Voting On Lisbon Begins

Today (Wednesday) the voting on Lisbon began as the polling stations opened on Ireland's off-shore islands. As is normally the custom during elections, islands such as Árainn Mhór off the west coast of County Donegal go to the polls two days before those who vote on the mainland.



It may not be widely remembered or even known that this is the case but out-lying regions on the periphery of a larger area do tend to be forgotten in the grander scheme of things.

But just as Árainn Mhór is on the periphery of Donegal and Donegal is on the periphery of Ireland, so too Ireland is on the periphery of Europe. Many times throughout the campaign in the run up to the Lisbon Treaty referendum it was often said by the Yes camp that voting No would leave Ireland out in the cold as far as the EU was concerned. They often said that Ireland had benefited greatly from being part of the EU and as good as threatened that a rejection of the treaty would have detrimental consequences for Ireland and its people.



So if the EU has been good for Ireland, do we accept that the current state of Ireland's economy is good? Taking the island of Árainn Mhór as an example, it would appear that the EU has been anything but good for Ireland. Fishing, a huge industry in a coastal county like Donegal and especially important to the off shore islands, has been decimated by EU restrictions and has left most of the small time fishermen out of work. Piers lie empty, with boats dry docked and boarded up. Fish factories have fallen silent and fishermen's co-operatives face closure. All of which has a massive knock-on effect on local economies as unemployed men and women have no money to spend.



With no money being invested in these out lying regions, as has always been the case, there is little prospect for the unemployed to find work. This leads to Irish men and women migrating to other countries to look for work, splitting families, killing communities off and seeing Ireland lose its children to foreign economies. But just as the 600 or so population of Árainn Mhór aren't important to the ruling elite of Leinster House in Dublin so too the over 500,000 unemployed on the island of Ireland are of little importance to the soulless fat cats within the EU who have been pushing for a yes vote for the Lisbon Treaty.

Ireland was never at the centre of the EU as has been claimed by the "Yes" men and women. Nor will it be if the treaty is ratified, as they have claimed. We in Ireland have always been on the periphery of the EU. We have always been treated as such with nothing more than the bare minimum being done.

Voting Yes will not change this. It will only give more power to the greedy capitalists of the EU and enable them to ignore the out-lying regions such as Ireland with no recourse for the Irish people. For those in Ireland yet to vote on the Lisbon Treaty, remember the words of James Connolly when he said, "As the separate individual is to the family, so the separate nation is to humanity. The perfect family is that which best draws out the inner powers of the individual, the most perfect world is that in which the separate existence of nations is held most sacred. There can be no perfect Europe in which Ireland is denied even the least of its national rights; there can be no worthy Ireland whose children brook tamely such denial. If such denial has been accepted by soulless slaves of politicians then it must be repudiated by Irish men and women whose souls are still their own."

Thousands Oppose NAMA and Cut Backs
22/09/09

Dozens of éirígí activists and supporters participated in the first major protest organised by the Alliance Against Cuts in Dublin on Saturday last (September 19). An estimated 2,500 people assembled at the Garden of Remembrance before making their way to the headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank on St Stephens Green.

A wide range of community groups, political parties, trade unions and lobby groups took part in the demonstration which was called in opposition to both NAMA and cutbacks to public services. The many posters and banners carried by the protesters reflected the wide range of issues that had brought people onto the streets.




The demonstration was addressed by a number of speakers at both ends of the march route. Speaking after the demonstration éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson, who addressed the crowd outside of the Anglo-Irish building said, ‘Today’s demonstration represents a good starting point for the coming months, during which time it will be necessary for people to take to the streets in their tens of thousands.


Leeson continued ‘Next December the Dublin government will attempt to introduce the most savage cutbacks to public expenditure in the history of the state. Working class families, as ever, will be the ones to bear the brunt of these cutbacks. As a result of these cuts we can expect that hospital waiting lists, the dole queues and class sizes will all get bigger. The only thing that will stop these cutbacks are massive, frequent and militant protests by ever larger numbers of people. éirígí would encourage everyone to play their part in stopping the twin madness of NAMA and cutbacks to public services.

Tacaíonn Clann McCabe le Rún um Philéir Phlaisteacha
17/09/09

(English version follows.)

