Fifth Anglo Irish Protester’s Case Thrown out of Court

Justice – Twenty-Six County Style

Those attending Court 17 of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin on Friday June 17 were given a master class on just how ‘justice’ in the Twenty-Six Counties is dispensed. It took District Court Judge McDonnell less than ninety minutes to throw the case against éirígí’s Daithí Mac An Mháistir out of court. Under normal circumstances this verdict would have been a cause for celebration for the accused, so why was it that it was the Gardaí in Court 17 that had smiles on their faces?

And why was it that a crucial piece of defence evidence - in the form of a tape recording from inside of Pearse Street Garda barracks – was handed by the courts to the Gardaí, despite the fact that the tape recording had not been played in court?

Anglo Irish Bank Protest May 15th 2010

To fully understand what happened on Friday 17th one has first to go back to May 15, 2010 when four éirígí activists staged an early morning protest on the roof of the front porch of the Anglo Irish Bank building on Dublin’s Stephens Green. Five hours into their protest the four, Ursula Ní Shionnain, Daithi Ó Riain, Robbie Fox and Eoin Ó Se were violently removed from the porch by the Gardaí.

In the minutes that followed a further three people, John McCusker, Pádraig Ó Meiscill and Daithí Mac An Mháistir were arrested by baton-yielding Gardaí on the ground. All seven éirígí activists were then brought to Pearse Street Garda barracks before appearing in the Bridewell Court on a range of public order charges. While six of the accused were immediately released on bail, McCusker spent forty-eight hours in Clover Hill Prison at the behest of the Gardaí who claimed they were not satisfied that McCusker was who he said he was. Click here for a full report on the Anglo Irish protest of May 15, 2010.

McCusker and Ó Meiscill – Convicted and Appealed

On January 18th 2011 the case against McCusker and Ó Meiscill case was heard by Judge Watkins in the District Court in the Criminal Courts of Justice. Both men were charged under the controversial Public Order Act 1994, a piece of legislation which has attracted widespread criticism since it was introduced. In its prosecution the state failed to produce any video or photographic evidence, or any non-Garda witnesses.

In effect the case boiled down to whether the judge believed the word of the Gardaí or the word of the defendants. Despite the many inconsistencies and contradictions contained within the Garda evidence Judge Watkins chose to believe the Gardaí. But before convicting the two Belfast men she took the opportunity to call them liars and repeatedly question what business people from ‘outside the jurisdiction’ had attending a protest in Dublin. Both men immediately appealed their convictions, which have yet to be heard.

Ní Shionnain, Ó Riain, Fox and Ó Se – Case Thrown out of Court

On April 4th 2011 the case against the four people who had taken part in the protest on the roof of the porch of Anglo Irish Headquarters was heard. On this occasion the state alleged that Ní Shionnain, Ó Riain, Fox and Ó Se had breached Section 13 of the Public Order Act, by trespassing on the roof of the porch of the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in a ‘manner as causes or is likely to cause fear in another person’. In reality the four had climbed onto the roof and erected a large banner with the words ‘People of Ireland Rise Up!’ emblazoned upon it.

During their trial a number of Garda and civilian witnesses gave testimony that was simply untrue, variously claiming that the protest represented a safety risk and that the four were aggressive, abusive and threatening. The opportunity to fully refute these untruths was denied to the defendants when the judge threw the case out of court before the defence had even begun.

As the prosecution presented its case it emerged that the porch roof constituted a ‘common area’ which all tenants of the building had the right to access. While the state brought representatives from Irish Life Assurance, which owns the building, and Anglo Irish Bank, which part occupy the building, it failed to bring a representative from ESB International, the second co-tenant of the building. Without a representative from ESB International in court to deny that the company had given the four éirígí activists permission to access the porch the judge had no option but to acquit the accused as the state had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were in fact trespassing.

Daithí Mac An Mháistir – The Prosecution, May 9th, 2011

Accused of breaching Section 6 of the Public Order Act, Daithí Mac An Mháistir was the last of the seven éirígí activists who had been charged on May 15th 2010 to be brought to trial. His trial was conducted over two days with the prosecution presenting their case on the afternoon of May 9th and the defence refuting the charges on June 17th.

The case against Mac An Mháistir was, like the cases against Ó Meiscill and McCusker, based exclusively on the testimony of a number of Garda witnesses. Despite the alleged offence having taken place at the rear of a bank headquarters on one of Dublin’s busiest streets the state failed to produce any video or photographic footage from Anglo Irish Bank, Dublin City Council, adjacent buildings or any other source. Stranger still the state failed to produce any Garda video or photographic evidence despite the fact that a number of Gardaí were using both video and stills camera’s throughout the May 15th protest.

Nor were any civilian witnesses brought in to back up the Garda allegations, even though the alleged offences took place on a bustling city street on a Saturday afternoon. So when the state accused Mac An Mháistir of ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned’, it did so solely on the basis of the word of three Gardaí.

As is so often the case with Garda witnesses each of the three provided a strange mix of testimony, which was at times very definitive and yet at other times very vague. For example all three Garda witnesses recounted hearing the defendant shouting a range of colourful obscenities at the Garda line. And yet the same witnesses couldn’t hear, or couldn’t recall, what words Superintendant Joe Gannon had used when directing the protesters to move out of the way just minutes later. When asked if Gannon had used the correct formula of words when invoking Section 8 of the Public Order Act, or had Gannon just told people to get out of the way the Garda witnesses previously excellent powers of recall hit a convenient blind spot.

 

Another example of this schizophrenic recall saw each of the three Garda witnesses give a very precise recollection of seeing Mac An Mháistir step out of the line of protesters and ‘push’ or ‘shove’ Gannon, before running away. Yet the same witnesses had very vague recollections of if, when, why or how the Gardaí had drawn and used their batons against unarmed protesters.

One witness, a Garda O’Brien, who was capable of remembering that he had drawn his baton, was incapable of remembering why he or any of his colleagues hadn’t subsequently completed the requisite baton report form. Nor had he any recollection of hearing Superintendant Joe Gannon of Pearse Street tell him that there would blood spilled at the éirígí protest in the days before May 15th.

