Limerick City: Cian Prendiville

Turmoil over the issue of the flying of the union flag has now continued across Northern Ireland for six weeks. The protests, blocking of roads and frequent rioting began on 3 December when Belfast City Council voted to fly the flag over City Hall on seventeen “designated days” only rather than 365 days a year. Since then there have been protests almost every day-including a small protest on Christmas Day itself.

Deputy Leo Varadkar’s speech to the Dublin Economic Workshop in Kenmere last weekend should send a chill down the spines of working people, the unemployed and those in general who depend on public services, all of whom have already been made pay a heavy price for this economic crisis.

Attacks on working people are mounting right across Europe. The so-called PIGS (Portugal, Ireland & Italy, Greece, Spain) countries have been to the forefront of these attacks. In Ireland, we have seen €7 billion of cutbacks, seriously damaging public services, including health and education. In Greece, there has been a 10% cut in wages and spending in the public sector, together with an increased retirement age, VAT increases and the freezing of pensions. Portugal has a plan to cut its deficit by €11bn over four years through a crisis tax on wages and cutbacks in public services. The Spanish Parliament has passed cutbacks worth €15bn on top of €50bn already agreed. Italy is due to implement "emergency-cutbacks" of €24 bn.