D’eisigh páistí íobartach na bpiléir phlaisteacha Norah McCabe an ráiteas a leanas inné [Dé Céadaoin] tríd éirígí:

“Maraíodh ár máthair, Norah McCabe, mí Iúil 1981 mar iarmhairt dhíreach ar loit mharfacha ó scaoileadh philéir phlaistigh, ag fágáil triúr páistí ina diaidh, iad 7 bliain, 3 bliain agus 3 mí d’aois. Fágadh faoinár n-athair muid a thógáil mar thuismitheoir aonair agus goideadh uainn seans aithne a chur ar ár máthair.

“Ní léamh ná scríobh ar an tionchar a bhí ag bás ár máthar ar ár dteaghlach. Níor chóir go bhfulaingeodh aon pháiste an folús millteach a raibh orainn fás anuas leis, agus maireachtáil leis gach lá dár saol.

“Ní an neasteaghlach amháin a mhothaíonn an chailliúint seo, ach glúnta na dteaghlach seo atá le teacht freisin. Ní chasfaidh ár máthair choíche ar a beirt garpháistí, nach mbeidh aithne acu uirthi ach tríd na scéalta a roinneann muid leo agus na grianghraif a thaispeánann muid dóibh.

“Le trí mí anuas, chonaic muid arís eile úsáid mheargánta na bpiléir phlaisteacha in Ard Eoin agus sa Trá Ghearr. Sa dá chás, scaoileadh roiseanna de philéir phlaisteacha ar shlua de fhir, mhná agus pháistí. Is arm marfach iad piléir phlaisteacha a ghortaíonn agus a mharaíonn! D’fhulaing sé theaghlach Éireannach déag eile an rud céanna a d’fhluaing muid, agus leanfaidh ag fulaingt na cailliúna seo don chuid eile dá saol, maraon linn.

“Cuireann muid fáilte roimh an tionscnamh seo ó éirígí ag éileamh cosc láithreach ar philéir phlaisteacha sna Sé Chondae agus molann muid Comhairleoir Cathrach Átha Cliath Louise Minihan agus Comhairle Cathrach Átha Cliath as rún chuige seo a rith.

“Impíonn muid ar gach comhairleoir i ngach comhairle na hÉireann cosc láithreach a éileamh. Tá súil againn go leanfaidh páirtithe eile treoir éirígí agus go gcuirfidh siad rúin chosúla os comhair comhairlí ar fud na hÉireann. Is rún géibheannach seo agus áitíonn muid go gcomhlíonann sibh bhur bhfreagracht do mhuintir na hÉireann arm marfach a bhaint ar shiúl, arm atá ciontach as cailliúint bheatha don iomarca saoránach Éireannach cheana féin, sula fulaingíonn teaghlach eile an chailliúint chéanna a d’fhulaing muid.”

Sínithe: Paul, Jime & Áine McCabe

Dúirt caithaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson: “Ní rachaidh cesit na bpiléir phlaisteachta ar shiúl go dtí go gcoscfar na hairm seo go deo.

“Ba chóir go mbeadh misneach clann McCabe ina inspioráid do dhaoine le bheith gníomhach san fheachtas.

“Tá dóchas ann go dtabharfaidh gach comhairle sna Sé Chondae Fichead a dtacaíocht don rún frith-philéir phlaisteacha nuair a thagann sé os a gcomhair. Cuirfidh a lethéid de thacaíocht teachtaireacht láidir nach ndúnfaidh daoine sna Sé Chondae Fichead a súile ar threascairt chearta daonna in Éirinn fhorghafa.”



McCabe Family Back Plastic Bullets Motion

The children of plastic bullet victim Norah McCabe yesterday [Wednesday] released the following statement through éirígí:

“Our mother, Norah McCabe, was killed in July 1981 as a direct result of fatal injuries sustained through the firing of a plastic bullet, leaving behind three young children aged 7 years, 3 years and 3 months. Our father was left to raise us as a single parent and we were robbed of the chance to get to know our mother.

“The effect the death of our mother has had on our family is indescribable. No child should ever experience such a devastating emptiness which we were forced to grow up with, and continue to live with each day of our lives.

“This loss is not only felt by the immediate family members, but the future generations of these families also. Our mother will never meet her two grandchildren who can only know her from the stories we share with them and the photographs which we show them.