In previous cases involving éirígí activists, Garda witnesses have revealed special powers to rival those of the X-men, with extraordinary powers of recall and x-ray vision being the most common special powers. On this occasion the super-human hearing of Templemore’s finest was on display, when Garda O’Brien revealed that he was able to hear things that weren’t even said. He told the court that one of the four protesters on the porch roof had threatened to jump off if the Gardaí came any closer – a ridiculous claim that was met with open laughter from many in the public gallery.

In relation to the defendant’s arrest and the sequence of events directly prior to his arrest, each of the three Gardaí recounted near-identical versions of what they had claimed to have seen. Those sitting in the public gallery could have been forgiven for thinking that these testimonies had been scripted and rehearsed. The striking similarities between each of the Garda accounts were all the more remarkable when one understands that they collectively bore little resemblance to what actually happened, as borne out by contemporary photos and videos.

A Garda O’Riordan, the arresting officer, testified that she had witnessed a line of protesters and a line of Gardaí in a standoff; that the defendant had stepped out of the line of protesters to push Superintendant Gannon; that she had chased the defendant and grabbed his arm; that he had pushed her backwards and that Garda O’Brien had come to her assistance to effect the arrest.

When it was put to O’Riordan that the defendant had been put to the ground on three separate occasions by the Gardaí, she denied that this had happened. When it was put to the O’Riordan that she had put the defendant in a headlock she denied that this too had happened. And yet video footage from the protest clearly shows the defendant on the ground on three separate occasions and also shows the O’Riordan putting the defendant in a headlock.

By the time the prosecution had completed its deeply flawed case it was late afternoon, meaning that the defence could not be heard. Following a lengthy discussion June 17th emerged as the next available date that Judge McDonald, the state prosecutor and the defence were all available to complete the case.

But before the court rose the defence moved to admit an important piece of evidence on the basis that the relevant witness would not be able to attend the court on June 17th. When it emerged that the witness, Robert Sevcik was in possession of a tape recording from inside of Pearse Street Garda barracks the atmosphere within the court shifted dramatically. Now it was the turn of the state prosecutor and the Gardaí to start sweating.

When he took the stand Sevcik explained that he had taken part in an anti-fur protest outside of Barnardos furriers at the bottom of Grafton Street on the afternoon of May 15th 2010. During the course of the protest he had been arrested on public order offences by Gardaí based in Pearse Street. Prior to his arrest Sevcik had switched on a digital recording device which was subsequently taken from him when he was taken into Garda custody. When the device was returned to Sevcik a number of months later he discovered that the recording device had continued recording for a significant period of time inside of the Garda barracks.

Despite the best efforts of a clearly flustered state prosecutor to establish what exactly was on the tape the judge ruled that he would allow the tape recording to be played at the next court appearance on June 17. The disk which contained a copy of the recording was then placed in the care of the court registrar who was directed to lodge it in the court safe until June 17th.

Daithí Mac An Mháistir – The Defence, June 17th 2011

Those who are familiar with court procedures know that it is normal practice for all parties to be present in the court before the judge enters the chamber, which usually occurs on time. On the afternoon of June 17th, however, Judge McDonnell and a number of Gardaí witnesses were almost half an hour late arriving in court, an unusual occurrence which set the tone for what was to follow.

McDonnell aimed his first salvo at the defence, unusually demanding that any legal submissions be made at that point – prior to any element of the defence case being heard. When the defence questioned the legal basis for such a requirement he was instructed to leave the court to take direction from his client on the matter. Twenty minutes later the defence team and the accused returned to the court and informed the judge that they would not be making any submissions at this point, whilst reserving the right to make such submissions later in the case. If the judge thought that the defence were going to be bullied into making a submission which would allow him to throw the case out of court he was sadly mistaken.

Having failed to force the defence to make premature legal submissions McDonnell turned his attention to the state prosecutor, questioning the legal basis for the case being taken against the defendant. In a bizarre twist the Judge began to question at what point the defendant had been informed of the reason for his arrest.

It should be noted that this issue had not been raised at any prior point by the prosecution or the defence. In effect the judge was introducing an entirely new element to the case – an element which legal experts believe would have been instantly dismissed by McDonnell or any other District Court judge had it been introduced by the defence. Having himself introduced the issue of when the defendant was informed of the reasons for his arrest, the judge went on to dismiss the arguments of the state prosecutor and use the issue as the basis for throwing the entire case out of court.

Having stopped the case before the defence had even started; Judge McDonnell produced the disk which Sevcik had brought to court on May 9th, allegedly to ensure that it could be returned to Sevcik. A disk that contained recordings of conversations between Gardaí inside of Pearse Street barracks on the day of the Anglo Irish protest. A disk that the Gardaí had not heard and did not have access to. A disk that had been submitted by a defence witness who had himself been the victim of Garda harassment and abuse.

So how did Judge McDonnell propose to return the disk to Sevcik? By entrusting the disk to the Gardaí that were present in court – the very same Gardaí who had policed the protest at Anglo Irish Bank; the very same Gardaí who had forcibly removed the four éirígí protesters from the roof of the porch; the very same Gardaí who had attacked unarmed protesters with batons; the very same Gardaí who had arrested the seven éirígí activists; the very same Gardaí who can be heard on the tape recording from inside Pearse Street barracks.

Those sitting in the public gallery could hardly believe what was happening in front of them. And neither could the defence who informed the judge that the tape recording was to be used in two other cases at the Circuit Court and should therefore not be handed over to the Gardaí. A plea that fell on deaf ears.

And with that the disk was handed to Garda O’Brien, the baton-happy cop who had told the court that he had heard an éirígí activist threaten to jump off the roof during the May 15th protest. One thing is for certain – he won’t have needed his super powers to figure out which of his colleagues can be heard on the Pearse Street recording.

Before Judge McDonnell finished his day’s work he took the opportunity to take one final swipe at the defence when he declared that it had conducted itself in an ‘improper’ manner and that it was his belief that the case was to be used for ‘collateral’ reasons. Strange that he was able to draw these conclusions when the defence had been denied the opportunity to utter one word of a defence or outline how it intended to refute the charges that had been brought against Mac An Mháistir. Nor had the judge heard the Pearse Street recording. Yeah, sure he hadn’t!

