Littlepace says ‘No’ to N3 noise

The Irish political establishment will no doubt use its presidency of the EU to paint a rosy picture of a ‘social' European Union. But such a picture will jar dramatically with the reality of an EU that is the driving force in the austerity destroying lives in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe.

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.

The general election in Ireland was historic but not for the reasons being stressed by the would-be new government partners of Fine Gael and Labour. It is that true both parties achieved unprecedented successes at the polls but these are pyrrhic and temporary victories.

The comment of the Labour Party to imposing austerity as part of the next government is increasingly clear. In agreeing to the target of reducing the budget deficit to 3% by 2014, Labour is pledging to implement cutbacks and attacks similar to those of the current government.