“In the past three months, we have seen, yet again, the reckless use of plastic bullets in Ardoyne and the Short Strand. On both occasions, rounds of plastic bullets were fired into a crowd of men, women and children. Plastic bullets are a lethal weapon that cause injury and kill! Sixteen other Irish families have already experienced exactly what we have, and will continue to suffer this loss for the rest of their lives, as will we.

“We welcome the initiative by éirígí calling for the immediate banning of plastic bullets in the Six Counties and commend both Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan and Dublin City Council for passing a motion to this effect.

“We appeal to all councillors in all the councils of Ireland to call for an immediate ban. We hope that other parties will follow éirígí’s lead and put similar motions to councils across Ireland. This is a crucial motion and we urge you to fulfil your responsibility to the people of Ireland to remove a deadly weapon that has caused loss of life for too many Irish citizens already, before another family suffers the same loss as we have.”

Signed: Paul, Jim & Áine McCabe

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said: “The issue of plastic bullets is not going to go away until these weapons are banned for good.

“The courage of the McCabe family should serve as an inspiration for people to get active in the campaign.

“It is to be hoped that every council in the Twenty-Six Counties will give its backing to the anti-plastic bullets motion when it come before them. Such support will send a strong message that people in the Twenty-Six Counties are not prepared to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in occupied Ireland.”

Stormont Isn’t Working for the 100,000 Out of Work
15/09/09

As Britain’s Stormont administration resumes this month, the impotency of its politicians in the face of the crisis in capitalism continues unabated.

Despite a recession affecting greater numbers of people than officially admitted, the Stormont parties collude to conceal both their own ineptitude and the full extent of that crisis from the population.

Numerous adjustments to the official definition of ‘unemployment’ were previously made by various British governments, which revised figures downwards by moving unemployed people on to other social welfare benefits – to class them as “economically inactive” rather than unemployed.

Today, Stormont’s politicians use the same methodology to mask the full extent of unemployment. They have learned well how to mimic Whitehall’s sleight-of-hand tricks.

The most recent employment figures for the North put the ‘official’ unemployment rate at 6.7 per cent or 51,000.

Buried among those official statistics was a shocking acceptance by the Six-County Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment that among those classed as “economically inactive” are another 50,000 people who are seeking work.

Just as Stormont’s increasing budgetary deficit is hidden from view by private finance initiatives, 50,000 people were hidden from public view in official unemployment figures.

Add these 50,000 ‘lost’ people to the official unemployed figure and one discovers at least 101,000 men, women and young people seeking work in the Six Counties.

In real terms, unemployment is actually over 13.0% – a rate not seen since the early 1990s – putting the North’s unemployment levels above that of the Twenty-Six Counties (12.4 per cent) and the European Union (9.5 per cent) for August 2009.

However, no party or elected representative at Stormont is prepared to break ranks to challenge this cover-up.

To admit that unemployment is at such high levels would run counter to the ‘good news’ stories and artificially manufactured political deadlocks which Stormont prefers.

Some recent examples demonstrate just how scarce jobs have become in the Six Counties. One supermarket chain revealed in August that a staggering 3,500 people applied for 172 jobs at two new stores it had opened. Another stated that, since August last year, it had received over 9,000 applications for just 81 new jobs.

And it’s not just those of working age that the Stormont political class are failing.

Two years ago, Barnardo’s, in the It Doesn’t Happen Here report, showed that over 100,000 children and young people in the Six Counties were living in officially defined levels of poverty, with a further 44,000 children and young people living in severe poverty. That already shamefully high figure can only have increased due to rising unemployment and high food and fuel prices, leading to even more families struggling to cover the cost of basic household bills.

An Audit Office report in 2008 found that 34 per cent of homes in the Six Counties were experiencing fuel poverty. In 225,000 homes, 10 per cent or more of household income was spent on energy bills to maintain an acceptable level of temperature in the home. Since that report’s publication, the effects of the economic situation have undoubtedly drawn more households into the fuel poverty trap.

In July this year, Age Concern/Help the Aged published research showing that the numbers of elderly people living in poverty in the Six Counties was also under-estimated by Stormont.

One of the researchers, Professor Eileen Evason said: “The figures that the Department (of Social Development) relies on count Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance as income but do not take account of the increased costs associated with living with a disability and as a result underestimates the number of people living in poverty, in particular single female pensioners.”

