11 Years to the day since the start of the war in Iraq there will be a silent protest, at the top of Shop Street, Galway on Wednesday 19th March at 12.45pm.
Members of the People Before Profit Alliance and Galway Alliance Against War will mark the 11th anniversary of the illegal Iraq War with a 45 minute silent protest. The protest will also mark 9 weeks since Margaretta D'Arcy was imprisoned for protesting at Shannon Airport.
The people of Iraq to this day continue to suffer: In 7 months of 2013 some 20,000 people lost their lives as a result of civil and sectarian divisions that were fomented because of the US-UK invasion in 2003.
An estimated 1.4 million people have lost their lives in the past 11 years in Iraq. There are 4 million refugees. Mass poverty & chronic illness plague the country. Cancers & birth deformities caused by war and the weapons of war are commonplace.
One of the principal culprits being depleted uranium weaponry transported via Shannon airport. Ireland plays a significant role (via Shannon airport and Irish airspace) in the unnecessary Iraq war. Successive Irish governments have refused to stop the US from using Shannon to transport troops, weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan and prisoners to Guantanamo Bay. Under international law, the government is ignoring its obligations to investigate the transport of illegal weapons and the illegal rendition of prisoners.
The People Before Profit Alliance demands that the government stop the US military use of Shannon and Irish airspace. We also demand the immediate release of Margaretta D'Arcy from Mountjoy Prison.
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Our Water is Not for Sale! Conference on the Politics, Selling and Privatisation of Water
The People Before Profit Alliance will be hosting a national conference on the subject of water, on Saturday 5th April, in the Gresham Hotel, O'Connell Street in Dublin from 10:00-17:00pm. All Welcome.
"Water promises to be the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations"
- Fortune Magazine
- Fortune Magazine
Water is a basic human need and therefore ought to be a basic human right. Yet, those who profit from its overuse and abuse are determining the future of one of the earth’s most vital resources. A handful of multinational corporations, backed by the World Bank and the European Union, are aggressively taking over the management of public water services around the world. They are dramatically increasing the price of water to the local residents and profiting from the people’s search for solutions to the water crisis. The corporate agenda is clear, water should be treated like any other tradable good, with its use determined by market principles. At the same time, governments are signing away their control over domestic water supplies by participating in trade agreements and institutions that effectively give private corporations unprecedented access to the water of signatory countries.
Irish people have long resisted the introduction of water charges and following a sustained three-year campaign succeeded in abolishing water charges in 1997. Now under the guise of austerity imposed by the Troika, water charges of €300 plus per year are being imposed. Water charges are just the latest burden the Government plans to impose on the Irish people -- after bin charges, the Universal Social Charge and the Property Tax along with wage cuts and welfare cuts -- all designed to keep the banks and our European paymasters sweet.
The “Our Water is Not for Sale” Forum will bring together activists opposed to charges, environmental and anti-capitalist campaigners from Ireland and Europe as well as leading campaigners from South America to discuss the wider politics of water and privatisation; we will consider how they relate to climate change and other environmental issues; and crucially, focus on developing strategies of resistance.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS include:
Marcela Olivera from the Great Water Revolt in Cochabamba, Bolivia 2000
Professor Mike Gonzalez from Venezuela.
Plus speakers from UNITE –the Union, and from campaigns in Ireland and Europe.
For more information see Cllr. Brid Smith's website
http://www.bridsmith.net/
Irish people have long resisted the introduction of water charges and following a sustained three-year campaign succeeded in abolishing water charges in 1997. Now under the guise of austerity imposed by the Troika, water charges of €300 plus per year are being imposed. Water charges are just the latest burden the Government plans to impose on the Irish people -- after bin charges, the Universal Social Charge and the Property Tax along with wage cuts and welfare cuts -- all designed to keep the banks and our European paymasters sweet.
The “Our Water is Not for Sale” Forum will bring together activists opposed to charges, environmental and anti-capitalist campaigners from Ireland and Europe as well as leading campaigners from South America to discuss the wider politics of water and privatisation; we will consider how they relate to climate change and other environmental issues; and crucially, focus on developing strategies of resistance.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS include:
Marcela Olivera from the Great Water Revolt in Cochabamba, Bolivia 2000
Professor Mike Gonzalez from Venezuela.
Plus speakers from UNITE –the Union, and from campaigns in Ireland and Europe.
For more information see Cllr. Brid Smith's website
http://www.bridsmith.net/
Supporting the Elverys Workers
Meeting the workers at Elverys on the Headford Road and signing their petition. Elverys is in administration with the 700 jobs around the country, under threat. The workers need peoples support to ensure that jobs are protected.
"Catastrophic failure" to address housing crisis
People before Profit TD rails against “catastrophic failure” to address housing and homelessness emergency
- Richard Boyd Barrett calls for emergency social housing programme and immediate increase in rent allowance caps
In the Dáil on the 12th March during Questions to the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government and during the Dáil debate on the housing and homelessness situation, Richard Boyd Barrett accused the government of a catastrophic failure to address what he described as an emergency in social housing and homelessness.
Deputy Boyd Barrett called for an emergency response from the government to deal with the crisis, insisting that only a major council house building programme and immediate variation on the rent allowance caps could address the deepening crisis.
Deputy Boyd Barrett also condemned what he described as the handover of the property sector to international property speculators and vulture funds such as Lone Star, Apollo and Kennedy Wilson who are now moving to buy up IBRC and NAMA property portfolios.
Recent announcements by Minister for Housing Jan O’Sullivan that the Government plan to provide extra social housing units were “pathetic” and would barely dent the numbers of people waiting on the council waiting lists or facing homelessness as a result of inability to pay rapidly rising rents in the private rental sector.
