An Bord Snip – Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam!
02/08/09

(English version follows.)

Le moladh an Bhoird Snip Nua ag bagairt dífhostaíochta agus aimléise tá fíorbhaol ann go mbeidh ciorruithe fíochmhara ann don Ghaeilge freisin.

Pé dul chun cinn atá déanta ag an teanga le blianta beaga anuas sna meáin chumarsáide, sna gaelscoileanna agus ó thaobh séirbhísí Gaeilge de tá féidearthacht ann go scriosfaí an obair mhaith seo. Buille tubaisteach don teanga a bheadh i gceist dá gcuirfí moltaí Cholm Mhic Chárthaigh i bhfeidhm.

Mhol an Bord Snip Nua ciorrú a dhéanamh ar an maoiniú stáit a fhaigheann TG4 agus laghdú €10 milliún (£8.5 milliún) a dhéanamh thar 2-3 bliana ar an €37 milliún (£31 milliún) a fhaigheann siad in aghaidh na bliana. Seo laghdú beagnach 1/3 ar an méad a fhaigheann an t-aon stáisiún teilifíse Gaeilge atá ann.

De bharr na gciorruithe seo beidh cláracha cosúil le Paisean Faisean, Hector, Aifric agus cartúin i nGaeilge go léir i mbaol.

Mhol an Bord Snip Nua ciorrú €1 milliún (£845,000) ar Chiste na Gaeilge a thugann maoiniú do Raidió Rí Rá, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann agus do Thaibhdhearc na Gaillimhe.

Bheadh deireadh le Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta a chuireann acmhainní teagaisc agus tacaíocht ar fáil do scoileanna atá ag feidhmiú trí mheán na Gaeilge agus atá lonnaithe sa Ghaeltacht. Gan an t-eagras seo beidh deacrachtaí móra ann do scoileanna Gaeilge a bhaineann úsáid as ábháir Ghaeilge.

Cuirfear deireadh le Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge. Is é seo an t-ioncam beag a spreagann muintir na Gaeltachta le fanacht ina gcónaí sna Gaeltachtaí agus stop a chur le meath a bpobal.

Moladh deireadh a chur le Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge freisin. Seo an fóirdheontas a fhaigheann na Mná Tí sna Gaeltachtaí. Clúdaíonn sé seo costais na gcúrsaí samhraidh agus gan an fóirdheontas seo bheadh na cúrsaí samhraidh sna Gaeltachtaí go mór mór i mbaol.

Beidh An Roinn Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta imithe agus aistreofar obair na roinne go dtí an Roinn Oideachas agus Eolaíochta.

Leis an easpa tacaíochta a fhaigheann An Ghaeilge cheana féin is ionsaí mór iad na moltaí seo ar an dteanga náisiúnta. Agus na Gaeltachtaí ag meath de shíor de bharr easpa seirbhísí agus postanna beidh siad níos mó i mbaol ná mar a bhí siad riamh gan tacaíocht agus maoiniú an stáit 26-Contae.

Gan acmhainní agus tacaíocht á chur ar fáil ag an Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta beidh sé fíordheacair do na gaelscoileanna sa Ghalltacht agus sa Ghaeltacht feidhmiú mar is gnáth.

Cé go bhfuil ag éirí le TG4 ní bheidh an caighdeán céanna le feiceáil gan na cláracha iontacha a thaispeánann siad do dhaoine fásta agus do pháistí agus an chabhair a thugann siad do lucht foghlamtha na Gaeilge.

Gan na seirbhísí bunúsacha seo is féidir súil le meath na teanga agus scrios ar an dea-obair atá déanta ag gníomhaithe teanga le blianta fada anuas.

Tá sé riachtanach go gcuirtear brú ar ar an rialtas eite-dheis gan bhotún tromchúiseach a dhéanamh tríd tairne eile a chur i gcónra na Gaeilge.

Tír gan teanga, Tír gan anam!

An Bord Snip – Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam!

With An Bord Snip Nua’s right-wing proposals threatening unemployment and misery, there is a very real danger that the Irish language will also suffer savage cutbacks.

Whatever progress the language has made in the media, in Irish-speaking schools and in terms of Irish language services in recent years, there is a possibility that all of this good work could be destroyed. If Colm McCarthy’s proposals are implemented, it will be a disastrous blow to the Irish language.

An Bord Snip Nua has proposed cutting state funding to TG4 and a reduction of €10 million (£8.5 million) over 2-3 years to the €37 million (£31 million) they receive each year. This is a reduction of almost 1/3 of the amount the only Irish language television station receives.