If official calculations included the costs associated with living with a disability, the number of pensioner households unable to make ends meet would increase from 24 per cent to 30 per cent. The number of single female pensioner households in poverty would rise from 33 per cent to 41 per cent.

In housing, 38,923 applicants are now on the waiting list for social housing, 20,481 of whom are in urgent housing need. Almost 9,000 families were also deemed to be homeless during the past year and required immediate assistance and support.

The truth is that the social and economic fabric of the Six-County state is in complete disarray and the Stormont assembly is unable to provide any meaningful or effective solutions.

Instead, it opened business with yet another conveniently created political mini-storm in a teacup while people on low incomes are being financially squeezed and increasing numbers of children, adults and older people are falling into poverty.

Similarly, no party in Stormont is prepared to confront the key issue of how much people earn when they are in work.

In the Six Counties, the well-off still retain the largest slice of the financial cake. Meanwhile, the lower paid, when not faced with pay cuts, struggle to survive with paltry pay rises to meet huge increases in household bills.

In 1990, the highest earners in the Six Counties received, on average, at least £300 per week more than the lowest paid workers. In 2007, when Stormont was restored, that gap had risen to £600 per week. And that does not include the continuing unfair wage differential between men and women.

All the Stormont parties are keen to hide the stark reality of these actual unemployment figures, poverty levels and the wages gap – not only for economic reasons but because of the political signals these figures send out – a message that the Six-County state is an impractical and ineffectual economic entity based upon a misguided philosophy that partition can be made to work.

Stormont never worked for working class communities in the past. It’s not working for them now.

Over 225,000 homes not able to provide adequate heating are proof that Stormont isn’t working.

Almost 150,000 children living in poverty are proof that Stormont isn’t working.

Tens of thousands of pensioners living in poverty are proof that Stormont isn’t working.

Almost 40,000 people seeking public housing are proof that Stormont isn’t working.

Over 100,000 people who want work but who can’t get jobs are proof that Stormont literally isn’t working for them.

Stormont’s economic agenda is designed in Britain and implemented without question or dissent by local politicians. As the British Labour government (and increasingly more likely, a new British Tory government) prepares to introduce widespread cuts across all public sector services, Stormont will dutifully follow suit through ‘modernisation agendas’, ‘health service streamlining’ and ‘investment incentives’.

The reality for people in the Six Counties will be a massive, negative impact on housing, employment, health and social services, with continued community disintegration and housing shortages, reduced services for the ill and vulnerable, and further financial pay offs to companies through the privatisation of public services with rock-bottom wages. Stormont won’t be able to provide any alternative.

The clear and increasingly obvious signal is that a new political, economic and social order is required right across Ireland to bring radical, meaningful and effective improvement to the lives of working class people. Stormont cannot deliver on that and therein lies its most fundamental flaw.

Ag Scaipeadh an Scéil – Vótáil Níl do Liospóin 2
10/09/09

(English version follows.)

Le níos lú ná mí fágtha do dtí an reifreann ar Liospóin 2, tá éirígí ag tabhairt faoi líon tionscnamh ar fud na gcúig cúigí mar chuid den fheachtas Níl.

Tá na céadta póstaer curtha in airde ar fud na Sé Chondae Fichead, contaethe Chorcaí, Dhún na nGall, Shligigh agus Chill Mhantáin ina measc.

Tá na póstaeir, leis an mhana Never Mind The B****cks – It is the Same Treaty orthu, tá said bunaithe ar chlúdach cheirnín clúiteach na Sex Pistols ó na mall-1970í. Is iomaí meirge a crochadh ar a lán taobhanna bóthair agus tá an páirtí ag ullmhú le 100,000 dá mbileog EUrope Isn’t Working ar thithe fud fad na Sé Chondae Fichead. Tá éirígí ag eagrú agus ag glacadh páirt i mórán léirsithe ag glaoch go ndiúltófar do Liospóin arís ag an bhosca ballóide.

Dúirt urlabhraí éirígí Daithí Mac An Mhaistír: “Is ceist ríthábhactach do phoblachtaigh Éireannacha é Liospóin. Má ghlacfar leis, fógróidh sé creimeadh breise ar fhlaitheas na hÉireann. Réiteoidh sé an bóthar freisin do thuilleadh príobháidiú agus giorruithe ar sheirbhísí poiblí beoga cosúil le sláinte agus oideachas.