Richard Boyd Barrett said,
“How is it that we have the biggest crisis in housing and homelessness in the history of the state after the biggest property boom in the history of the state and it beggars belief that we are now giving property back to speculators instead of housing people in dire need?”
We have statement after statement from Government Ministers saying that no-one would be made homeless as a result of government policy yet the stark facts tell a different story.
The Government need to put their hands up, admit they got it wrong and start addressing the issue by raising the rent caps and building more social housing or this catastrophic failure to deal with a growing emergency will have fatal consequences”
It is extraordinary that after the experience of an economic crash caused by speculators being allowed to control the housing market the government is now going to sell potential homes for the 97,000 on council waiting lists to vulture funds such as Lonestar”
Government starting a new housing bubble?
PBPA TD says Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) = a dangerous Tax Scam for the super-wealthy that is creating another property bubble and a social housing crisis
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett, TD for the People Before Profit Alliance has responded to news that Hibernia REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) have purchased New Century House in the IFSC saying that the purchase is evidence that the government are now actively promoting the sort of property-based tax reliefs that created the property bubble that in turn crashed the Irish economy in 2007/8.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said REITs were an extremely alarming indication that only 6 years after the economy was crashed by widespread gambling & speculation in property, the Fine Gael and Labour Government were now pumping up another property bubble to benefit property speculators and the banks, and in the process putting the economy, once again, on a dangerous and unsustainable path.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said that what now appeared to be a deliberate government policy to pump up the property sector was already producing one of the worst crises in homelessness & social housing in the history of the state. He said pumping up property prices and rents, while at the same time abandoning the direct provision of low cost council housing, had the inevitable effect of driving people on low incomes out of the housing market and into homelessness and dire housing situations.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: “It simply beggars belief that only 8 years after the worst economic crash in the history of the state – a crash caused by property speculation – that the government are actively promoting another tax scam to encourage speculation in property.”
“The purchase of New Century House by Hibernia REIT is a frightening symbol of the return of the property madness that has inflicted so much suffering on the people of this country. REITs are encouraging large corporate & super-wealthy speculators to gamble on property and we can already see that this is pumping up the property market with rents and property prices now rising steeply in Dublin and other urban centres.
Taken alongside the fact that this government has effectively abandoned the direct provision of low –cost council housing, & we now have a housing list in Dublin that is 13 and 14 years long, this crazy policy has already unleashed a major increase in homelessness and is fast producing one of the worst housing crises in the modern history of the state.
Yet again, the beneficiaries of this economic madness are the banks, property speculators & super-wealthy investors and the people who are suffering are the poorest and most vulnerable. So while property speculators stand to make huge tax-free fortunes out of captive property market, 6 families a day are being driven into homelessness and the council housing list has spiked to 14 -15 years, leaving many families in dire and insecure housing situations for a major part of their lives. The stupidity of this policy is beyond belief and is a quite sickening echo of the lunacy of that beggared our entire economy.
The only way to have a properly functioning housing sector is for the state to build a very significant stock of low cost council housing itself – both to provide the social housing we so desperately need, but also to regulate the property sector so it does not go totally out of control in the hands of speculators. We have to start screaming about this now before we repeat the disastrous mistakes of the recent past.”
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett, TD for the People Before Profit Alliance has responded to news that Hibernia REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) have purchased New Century House in the IFSC saying that the purchase is evidence that the government are now actively promoting the sort of property-based tax reliefs that created the property bubble that in turn crashed the Irish economy in 2007/8.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said REITs were an extremely alarming indication that only 6 years after the economy was crashed by widespread gambling & speculation in property, the Fine Gael and Labour Government were now pumping up another property bubble to benefit property speculators and the banks, and in the process putting the economy, once again, on a dangerous and unsustainable path.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said that what now appeared to be a deliberate government policy to pump up the property sector was already producing one of the worst crises in homelessness & social housing in the history of the state. He said pumping up property prices and rents, while at the same time abandoning the direct provision of low cost council housing, had the inevitable effect of driving people on low incomes out of the housing market and into homelessness and dire housing situations.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: “It simply beggars belief that only 8 years after the worst economic crash in the history of the state – a crash caused by property speculation – that the government are actively promoting another tax scam to encourage speculation in property.”
“The purchase of New Century House by Hibernia REIT is a frightening symbol of the return of the property madness that has inflicted so much suffering on the people of this country. REITs are encouraging large corporate & super-wealthy speculators to gamble on property and we can already see that this is pumping up the property market with rents and property prices now rising steeply in Dublin and other urban centres.
Taken alongside the fact that this government has effectively abandoned the direct provision of low –cost council housing, & we now have a housing list in Dublin that is 13 and 14 years long, this crazy policy has already unleashed a major increase in homelessness and is fast producing one of the worst housing crises in the modern history of the state.
Yet again, the beneficiaries of this economic madness are the banks, property speculators & super-wealthy investors and the people who are suffering are the poorest and most vulnerable. So while property speculators stand to make huge tax-free fortunes out of captive property market, 6 families a day are being driven into homelessness and the council housing list has spiked to 14 -15 years, leaving many families in dire and insecure housing situations for a major part of their lives. The stupidity of this policy is beyond belief and is a quite sickening echo of the lunacy of that beggared our entire economy.
The only way to have a properly functioning housing sector is for the state to build a very significant stock of low cost council housing itself – both to provide the social housing we so desperately need, but also to regulate the property sector so it does not go totally out of control in the hands of speculators. We have to start screaming about this now before we repeat the disastrous mistakes of the recent past.”
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