Case Against Anglo Irish Accused Collapses

Four of the éirígí activists who were arrested for their part in a protest at the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in Dublin in May last year were cleared of all charges today [Thursday] after the Garda case against them collapsed.

Ursula Ní Shionnain, Daithí Ó Riain, Robbie Fox and Eoin Ó Sé occupied the roof of the bank last year to raise a banner imploring “People of Ireland, Rise Up”.

The four were subsequently arrested, along with three other activists, assaulted by Gardaí and charged with trespass.

Today, a Dublin court found that there was insufficient evidence to convict the four activists.

Ursula Ní Shionnain said: “Our protest was a legitimate act of civil disobedience at a time of economic and political crisis.  We should never have been arrested and dragged through the courts but, today, we were vindicated."

 

“The people who should be in front of courts are the bankers and politicians who led Ireland to economic ruin.  They should be tried and convicted of destroying people’s livelihoods, leaving tens of thousands on the dole and looting the public purse.”

Ní Shionnain continued: “It should now be recognised that our three co-accused – Daithí Mac An Mhaistír, John McCusker and Pádraig Ó Meiscill – are equally as innocent.

“éirígí will continue with its campaign against the obscene bank bailouts and the vicious anti-working class measures being implemented by the Dublin government, using whatever means we deem necessary.

“We call on working people across Ireland to join us in this campaign – all of our futures are at stake.”

The Legacy of Mary Harney

Take an example of a surgeon or nurse who takes a deliberate professional decision knowing it will result in serious injury and deaths, that individual will in all likelihood lose their job, their pension rights and face criminal prosecution and possibly jail for their actions. One would assume this to be the norm in all professions but as events in the past week have shown once again, it is not the norm at all.

Over the past week we have witnessed the rush by Ministers in the Fianna Fáil/Green party coalition to abandon the sinking ship of an administration that has brought the economy of this state to its knees.  Minister after Minister including such 'luminaries' as Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey, Micheál Martin, Tony Killeen and Batt O'Keefe all handed in their resignations as the final collapse of the administration draws ever closer.

The resignation of Mary Harney as Minister for Health however was probably the most talked about among communities the length and breadth of island.  While all those who served as Ministers in the coalition and their party colleagues that voted through their legislation collectively bear responsibility for the actions of this administration, Harney was the inspiration and driving force behind the deliberate run down of the public health service and the relentless push to privatise it.

The unfortunate reality is that there probably isn't a working class family throughout the state who has not been directly effected and who have not suffered as a result of decisions initiated and forced through by Harney regardless of the suffering they would cause and the lives they would ruin.

As éirígí Dublin City Cllr Louise Minihan said  in the immediate aftermath of Harneys resignation, she will be remembered "for her extremely callous and uncaring attitude and the unnecessary hardship, suffering and death caused as a direct result of policies implemented by her."

She added:  "Far too many families have mourned their loved ones who died because of delays in diagnosis and treatment as a result of policies she implemented. Few will mourn the resignation of Harney the minister for death.”

As Minister for Health Mary Harney planned and overseen the dismantling of our hospitals and public health system at the same time as she and her colleagues were pumping tens of billions of euro into bailing out the banks.

She has slashed hospital budgets as well as the numbers of nurses, junior doctors and other essential front line staff. She has closed more than 1600 beds, shut down wards and accident and emergency departments and reduced and removed essential services, including vital diagnosis procedures and cancer care facilities.

Hundreds of sick patients every single day are forced to lie on trolleys in Accident and Emergency departments awaiting a bed.   An all-time high was reached earlier this month when the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) revealed that there were 569 ill patients lying on trolleys awaiting a bed in public hospitals around the state on the 5th of January.

There are massive waiting lists and ill people are forced to travel longer distances to receive vital treatment, as local services are reduced significantly or shut  down completely.  People are having to endure unnecessary suffering and are ultimately dying, and will continue to die, as a direct result of Harney's decisions. 

Make no mistake about it, she was fully aware of the consequences of her actions.   Her decisions were not knee jerk reactions or decisions forced upon her.  All were carefully thought out, planned. and implemented.  And all the while the medical professionals, trade unions and patient support groups had all made clear to her on an ongoing basis the effect her policies were having on patients and staff alike including the huge risks placed on patient safety. 

 

But, unlike the example of the surgeon or nurse we mentioned at the start of this article, Harney and all her other colleagues who have wreaked havoc on our health service and the economy now walk away with a massive pension and without fear of criminal prosecution. 

The fact that she has not been forced to hand back her pension and will not face justice for her actions exposes yet again the two tier nature of this state. It is fundamentally corrupt.  The justice system is designed, not to dispense justice, but to protect the interests of the wealthy political and business class.

In the same week as Harney resigned, peaceful protesters went on trial and were convicted  for demonstrating against the bank bailouts, while not one banker or politician has faced justice for their role in the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank and the complete banking sector.  Now despite the massive unnecessary suffering and death she was responsible for, along with her ministerial colleagues and the Sean Fitzpatrick's and Micheal Fingleton's of this world, she is allowed to evade justice and is simply allowed to walk off into the sunset to continue to live a lavish extravagant lifestyle at our expense. 

That is the reality of the state we live in - fundamentally corrupt and rotten to the core.  Talk of reforming the system is meaningless.  What is needed is the complete dismantling of the system and the creation of  a new one, a socialist one - Revolution, not reform.

éirígí welcome resignation of Harney - Minister for Death

éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan has welcomed Mary Harney's resignation as Minister for Health and said that working class communities throughout Ireland would rejoice at her departure. She also said that Harney must be made to hand back any pensions she is now due to recieve.

Cllr Minihan said: “Harney has overseen and implemented the systematic dismantling of our hospitals and the public health care system in order to pave the way for the full privatisation of  it. The end result has been increasing numbers of hospital patients on trolleys, longer waiting lists, ill people having to travel long distances to receive treatment, prolonged suffering, lives being placed unnecessarily at risk and avoidable deaths.”

“At the same time as she was slashing hospital budgets and essential services, along with her cabinet colleagues, she was happy to protect the wealth of the bankers and developers by pumping tens of billions of euros of taxpayers money into bailing out the banks and paying off their private gambling debts. This was money that could have, and should have, been spent creating a first class health service accessible to all based on medical need and not on a persons wealth.”