“Ní mór dúshlán a thabhairt don Chonradh seo, agus an rún sósialta agus eacnamúil a sheasann sé dó. Mar phoblachtaigh shóisialacha, ta gníomhaígh éirígí ag déanamh a seacht ndícheall agus tá siad ar na sráideanna i bun feachtais ghníomaigh ar son vóta Níl.

“Mar chuid dár bhfeachtais tá mórchuid bileogaí agus póstear déanta againn, chomh maith le cúpla léirsiú, d’fhonn chur chun suntais na bhfáthanna ar chóir do lucht oibre in hÉirinn diúltú arís do Liospóin.”





Getting the Message Out – Vote No to Lisbon 2

With less than a month to go before the Lisbon 2 referendum, éirígí has undertaken a number of initiatives across the four provinces as part of the No campaign.

Hundreds of posters have been erected across the Twenty-Six Counties, including in counties Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Sligo and Wicklow.



The posters, featuring the slogan Never Mind The B****cks – It is the Same Treaty, are based on the famous Sex Pistols album cover of the late 1970s. Numerous banners have also been erected on many different roadsides and the party is preparing to distribute over 100,000 of its EUrope Isn’t Working leaflets to homes throughout the Twenty-Six Counties. éirígí activists have also organised and participated in various demonstrations calling for Lisbon to be again rejected at the ballot box.

éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mhaistír said: “Lisbon is a hugely important issue for Irish republicans. If passed, it will herald a further erosion of Irish sovereignty. It will also set the scene for further privatisation and cutbacks to be made in vital public services such as health and education.



“This Treaty and the social and economic agenda it represents, cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. As socialist republicans, éirígí activists are pulling out all the stops and are out on the streets actively campaigning for a No vote.

“As part of our campaign we have produced various leaflets and posters, as well as organised a number of demonstrations, with a view to highlighting the reasons why working class people in Ireland should again reject Lisbon.”

Tacaíocht do Dhugairí BÁC
09/09/09

(English version follows.)

Rinne slua de thimpeall 300 duine, mórán gníomhaíoch éirígí ina measc, a mbealach go Halla Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath oíche Dé Luain [7ú Meán Fómhair] le páirt a ghlacadh i léirsiú ag tacú le hoibrithe Phort Átha Cliath.

Tá oibrithe Phort Átha Cliath, ar baill de SITPU iad, ar stailc le breis agus dhá mhí. Is é fáth na stailce ná iarracht de chuid Marine Terminals Ltd oll-iomarcaíochtaí riachtanacha agus giorruithe géara i bpá agus coinníollacha a fhorchur. De réir léiriú na dlúthpháirtíochta ó dhaoine ag dul an bealach, tá lucht oibre BÁC eolach faoi agus iontach tacúil araon leis na hoibrithe ar stailc.

Ghlac Comhairle Cathrach BÁC gan díospóireacht le rún éigéandála, ag cáineadh iompar fuarchroíoch Marine Terminals Ltd agus ag éileamh idirghabháil Thánaiste na Sé Chondae Fichead to cinntiú go gcloíonn an chomhlacht leis an dlí.

Dúirt Joo Mooney ó Ghrúpa Tacaíochta Oibrithe Phort Átha Cliath gur chuir seo teachtaireacht láidir amach go bhfuil Comhairle Cathrach BÁC ag tacú leis na hoibrithe, agus go bhfuil gá leis réiteach gasta ar an achrann.

Idir an dá linn, dheonaigh an Ard-Chúirt urghaire eatramhach urghnách do Marine Terminals Ltd an tseachtain seo caite le cosc a chur ar úsáid an fhocail ‘scab’ mar chur síos ar dhaoine a tugadh isteach chun áit na n-oibrithe ar stailc a ghlacadh. Filleann an cás seo ar an Ard-Chúirt ag 10.30rn amárach [Déardaoin]. Tá Grúpa Tacaíochta Oibrithe Phort Átha Cliath ag dúil le tionól mór ag tacú leis an cheart ar shaoirse cainte.

Dúirt cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson: “Tá streachailt leanúnach oibrithe Phort Átha Cliath ina fianaise ar na hathruithe atá ag tarlú i sochaí na hÉireann. Ó Chriostal Phort Láirge go Visteon i mBéal Feirste agus, anois, calafoirt Átha Cliath, tá oibrithe na hÉireann ag léiriú nach ndéanfar ciseach dá gcearta agus nach nglacfar a bpoist díobh gan troid.

