Month: March 2012
Government must be held accountable for blackmail clause
"The European train will be leaving the station on January 1, 2013 and the Irish people should be on board." So declared Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dail on Wednesday morning in response to a question of mine relating to the Referendum on the EU Fiscal Compact which the government has been obliged to call. The Taoiseach was speaking in Irish as it was ‘Lá na Gaeilge’, with Leaders’ Questions in Irish. However, the impression he was trying to convey was false in any language, which is that rejecting the Fiscal Compact would somehow mean not continuing as a member of the European Union or indeed as part of the Eurozone.
Promissory Notes madness must end!
Much debate has arisen recently on the promissory notes debacle and its impact on the economy. The issue seems to be clouded in mystery and many people may have shied away from it believing it to be yet another complex financial problem. The reality is that such discussions are generally made to seem difficult to grasp by the establishment and its media, to cover-up the story’s scandalous nature. This is exactly what is happening with the promissory notes.
Household Tax Campaign Video
Mass civil disobedience to defeat government court threats
It is clear that hundreds of thousands of households will refuse to register or to pay the household tax. The only issue is whether this number will be more than half a million, more than three-quarters of a million or more than a million itself. With big numbers deciding it is better to break the law than to break the poor, this is a key first step in a major campaign of civil disobedience.
Household Tax: Sinn Fein fall short of what’s needed
Nine TDs have voiced full support for the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes and its call for mass non-registration and mass non-payment of the tax.
Socialist Party condemns destruction of Occupy Dame Street camp
Gardai raid and dismantle camp in the middle of the night
Raid an attempt to silence dissent before St Patrick’s Day
Government has power to have blackmail clause removed
Government collusion in Treaty blackmail clause exposed. Blackmail clause in ESM Treaty is currently inoperable, requires Dáil ratification. Government must use its power to have clause removed. Taoiseach must make immediate statement.
Awaken Waterford “freemen” – dangerous misinformation
Over the course of February, a statement has been circulating widely on Facebook and other social media sites claiming people can avoid paying the Household Tax and remain within the law “if they do not consent” to the tax.
Vita Cortex occupation – SIPTU & ICTU must call work stoppage
Five thousand people marched through the streets of Cork in support of the Vita Cortex workers. The huge support from working class people has been tremendous. Celebrities too have come out in support of them - Alex Ferguson, Mary Robinson, Christy Moore, Paul McGrath and others.
Abortion rights now – Socialist Party supports X Case Bill
The Bill that Socialist Party TD Clare Daly and Deputies Joan Collins and Mick Wallace have written and brought forward to the Dáil coincides with the 20th anniversary of the X Case, when a 14 year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped by a neighbour was prevented by the High Court from travelling to England for an abortion. Two weeks later, after massive public pressure and protests, the Supreme Court upheld her right to an abortion in England on the basis that her life was threatened because of the risk of suicide.