“Harney will be remembered for her extremely callous and uncaring attitude and the unnecesary hardship, suffering and death caused as a direct result of policies implemented by her. Far too many families have mourned their loved ones who died because of delays in diagnosis and treatment as a result of policies she implemented. Few will mourn the resignation of Harney the Minister for Death."

Cllr Minihan concluded: “Considering the appalling legacy she leaves behind her and the enormous suffering she is responsible for, it is inconceivable that she could be allowed to feather her own nest and benefit financially from her time as Minister for Health. She must be forced to hand back her very substantial pensions and be brought to account for her actions and the unnecessary hardship and death she has caused.”

Thousands Protest Against Hospital Cuts in Letterkenny

Thousands of people took to the streets of Letterkenny in Co Donegal yesterday (Saturday Aug 7) to show their anger at Dublin Government and HSE (Health Service Executive) plans to slash services at Letterkenny General Hospital and to impose other cuts throughout the health service.

Around 3000 people assembled at the station roundabout in the town at midday for the rally which was organised by the newly formed 'Save Donegal Health Services' campaign group.  Led by a piper, the large crowd marched up the Port Road towards the Main Street before turning up High Road and proceeding to the hospital itself where a number of speakers addressed the crowd.

Amongst those who delivered speeches to those assembled were spokespeople from the three main health service Trade Unions, IMPACT, SIPTU and the INMO (Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation).  Speakers from the Voice of Older People Donegal (VOPD) and Donegal Action  for Cancer Care (DACC) also addressed the crowd.

The planned cuts for Letterkenny include a reduction in day services, the closure of an operating theatre, the removal of at least 13 beds from Orthopaedics and the Intensive Care Unit as well as the slashing of the numbers of hours being worked by almost 100 members of staff at the hospital.  They are also to close a pharmacy and shut the hospital's mortuary on a Saturday.  Similar cutbacks are planned at Sligo General Hospital and other hospitals throughout the region.

Smaller hospitals such as the Sheil Hospital in Ballyshannon and Lifford Community hospital, both in County Donegal, are threatened with imminent closure.  Now the HSE are saying that they may also close a major hospital somewhere in the west but they have refused to say which hospital they have their sights on.

Fianna Fáil and the Green party are also believed to planning even further cutbacks in the region of €600 million in the upcoming budget beyond these current plans to slash services.




Following the rally, the HSE issued a statement in which they claimed they would "protect front-line services" and that all services provided by HSE West would be provided in a "safe manner".

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey, who was one of many éirígí activists from Counties Sligo and Donegal to take part in the Rally, dismissed the HSE's assertions saying that the planned cutbacks are "completely unnecessary" and will cause "unnecessary suffering and death".  He said the Dublin government are deliberately slashing services and stripping the health service bare to facilitate the privatisation of the public health service.

Speaking following the rally, Casey said:  "The savage cutbacks planned by the HSE and their political masters will decimate what remains of the public health service.  They are using the excuse of the recession, caused by their corruption and greed in the first place, to strip the public service bare and to  press ahead with the privatising of our public health service.  It is also being used to drive down workers wages and condition within the health service."

He said:  "Contrary to the lies and spin emanating from the political and business elite, all of these cutbacks are completely unnecessary.  While Brian Lenihan and Mary Harney say they cannot afford to properly fund our health service, they have no hesitation in pumping tens of billions of euros to bail out the banking sector and the wealthy business elite.  They have no hesitation in squandering millions of euros on flying around on the government jet or to invite the English Monarch here on a state visit.  The message is clear – the profits of the banks and the rich mean more to this administration than the health and lives of those who depend  on the public health care system."    




He added:  "Despite the recession, Ireland remains a wealthy country, where the rich have got even richer while workers and those on welfare have been made to bail out the banks and developers.  A wealth tax could and should be introduced to make the rich pay. Our valuable natural resources, which should never have been given away in the first place, must be nationalised and the hundreds of billions of euros worth of oil and gas utilised to create a first class health service for all."

Casey concluded:  "If the government are allowed get away with these proposed cuts, the reality is that people who cannot afford private health care will suffer unnecessarily and even die as a result.  We should not be surprised that this administration puts private profit before the health and well being of the people they claim to govern on behalf of but we have a duty and responsibility to not let them away with it.  If we fail to stop what can only be described as the wanton vandalism and destruction of our health service then future generations will suffer greatly and needlessly."

Unnecessary Health Cuts & the Give-away of our Natural Resources

Opinion piece by éirígí's spokesperson in Donegal Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig.  This article was carried in yesterdays Tir Chonaill newspaper (Aug 4th 2010)

In recent weeks, the Fianna Fáil/Green party coalition have been flagging up yet further cutbacks they plan to introduce in the upcoming budget. This follows a series of the most savage budget cutbacks imposed since the foundation of the 26 county state.

This administration's policies has decimated the economy, created mass unemployment (22,000 + in Donegal alone), driven thousands of families into poverty, forced tens of thousands of young people to emigrate once more and systematically stripped down our hospitals and health services to crisis point.

Letterkenny General Hospital

Not content to see tens of thousands of people lose their jobs, the government heaped further misery on already struggling familes by slashing their social welfare, cutting child benefit, ending the Chrismas bonus, introducing the carbon Tax and increasing fuel costs. All this has led to a sharp decline in people's living standards and has caused increased poverty.

Institute of Public Health in Ireland research published in 2007 claimed that fuel poverty directly effects people’s health. According to the Report, every year during the winter months, almost 3,000 people die due to preventable, cold-related illness.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that, in 2008, more than four per cent of people were living in consistent poverty, with almost 15 per cent at risk of poverty. Almost a third of those living in consistent poverty were children. All those figures will have risen dramatically over the past two years as unemployment soared and wages and welfare were cut.

In recent weeks we have seen HSE proposals to slash services even further at Letterkenny General Hospital and elsewhere throughout the state. Smaller hospitals such as Lifford's community hospital and the Sheil Hospital in Ballyshannon face closure also. Such cuts, if the government get their way, will mean severe reductions in essential services, longer waiting lists, increased workloads for already overburdened front line hospital staff and increased suffering and even deaths for patients who will not get the medical care and assistance they need when they need it.