“Leanfaidh éirígí ag tacú go gníomhach le hoibrithe Phort Átha Cliath go dtí go gcuirtear an t-aincheart ina cheart.”



Support for Dublin Dockers

A crowd of around 300 people, including a large number of éirígí activists, made their way to Dublin City Hall on Monday night [September 7] to take part in a demonstration in support of the Dublin Port workers.



The Dublin Port workers, who are members of the SIPTU trade union, have been on strike for over two months. The reason for the strike has been the attempt by Marine Terminals LTD to impose mass compulsory redundancies and sharp cuts in pay and conditions. Judging from the show of solidarity from passers-by, the working people of Dublin are both aware and highly supportive of the striking workers.

An emergency motion, condemning the callous attitude of Marine Terminals LTD and calling for the intervention of the Twenty-Six County Tánaiste to ensure that the company complies with the law, was passed without debate by Dublin City Council.

Joe Mooney of the Dublin Port Workers Support Group said that this sent out a strong message that Dublin City Council is supporting the workers, and a speedy resolution of the dispute is called for.

Meanwhile, an extraordinary interim injunction was granted to Marine Terminals LTD last week by the High Court to prevent the term ‘scab’ being used to describe individuals brought in to take the place of workers on strike. This case returns to the High Court at 10.30am tomorrow [Thursday]. The Dublin Port Workers Support Group are hoping for a large turnout in support of the right to free speech.

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said: “The continuing struggle of the Dublin Port workers is evidence of the changes that are taking place in Irish society. From Waterford Crystal to Visteon in Belfast and, now, Dublin docks, Irish workers are demonstrating that their rights will not be trampled upon and their jobs will not be taken from them without a fight.

“éirígí will continue to actively support the Dublin Port workers until there is a just resolution to their grievances.”

Leaflet on Lisbon to be Distributed
06/09/09

As part of éirígí’s No to Lisbon 2 campaign, the party has produced a leaflet detailing the reasons why the Treaty should be rejected by the electorate in the Twenty-Six Counties.

Over 100,000 copies of the leaflet will be distributed to homes across the four provinces, including in counties Dublin, Cork, Sligo, Wicklow and Donegal.

The leaflet highlights the fact that the current economic hardships faced by working class people were caused by the same business and political class that is trying to force the Lisbon Treaty down their throats.

While the Yes lobby, which includes magnates like Tony O’Reilly and Michael O’Leary, would have people believe that the Treaty is vital for economic recovery, as the leaflet points out: “Nothing could be further from the truth. The Lisbon Treaty is based on the same flawed capitalist economic model that caused the current recession. How can the disease also be the cure? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Similarly, the publication sets out five simple reasons why working people should again vote No.

1.It promotes “greed over need”. Like the treaties before it, Lisbon aims to continue the current cut-throat capitalist agenda of the European political elite. If passed, it will lay the ground for further privatisation of essential public services, such as health and education.

2.Over 1.8 million Irish people living in the Six Counties have no say in this matter. No decisions on European integration should be taken until a British withdrawal from the North of Ireland takes place.

3.It paves the way for a United States of Europe. This treaty is simply an EU Constitution in a different guise, the same constitution, which was rejected by the peoples of France and the Netherlands. If passed, the EU can amend further treaties without referenda and EU law takes primacy over national law. It also creates the powerful positions of EU president and EU foreign minister.

4.It undermines sovereignty and weakens Ireland’s voice in Europe. This treaty gives the EU increased powers over some areas of policy. It also halves the Dublin government’s voting power while increasing that of the larger states.

5.The Lisbon Treaty further enables the process of creating a full-ledged EU army, with member states required “to make civilian and military capabilities available for the implementation of EU… defense policy”.


The fact is that the Treaty is, word-for-word, exactly the same as its predecessor. The so-called guarantees on Lisbon 2 are not legally binding. They are simply the empty promises of politicians.

éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mhaistír, said: “This Treaty is the very same as the one that came before it. Not a comma on it has been changed. Instead, we have been given vague promises from discredited politicians dressed up in the form of guarantees.

