party, individualtrade unionists and the PUP have all beenin attendance. It is time to intensify thesearch for co operation on the left inNorthern Ireland. None of the Stormontparties represent the interests of workersand their families from a class perspec-tive. Workers and their families cannotafford for the left to be idle, whilst thedole queques lengthen, couples lose theirhomes, health and education go into fur-ther decline and sectarian politics domi-nates the agenda. What is needed is apolitical force which is neither unionistnor nationalist, Protestant nor Catholicbut socialist. Are we up to the challenge?

”There is of course freedom of the pressin Ireland, if you own a press”Tomas Mac Goilla, 1988 Workers Party Ard Fheis

Editorial

lookleftonline.org

John Lowry on Left Unity


While the DUP and Sinn Féinleaderships spent most ofFebruary in Hillsborough

Castle arguing over the small print ofan agreement on policing, justice andparades, the US companies Avaya andBaker Hughes –confirmed reviews ofNorthern Irish operations, which mightsee either or both pull out with the lossof 400 jobs. This is only the latest of Northern Ire-

land’s economic woes. Figures indicatethat by the middle of this year, therewill be fewer people in employment inNorthern Ireland than there were 13years ago. In 2009 20,000 jobs disap-peared. While the unemployment rateshave fallen elsewhere in the UK, thishasn’t happened in Northern Ireland.Last month, the number of peopleclaiming unemployment benefitsclimbed to a new high of 54,500 on topof which we must add 49,000 peopleon the economically inactive registerwho are still looking for work.Both Sinn Fein and the DUP would

seem to prefer the comfort of sectariansquabbling to running an economy.After all, they’re good at sectarianismbut not so good at creating lasting jobsand economic well-being.

The approach towards economicdevelopment taken by the Stormontcoalition partners has been deeplyflawed, not to say suicidal. It is truethat jobs have been growing since theearly 80s but, as the recently publishedBarnett Report into economic practicesin Northern Ireland makes clear, manyof these jobs, especially those in theretail and construction sectors,reflected the extreme bubble in thehousing market that was more pro-nounced in NI than elsewhere in theUK, and also a ‘post-troubles’ catch-upin retail provision as major retailgroups moved into the region.

The government in Northern Irelandhad little part to play in this job growth.Apart from putting much of it’s faith inconstruction and shopping as enginesof growth, the only other string to itsbow was manifested in the attempts bythe publically funded Thatcheritequango, Invest NI, to lure multination-als here. Both Avaya and BakerHughes are huge Multinational compa-nies. In 2006, Avaya posted a net profitof $201 million on revenue of $5.12billion and Baker Hughes is an equally

huge concern. Yet when Baker Hughestook over the firm in East Belfast thatit is currently in the process of aban-doning, it received £900,000 in moneyfrom Invest NI. At that time Invest NI’sChief Executive, Leslie Morrison saidthat ‘the establishment of this newfacility further establishes NorthernIreland as a prime location for highvalue added product design and manu-facture.’ This didn’t prove to be thecase and again and again we have seenlocal investment in multinational com-panies which run off when it suitsthem. After all, the bottom line forthese companies is the profit margin.Nothing is more important to them. AsUnite regional organiser Sean Smyth,put it: ‘Our politicians need to stopmessing about and wise up so that wemake sure companies are not cominghere for a quick buck but are here tostay’ . And in order to do that they haveto rethink their investment policy. What could a government focused onthe needs of our people instead ofluring multinationals have done withthat £900,000 and all the other millionsthat have been thrown multinationalfirms? Since it was established InvestNI has spent in the region of £1 billionand, as the Barnett Review admits, ithas not succeeded in raising productiv-ity levels here.

Northern Ireland needs realeconomic development

not tribalism

Justin O’Hagan writes

On your own you cannot really make a differ-ence, but together, collectively, in The Workers’Party, that’s a different story. Why? Because TheWorkers’ Party stands solely in the interests of theworking class.

And by that we mean all workers, unemployed,employed or retired. We are 100% committed to ademocratic, secular, socialist programme.

No other party North or South has this commit-ment. So if you really want to make a difference thenit’s time you joined

Contact The Workers Party

6 Springfield Road, Belfast BT12 7AG

Tel: 90 328 663 / 326 [email protected]

workerspartyireland.net

Not on your own


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