However, if that was not bad enough, the HSE's political masters are now intent in forcing through even more severe cutbacks in the upcoming budget. They are planning to slash the Health, Education and Social Welfare Budgets by €1.1 billion, €700 million of that from an already underfunded, understaffed and under-resourced health service.

Fianna Fáil say these cuts are necessary but the reality is the opposite. There is no excuse for cutting funding and services for hospitals. It is a deliberate political decision and strategy based on Fianna Fáil's and the now-defunct PD's right wing privatisation ideology.

When it comes to throwing tens of billions of euros to bail out the banks or €8 million to bring the Commander in Chief of the British army Elizabeth Windsor to this state next year Fianna Fáil and the Greens have no problem. Yet ask them to invest in our hospitals and and they tell us the money is not there.

But the money is there, only they believe bailing out banks is more important than our health. This remains a wealthy state, however the wealth is controlled by a small minority. As workers and those on welfare have seen their incomes slashed, the rich in this state have become even richer. Yet the administration in Leinster House refuses to introduce a wealth tax and refuses to nationalise our natural resources which would bring in hundreds of billions of euros that could be used to create a first class health service for all.

Under the seabed off the coast of Mayo, Sligo and Donegal lies oil and gas that rightfully belong to the Irish people. These valuable resources are worth at least €500 billion and in all likelihood far in excess of that. Yet, in one of the most shameful decisions ever made, Fianna Fáil signed away the rights to this vast wealth to private multinational oil giants like Shell, who have an appalling environmental and human rights record around the world.

But it is not too late to do something about this – all that is lacking is the political will. This wealth, could and should be used to reverse the savage welfare and pay cuts and to create jobs and stem the flow of young people emigrating. It should be used to eradicate the shameful blight of poverty that continues to increase. It should be used to, not just reverse the cuts at Letterkenny General Hospital and elsewhere, but to invest in creating efficient health and education services accessible and available to all based on need, as opposed to a person's wealth.

In short, it should be used to create a fairer society, one that cherishes all the children of the nation equally in line with the 1916 proclamation, with a better standard of living for all. So the next time you hear a Fianna Fáil politician telling you how these cuts are unavoidable and how hard decisions have to be made, dont hesitate in telling them that the decisions they need to make are to tax the wealthy, nationalise our natural resources and to fund our hospitals, not the banks. Your health is more important than keeping the wealthy political and business elite living in the luxurious lifestyles they are accustomed to.

Social Housing Leasing Scheme - a “bail-out for developers”

According to the housing and homeless charity Focus Ireland, there are currently in the region of 100,000 households on local authority social housing waiting lists across the State, 5000 people who are homeless at any one time and more than 93,000 households receiving rent supplement due to difficulty in paying their rent within the private rented sector.

At the launch of their annual report published last month,  they said that the Dublin government would fail to meet its public commitment to end homelessness by the end of this year.  They also warned that the absence of more effective action by government would only result in a deepening of the housing and homeless crisis as the need for housing is now greater than ever.

Describing those statistics as "shocking", Focus Ireland Life President and Founder Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy said that “these dramatic increases in housing need have taken place at a time when we have been building more houses than ever before.  How can it be that Ireland managed to build in the region of 250,000 homes that were not needed during the boom years yet we have still failed to provide enough homes for those who need them most?”

Questioning the governments priorities and lack of investment in housing, Sr Stanislaus asked "how can the government secure €50 billion to bail out the banks but at the same time cut welfare payments and continue to underinvest in housing and essential services?"

In county Donegal there are around 500 families on the housing waiting list, while here in County Sligo alone there are in the region of 1400 families waiting to be housed by both Sligo Borough and County Councils. 

Last year, the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government introduced what is called the Social Housing Leasing Scheme.  According to the Departments website, the supposed aim of the scheme is to expand the options "available to local authorities for the delivery of social housing. Properties will be leased from the private sector and used to accommodate households from local authority waiting lists. Leased properties will be allocated to tenants, in accordance with the local authorities allocations schemes".

Under the scheme Councils are entering into lease arrangements with property owners for periods of between 10 – 20 years.  Among the benefits the developer will secure is that their properties will be tenanted, managed and maintained throughout all of this period by the local authority.

Even better news for the property owners is that the rent they receive from the council will be guaranteed for the entire time of the lease, and that rent will be an ‘inclusive’ one that includes all rates, charges and taxes that may apply to the leased property. The houses will also be provided unfurnished and on  a ‘repair and insure’ basis where the Local Authority will be responsible for the insurance, maintenance and general repair of the properties. 

However éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey has dismissed the scheme as "no solution" to the housing crisis and "nothing more than another bail-out  for developers". 

Accusing Fianna Fáil and the Greens of ignoring the plight of the homeless and those on housing waiting lists, Casey said:

"This is yet another shameful bail-out of developers  cynically dressed up as a measure to tackle the housing crisis.  The only people to benefit will be those developers who will basically have their mortgages paid and have their investment maintained at tax payers expense for between 10 to 20 years before being handed back to them in pristine condition." 

He added:  "For those in need of housing, being allocated one of these properties  by the Council to rent will not offer any long term solution.  All it provides is uncertainty as families will have no security of tenure.  Once the lease between the council and the developer runs out, the families and individuals in question will  be put out of their home and once again be placed back on the waiting list and in need of housing.  This is an unacceptable situation for families to be placed in."

"What families need, and what this administration has failed miserably to deliver, has been not just a house but more importantly a home.  Security of tenure is central to that."

"This also makes the threats to punish those who refuse to take up the offer of one of these properties by having them lose their place on the waiting list all the more despicable.  Housing is a right, not a privilege."

éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig also attacked the scheme describing it as "scandalous" and "unjustifiable".

He said:  “Having local councils basically paying the mortgages of property developers and maintaining their properties at tax payers expense for between ten or twenty years is a scandalous and unjustifiable move. The developers who built these houses, driven by greed and a belief that they could make themselves rich on the backs of working families by selling the properties at grossly over-inflated prices, have now been left unable to sell them as the economy collapsed.”

“Along with the policies of this government and the bankers, this unbridled greed by developers also contributed greatly to the current economic crisis. Now their Fianna Fáil cronies are rescuing them by means of this long term scheme which sees tax payers pay to protect these developers investments while the developer doesnt have to spend a cent or lift a finger.”