“It is clear that the neo-liberal agenda currently being pushed by the EU establishment has failed; that same establishment is now attempting to enforce an agenda of cutbacks and privatisation. éirígí is confident that working people in the Twenty-Six Counties will again vote No on October 2.”

Workers in Struggle
03/09/09

TEEU Says No to Lisbon 2

The electricians’ and engineering union in the Twenty-Six Counties, the TEEU, has called for a no vote in October’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Announcing the decision, the union’s general president, Frank Keoghan, said that, if implemented, the Lisbon Treaty would place the interests of the market over the rights of workers.

The news comes after the UNITE trade union announced its decision to oppose the Treaty. Between them, the two unions have a membership of around 100,000 workers.

In a further indicator of where class interests lie on the issue, a number of business groups, including the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association and the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies, today [Thursday] called for a yes vote in October.

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Half a Million on the Dole

More than 440,000 people in the Twenty-Six Counties are singing on according to figures released yesterday [Wednesday].

Dublin government statistics revealed that 4,321 new people signed for social welfare payments in August.

The unemployment rate in the Twenty-Six Counties is now at 12.4 per cent, with at least another 50,000 claiming unemployment benefit in the Six Counties.

Responding to government inaction in the face of economic crisis, Irish Congress of Trade Unions assistant general secretary Sally Anne Kinahan said: “To date, their measures have been too little and always too late. Nothing introduced so far even grasps the scale of this problem.”

_________________________________________


Some Lives Are Expendable

The number of work-related deaths in the Six Counties increased by nearly a fifth last year according to the Health & Safety Executive [HSE].

The organisation’s annual report also highlights how workers in the Six Counties are statistically more likely to suffer a fatal accident than workers in Britain, despite the two being ‘protected’ by the same legislation.

From April 2008 to the end of March this year, 19 people died in work-related accidents compared to 16 in the previous 12 months. All but three of the deaths occurred in either the agriculture, construction or manufacturing sectors.

The HSE’s five-year trend statistics, comparing the incidences of fatal injuries in the Six Counties with those in Britain, highlight how work conditions in the former are decidedly more dangerous. Workers in the Six Counties are up to twice as likely to suffer an injury at work as those in Britain.

Pro-Lisbon Factions Get Desperate
02/09/09

With just five weeks to go to the referendum on Lisbon 2, the Yes side grows ever more desperate and its advocates more bizarre.

Last week, Cyclists for Yes was launched with much fanfare. This hardy bunch of souls will cycle around various parts of Ireland in an attempt to save our souls and rescue the country from imminent famine and pestilence. As, according to the doom merchants of the Yes side, this is our fate should the electorate in the Twenty-Six Counties have the audacity to vote No once again to the Lisbon Treaty.

The cyclists are but the latest addition to the Dublin government’s advance guard of EU warriors in a myriad of supposedly ‘non-political’ and ‘civil society’ organisations. These organisations include We Belong, headed by former Fianna Fáil press director and confidante of Bertie Ahern Olivia Buckley. This group seems to think that people will be swayed to vote Yes because so-called celebrities and sports stars trot out meaningless points that have little relevance to the actual substance of the Lisbon Treaty. We Belong’s website carries a section entitled straight-talkers: bull-shit artists would be a more apt if impolite description of the inanities trotted out. Here’s one from musician Frankie Gavin:

“It is important we are all singing from the same hymn sheet, as a nation, and as part of the greater European Union. The Union has been great for Ireland and ironically made Irish citizens more aware of their culture and has made us accept our own language more openly in a proud way. National identity means more to us within the realm of the bigger picture.”

What exactly issues of culture and identity have to do with the Lisbon Treaty is not elaborated upon. Perhaps Gavin would like to debate the fact that smaller states will lose voting power under Lisbon, which will weight votes in favour of bigger states such as Germany, France and Britain.

Or how about this one from delicatessen proprietor Mark O’Connell:

“Anyone who ever read ‘WHO MOVED MY CHEESE’ knows that in life anyone who stands still and buries their head in the sand, while everything is changing around them, will find it very hard to survive. We have to be out there beavering away or we will be left behind- we've got to ensure we take the future in our own hands. Better to be playing than sitting on the bench.”