“Fianna Fáil are happy to see families lose their homes and hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs. They are happy to impose savage cuts in income for low paid workers and welfare recipients. They are happy to see our young people emigrate once again and they are more than happy to shut hospitals and reduce and remove essential health services.”

He concluded: “However, when it comes to allowing developers take a loss or go out of business as a result of their greed, thats a step too far. Fianna Fáil insist that they must be protected, just like the banks. That's what this scheme is about. That's Fianna Fáil priorities for you.”

éirígí welcome TUI & ASTI rejection of Croke Park Pay Deal

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has welcomed the rejection on Friday (May 21) by both the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) of the Croke park deal on pay and reform within the public sector. He also rejected comments by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Mayo today that rejecting this anti-worker deal was somehow not good for the country.

Casey said: “The fact that this deal was negotiated and agreed to in the first place by certain Trade Union leaders who claim to represent workers was appalling.”

“It offers public sector workers absolutely nothing. The TUI and the ASTI are to be commended for taking this stance and seeing through the propaganda being espoused by the Dublin government and the so-called Trade Union leadership who have attempted to coerce their members to endorse their sell-out.”

"Employers and the Dublin government are using the current recession as an excuse to drive down workers pay and conditions of employment. This deal is part of that process. It is designed to tie hands of public sector workers in their ability to take industrial action to defend their already rapidly diminishing pay and rights That the leadership of ICTU are colluding in this attack on workers is truly shameful and both they and the deal must now be vigorously resisted by all Trade Unionists and workers, both on the streets and in the workplace."

Reacting to comments by Taoiseach Brian Cowen on Mid west Radio during a visit to Mayo on Friday, Casey said: “It is ironic to see Cowen lecture workers to act 'for the good of the country' and to think of 'the bigger picture' considering the damage that he, first as Finance Minister and more recently as Taoiseach, has done to this country, and particularly to workers and the less well off.”

He added: “Those workers who voted to reject the Croke Park deal are the ones who clearly see the bigger picture and have acted in the national interest and in the interest of all workers. If Cowen wants people to act for the good of the country then he needs to take the first steps.”

He concluded: “ He needs to scrap NAMA, reverse the cuts in income and essential health and education services and nationalise our natural resources. In fact, considering the social and economic vandalism that he and his political and business cronies have caused, if he is serious about people doing what is good for the country, then he and his sidekicks should immediately retire from public life and ride off into permanent obscurity.”

éirígí challenge “gas campaigners” over refusal to support nationalisation

A delegation from a local campaign group seeking to have the gas network extended to Sligo and the north-west met with the Junior Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Conor Lenihan on Wednesday (May 19). Amongst those taking part in the delegation was Sligo/North Leitrim's three TD's, Fianna Fáil's Jimmy Devins and Eamonn Scanlon as well as Fine Gael's John Perry.

Also participating on the delegation were Fianna Fáil Senators Marc MacSharry and Geraldine Feeney, Labour party Mayor of Sligo Jim McGarry, Hugh McConville of Sligo Council of Trade Unions, as well as representatives from Sligo Chamber and Sligo Fair Dealers.


This meeting was originally due to take place four weeks ago but had to be postponed and re-arranged due to Lenihan's unavailability. In recent weeks, another delegation which included Senator Marc MacSharry and Deputy Eamonn Scanlon, met with the CEO of Bord Gais John Mullins on this very same issue.

Deputy Devins, who has repeatedly called for the Corrib gas to be piped to Sligo because of its close proximity, described the meeting as "positive". This is despite the fact that it was re-iterated to the deputation that a government subvention of €39 million was needed before the gas network could be considered to be extended to Sligo and that the government remained unwilling to fund such a venture. Devins said they would now seek a meeting with the gas regulator to press their case further.

The role of Jimmy Devins in recent months in organising delegations to meet with Ministers and with Bord Gais on the issue of the Corrib gas and bringing it to Sligo cannot have been missed by anyone who has been following these events. His enthusiasm and dedication to this campaign has not gone unnoticed. For those who think this is commendable, think again.

As éirígí have repeatedly pointed out, under the current arrangements, the only people who will benefit from the Corrib gas, will be Shell and their shareholders. So for those who believe Devins zeal to secure a new market for the Corrib gas in Sligo is just the public spirited and altruistic actions of a public representative keen to serve his electorate, nothing could be further from the truth.


According to the Leinster House Register of Interests published earlier this year, Devins is a shareholder in Standard Life. This is a company that holds over 46 million shares in Shell oil, who have been given the rights to the Corrib gas off the Mayo coast by Fianna Fáil and is one of its biggest shareholders.


So Devins and fellow shareholders, which includes other party colleagues and TD's in Leinster House, unlike the rest of the Irish people, will benefit financially from the Corrib gas being brought ashore, sold under current arrangements and brought to Sligo. It is in his financial interest to oppose any talk of nationalising the Corrib gas and all our natural resources.

It explains quite clearly his support for Shell to get their pipeline built in north Mayo. It also explains his enthusiasm to press the government for almost €40 million of tax payers money to be spent on a project that will benefit his bank balance and that of his fellow shareholders - not the people of Sligo, the north-west or the island as a whole.

However, his enthusiasm does have limits. It does not, for example, extend to preventing his party from imposing savage cutbacks at Sligo General Hospital, with cuts of €12 million to this years budget confirmed by the HSE. This comes on top of cutbacks in recent years which have decimated services at the hospital. More than 70 beds have been removed, wards have closed, waiting lists have increased for essential procedures like colonoscopies, cancer services were removed to Galway and front-line staff numbers have been reduced to what many believe are unsustainable and unsafe levels.

Perhaps the fact that reversing those cutbacks at Sligo General will not benefit Deputy Devins financially, and will only benfefit working people in need of decent health care, explains Devins' lack of enthusiasm for campaigning on this particular issue.

If he was genuinely interested in bringing the gas to Sligo in order to benefit everyone, as éirígí and others are, then he would be wholeheartedly supporting the nationalisation of ALL our natural resources and packing Shell out of Ireland with their tail between their legs. The fact that he has consistently refused to even discuss the issue tells its own story.