Not having read Who Moved My Cheese, one feels less than qualified to respond to O’Connell’s bizarre statement. The lame sporting analogies aside, he says nothing about the actual content of the Treaty. The EU cannot consign the Twenty-Six Counties or any other state to the ‘margins’ of Europe for rejecting the Treaty. This is scare mongering of the most facile kind.

Another prominent pro-Lisbon group is Generation Yes, which is jointly headed by Brigid Laffan and Pat Cox. Laffan is the former Jean Monet professor of European affairs at UCD and was recently appointed by Twenty-Six County minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin to serve on the Dublin government’s Asia Strategy High Level Group. Pat Cox, meanwhile, is a former president of the EU parliament and a founding member of the now defunct Progressive Democrats. The two are hardly representative of, as their website claims, a “movement of young people from all over Ireland who are committed to promoting the benefits of EU membership”.

So, while the supposedly non-political ‘civil society groups’ are attempting to win over voters on issues of no consequence to Lisbon, the establishment parties and quack economists are predicting disaster should the Treaty be rejected once again.

It is not so long ago that the same merchants of doom were trying to convince us that the economic ‘boom’ would, as former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern put it, just get ‘boomer’. As the economic storm clouds gathered, we were assured that we were in for a ‘soft landing’. Carnage ensued, however, and working class communities are still coming to terms with the wreckage. Now, the message is that Lisbon is required to save the economy.

The idea that an even stronger dose of neo-liberalism, as advocated in Lisbon, can be the antidote to the current economic crisis seems incredulous to everyone but those with a vested interest in ensuring the ‘free market’ and the principle of competition are paramount.

One of those companies with such an interest is Ryanair, who last week announced they would be spending €500,000 [£440,000] on their Yes campaign. The fact that big business is willing to invest in a campaign that would give them even greater freedom to drive down the pay and conditions of workers should not be all that surprising. After all, Lisbon proposes a system whereby competition will not be distorted.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s expletive ridden rant against No campaigners describing them as ‘head-bangers’ and ‘economic illiterates’ is merely his stock in trade tactic to garner publicity. Juvenile rants will not convince workers and those who have already voted no to the Treaty that Lisbon is in their interests.

Workers are well aware of the significance of the European Court of Justice [ECJ] ruling in the Laval case which found that a Swedish trade union, by placing a picket on the company which was refusing to abide by Swedish labour laws and was paying its Latvian workers at rates equivalent to rates in Latvia, was restricting the company’s freedom to provide services.

In the Viking Ferry case, the ECJ ruled that the Finnish Seafarers’ Union could strike against a Finnish ferry company using Estonian sailors paid at Estonian wage rates on its ferries, but not if that were to deter the company from establishing a branch of its business in Estonia.

The Lisbon Treaty renders workers’ rights subordinate to business interests and hastens a race to the bottom in wages and conditions – music to the ears of Michael O’Leary, who is renowned for his anti-trade union and anti-worker practices.

It is not all that surprising that Ryanair would support the Lisbon Treaty; or the computer company Intel, who have much to gain from Article 28 of the Treaty which states that “member states shall undertake to improve their military capabilities”.

The increased military capacity of member states will be supervised by the European Defence Agency, while Article 28.3c provides for the creation of a special military budget or ‘start-up fund’ comprising contributions from each member state. The increased military spending as advocated by Lisbon would provide a boon for companies such as Intel, who provide key components of military hardware.

What is rather more surprising is that the Referendum Commission in the Twenty-Six Counties has reported that there are absolutely no spending limits on private companies who are campaigning during the Lisbon referendum. Private interests can therefore spend unlimited amounts of money in seeking to influence the democratic decisions of the Irish people. This is democracy EU style.

The Yes campaign is being entirely disingenuous in claiming that these various groups are ‘non-political’. All of them have a political agenda and all of them seek to overturn the democratic will of the majority, who rejected the exact same Treaty in June last year. Lies and distortions from the Yes camp cannot hide the fact that Lisbon is fundamentally undemocratic, puts business interests ahead of workers’ rights, puts the ‘free market’ and competition at the heart of the Europe and seeks to further militarise the EU.

Against this backdrop, the news that the Unite trade union is calling on its 60,000 members to vote No is a very welcome and encouraging development.

éirígí will formally launch its campaign on Saturday [September 5] and will be working alongside the No to Lisbon campaign to uphold the democratic wishes of the majority of people in the Twenty-Six Counties who have already voted No to Lisbon.