Following the meeting on Wednesday éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey challenged those involved in the deputation to explain why they refuse to publicly support the nationalisation of our natural resources despite being repeatedly asked to do so.

Casey said: “If these campaigners who met Lenihan today are serious about bringing natural gas to the north-west, then they need to publicly support the campaign to take back our natural resources. éirígí have already publicly and through correspondence requested that those who met with Lenihan, and previously met with Bord Gais CEO John Mullins, to publicly call for the nationalisation of our oil and gas. To date, they have refused to do so. They have also refused to explain why.”

He added: “Those on the delegation have been told that to extend the gas network to Sligo would require a once off subvention from the Dublin Government of €39 million, which to date has been ruled out. However, the simple solution is to nationalise these valuable resources, extract them safely and use that vast wealth to benefit all the people on this island, not just the shareholders of multi-national oil and gas companies.”

“Under the sea off our shores, lies hundreds of thousands of euros worth of oil and gas that rightfully belongs to the Irish people. By nationalising these resources, the vast wealth generated would make the cost of extending the network to Sligo and other parts of this island a non-issue. At the present time, lack of finance is the excuse. Nationalisation takes away that excuse.”

Casey concluded: “Once again, éirígí are challenging those delegation members to publicly justify their reasons for refusing to support such a simple and just demand that would benefit all the people of this island and not just the shareholders of oil and gas companies. At a time when savage cutbacks in income and essential public services are being imposed, if they are content with this giveaway to multinationals of hundreds of billions of euros that could instead be used to create economic prosperity for all then, let them explain to the public why that is so.”

Right to protest asserted on the streets of BÁC

For the third time in eight days, éirígí activists in Baile Átha Cliath were again on the streets last night [Tuesday] in opposition to the right-wing economic policies of the Twenty-Six County government. On this occasion it was as part of a multi-organisational anti-capitalist block which formed part of the Right to Work demonstration outside Leinster House. As in excess of 350 protesters gathered at the Wolfe Tone monument on Stephen’s Green the Garda helicopter rattled noisily overhead and dozens of Gardaí watched on.

Following a number of short speeches the march attempted to set off, only to find the road blocked by a line of Gardaí and four Garda horses. With typical arrogance the Garda could provide no adequate explanation for blocking the free passage of a political demonstration.

Undeterred by the Garda tactics the crowd surged forward to chants of ‘Whose Streets? Our Streets!’, before making its way to Anglo Irish Bank Headquarters, just two hundred metres away. Outside the bank a number of speakers addressed the crowd including Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson. The protest then continued onto Dawson Street before joining the Right to Work rally on Molesworth Street.

Even the constant rain could not dampen the spirits of the estimated 1200 people in attendance. So much so that even after the Right to Work rally has finished up to 150 people made their way closer to Leinster House to chants of ‘Regulation Doesn’t Work, Let the Banks Burn!’.

Once at the Garda lines the protesters were addressed by Brian Leeson, who encouraged people to show that they were not intimidated by the Garda tactics of recent days. With chants of ‘Whose Cops? NAMA’s Cops!’ the crowd did just that. Despite provocation from the Garda the protesters remained disciplined and dignified before returning to the other end of Molesworth Street and dispersing.

Speaking after the demonstration éirígí spokesperson and Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan said, “Tonight was another important step in building resistance to the NAMA republic. With each passing week the numbers of people turning out to these protests are growing. Nobody should think that we are going to win this battle in the next week or two. It is going to take months and years of hard work to reclaim this country from the golden circle, but it must be done.

“Each and every one of us need to make it our business to get our friends, families and workmates onto the streets. It’s a simple fact that 90% of the people of this state have everything to gain and very little to lose by a radical change in the way that wealth and power are distributed.”

If you are interested in joining or helping éirígí please:

Phone: 00353 (0) 86 236 72 98

or
Email: eirigimembership@gmail.com

éirígí accuse Labour of 'cowardice' over Croke park pay deal

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has accused the Labour party of “cowardice” for refusing to take a stand against the Croke Park public sector pay and reform deal. He also challenged local Labour party councillors and representatives to publicly declare their position on this deal.

Casey said: “The Labour party have refused to take any stance on the shameful public sector pay and reform deal agreed between the government and ICTU leadership, despite the negative impact this deal will have on workers. Indeed, one of their TD's Kathleeen Lynch went as far as to tell Newstalk radio (May 7) that it was 'none of their (Labour's) business'.”

He added: “James Connolly and Jim Larkin would be spinning in their graves at the cowardice and lack of action in defence of workers by those who claim to inherit their political legacy. By staying silent they have exposed once again their contempt for the right of working people to resist the savage cutbacks imposed on them by the current leinster House administration.”

“While it is despicable, it is not surprising. Labour have consistently betrayed workers interests, most recently, when Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore publicly sided with the wealthy political and business elite in opposing the planned national strike by workers last March.”

He concluded: “If the rights and living standards of all Irish workers and their families are to be protected then the Croke park deal needs to rejected. I am now challenging the Labour party representatives here in the north-west to publicly declare their position on this deal. Do they believe like their party colleagues that the deal and the negative impact it will have on workers, including their ability to take industrial action, is 'none of Labours business'? They must stop hiding and clarify their position publicly.”

New British Army Recruiters - FÁS

The article below is reproduced courtesy of Sligo Today


Who's taking the Queens shilling - It would appear that an Irish FÁS sponsored unemployment advisory office is now acting as a Recruiting Office for Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

The Millennium Jobs Club based in the Watch House Cross Shopping Centre in Limerick, whose letterhead has the FÁS logo along with the National Development Plan logo endorsing it's activities, has been advising jobseekers that there are 'many careers on offer' in today's British Army.

It fails however to advise that a new overseas military career could put the applicants directly in harms way as the British Army is currently fighting a war on two high-profile fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are also many worldwide covert active service 'hot spots' enjoying the presence of the soldiers. In both primary theatres of conflict many deaths and serious casualties are being recorded on a daily basis.

The Limerick Jobs Club also omitted to inform any applicants that it's recruitment policy is illegal and that under the current Irish law stiff penalties could be imposed for attempting to recruit Irish nationals, in Ireland, for a foreign army.

The letter, dated 19th April 2010, to an job seeker enquirer is reproduced below. The addressee's name has been removed.

The 'Royal Irish Army', see letter below, refers to the Royal Irish Regiment with it's headquarters in St.Patrick's Barracks, Ballymena, Co Antrim and was renamed from the original the Royal Irish Rangers. Battalions of the Irish Regiments have featured prominently in all wars, including the present operations.

Several members of the regiment have been 'upgraded' to MI5 status and have been assigned to the spooks HQ, Palace Barracks in Belfast, where over 400 agents are currently based.

éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey said “That Fás believe it is appropriate or justifiable to target the unemployed in this country by becoming recruiters for the British army is appalling.”

“This is an organisation responsible for the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and here in Ireland. They continue to occupy part of our country. British troops, including undercover troops from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a sister regiment of the SAS, have been involved in military operations just across the border in Garrison in Co Fermanagh and in Derry in recent months.”

“The skies above Fermanagh and Tyrone are being used by them to train their pilots for their war in Afghanistan which has resulted in the widespread slaughter of innocent Afghan civilians.”

“Recruiting cannon fodder for foreign armies, no more than emigration, is not a solution to our unemployment crisis. While it may suit the Dublin government to see young Irish people squeezed by job losses and then dole cuts to emigrate or enlist to kill and be killed in the imperialist adventures of foreign armies, Fás must immediately cease their role as recruiters and propagandists for the British army murder machine.”

This is Criticial Because This is Class War

The proponents of capitalism never tired of telling us how it is not the state’s role to interfere in the ‘free market’ – that economic competition between private producers and investors is key to economic growth.

They never tired of telling us that incentives, in the form of profits, were essential to convincing ‘bold entrepreneurs’ to take investment ‘risks’. They never tired of telling us that this was the only way to successfully generate rising levels of economic growth and wealth that would, ultimately, it was argued, trickle down and benefit all of society. Nor did they ever tire of telling us that, if these investors happened to make bad investment decisions, then they alone would face the consequences; it was only fair that, in the same way as they were handsomely rewarded for the successful risks they were taking, so too should they suffer the losses when their investments failed. That is some of the logic of capitalism. So the theory went anyway.

On Tuesday [March 30], the Twenty Six County minister of finance Brian Lenihan exploded that particular set of myths with the announcement in Leinster House, that, far from the people being sovereign, they would, in effect, be paying the debts of private banks for decades to come. By his actions, Brian Lenihan has confirmed the contempt in which the political establishment holds the very people who elect them.

The detail of the further bail-out of the banking system is truly staggering in its scale: a total of €21 billion [£18.7 billion] to rescue a failed and corrupt system.

Of this total, €8.3 billion [£7.4 billion] will be pumped into Anglo-Irish Bank, for so long the play-thing of the Twenty-Six County state’s biggest property developers. It doesn’t end there either, as Lenihan announced that a further €10 billion [£8.9 billion] will be required for AIB alone. Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, AIB had already received €4 billion [£3.6 billion] of taxpayers’ money. To put this €21 billion in context, the combined health budget and education budget in the year that the bank guarantee scheme was agreed was €23 billion [£20.4 billion].

The consequences of this decision will be felt for a long, long time; the mass of people face unemployment, reduced public services and chronic levels of debt for generations to come.

The right of the people to quality healthcare, housing and education is being made subordinate to the interest of banks, speculators and developers. Workers pension rights are being sold off so that the fat-cats that bankrolled Fianna Fáil for decades can be saved.

On Tuesday, many of these property developers, almost all of whom regularly attended the Fianna Fáil fundraising tent at the Galway races during the so called boom years, had their loans transferred into NAMA. Among them were Liam Carroll, Bernard McNamara, Seán Mulryan and Johnny Ronan, the playboys of the Celtic Tiger, lauded by the corporate media as the men who were taking the big risks to build a thriving economy. These parasites, facilitated by their political wing in Fianna Fáíl, simply inflated the property bubble, forcing thousands of households to take out 100 per cent mortgages on homes that were incredibly over-valued. These householders are now expected to pick up the tab for this gambling greed.

The consequences of the bank guarantee scheme of September 2008; a scheme that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and Sinn Féin all supported, is now painfully evident. Secret meetings between senior bankers and Dublin government ministers thrashed out a deal that was foisted upon an unsuspecting public. The loans and deposits of all banks were guaranteed on that September night in 2008 with little detail provided as to the exact state of the banks’ loan books. Any semblance of democracy has been truly torn to shreds and all that is offered is the tired Thatcherite mantra, ‘There is no alternative’.

No alternative, it seems, to bailing out the rich and powerful in Irish society with billions of euro of taxpayers’ money, while workers who actually created the wealth are consigned to the dole queues. With high rates of unemployment, bosses are using the recession to try and force down the pay and working conditions of those still in work. The deal agreed between ICTU negotiators and the Dublin government this week represents yet another shameful sell-out of public sector workers. It is utterly astonishing that union bosses are agreeing to a four year pay freeze and cuts in overtime for public sector workers while tens of billions is being spent bailing out the banks. The privatisation of sections of the public sector will follow unless workers demand that enough is enough.

This system has never been so clearly exposed as the fetter on human development it is as it was after Lenihan’s announcement. War has been declared on workers who are being treated once again as mere cogs in a profit-producing machine. That these egregious amounts of bailout funds can be made available now to rescue the capitalist banking system gives the lie to the notion that there is not enough money in society to take care of the totality of the social needs of people.

It is a lie that this type of society serves the needs of anyone but a small minority. We, the working people, need to take as our starting point in our understanding of this the fact that it is the working class alone who are the creators of wealth and that it is only through exploitation that wealth passes out of their control into that of the capitalist. Most importantly, we need to understand that this bank bailout presents stark and condemning proof, if ever more proof were needed, of the fact that, in this type of society, there is an irresolvable conflict between the interests of the capitalist class and those of the working class.

The task for socialists and republicans now is to find ways of highlighting this reality to the working and unemployed people that are the victims of capitalism. For it is only through effectively agitating and organising among our people that we will have a fighting chance of ever building the forces required for this economic system to be pulled off its hinges and a new, socialist one, built in its stead.

This is a critical task because this is class war.