Because of these cutbacks, programmes such as Paisean Faisean, Hector, Aifric and cartoons in Irish will all be at risk.

An Bord Snip Nua have proposed a cutback of €1 million (£845,000) to Ciste na Gaeilge [The Irish language Fund], who fund Raidió Rí Rá, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe.

There will be an end to Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta [The Council of Gaeltacht Education and Irish medium Education], who provide teaching resources and support for schools that function through Irish and for schools based in the Gaeltacht. Without this organisation, there will be major difficulties for schools that use material through Irish.

There will be an end put to Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge [The Irish-speaking Scheme]. This is the small income that the Gaeltacht population receives to encourage them to stay living in the Gaeltachtaí and to stop the decline of their communities.

An end to Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge [The Irish language Learners Scheme] has also been proposed. This is the subsidy that the Mná Tí in the Gaeltachtaí receive. This covers the costs of the summer courses and, without this subsidy, the summer courses in the Gaeltachtaí would be highly at risk.

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will be gone and the Department’s work will be transferred to the Department of Education and Science.

With the lack of support the Irish language already receives, these proposals are a huge attack on the national language. As the Gaeltachtaí forever go into decline because of a lack of services and jobs, they will be now be more at risk than they ever were without the support and funding of the Twenty-Six County state.

Without the resources and support made available by An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta it will be extremely difficult for Irish medium schools in English-speaking areas and in the Gaeltacht to function as normal.

Although TG4 is growing, the same standard will not be seen without the excellent programmes they show for adults and children and the assistance they provide for those learning Irish.

Without these basic services a decline, in the language can be expected and the destruction of excellent work that has been done by language activists for many years.

It is imperative that pressure is put on the right-wing government not to make the serious mistake of putting another nail in the coffin of the Irish language.

A country without a language, A country without a soul.

Release Maura Harrington & Niall Harnett

30/07/09

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson has called for the immediate release of Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett and urged people to attend a demonstration at Mountjoy jail, Dublin tonight.

The two Shell to Sea activists were each sentenced to four months in prison today [Thursday] for their roles in the ongoing peaceful opposition to Shell Oil's project in the Erris area of Mayo.

In response, the Shell to Sea campaign has called a protest at the gates of Mountjoy jail for 6pm this evening, the time Harrington is expected to arrive to commence her incarceration.

Leeson said: "The sentences that Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett today received are part of an ongoing attempt by the Twenty-Six County state to intimidate the Shell the Sea campaign and the residents of north-west Mayo. These attempts will ultimately prove futile."

"Maura and Niall are not guilty of any crime. What they are guilty of is standing up for the safety of the Erris community and demanding that the natural resources of Ireland be used for the benefit of the Irish people. Unfortunately, in today's Ireland this has become a punishable offence."

"Earlier this month, the Dublin government released a report which recommended sweeping cuts in public services and social care. Today, the same government jailed two people for daring to make the reasonable point that the natural gas off the west coast could be exploited to fund the public purse. Clearly, Fianna Fáil cares more about Shell Oil than it does about Irish citizens."

Brian continued: "The jailing of Shell to Sea activists and the persecution of the campaign and the Erris community by the state and Shell is wrong and should stop immediately."

“éirígí is encouraging as many people as possible to gather outside Mountjoy jail at 6pm today to demand the immediate release of Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett. As long as they remain incarcerated, they will be a symbol of the Twenty-Six County government’s warped priorities.”

Opposition to Lisbon 2 Underway
30/07/09

Opposition to the re-running of the Lisbon Treaty got underway in Dublin yesterday [Wednesday].

In a coordinated action, éirígí activists hung banners in several prominent locations across Dublin city and county. Banners reading Same Treaty, Same Answer and Vote No to Lisbon 2 were dropped in Drimnagh, Quarryvale, Palmerston and Tallaght to highlight the undemocratic nature of the Twenty-Six County government’s decision to re-run a treaty that was rejected at the polls last year.

In June 2008, the Lisbon Treaty was defeated in the Twenty-Six Counties by a margin of 53.4 to 46.6 per cent. However, within minutes of the announcement of the result, the establishment in Ireland and abroad was calling for a re-run.

In the intervening period, the Dublin government has made a poor attempt to prove that it has listened to the concerns of the population. Brain Cowen and Twenty-Six County foreign minister Micheál Martin scurried off to Brussels to secure supposedly legally-binding changes to the Lisbon Treaty, in a desperate attempt to con the electorate in to believing that the Treaty had somehow been significantly altered. The reality is that not a single word, comma or full stop has been changed in the Treaty and people are being forced to vote again on the same document.

After the banner drop, éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mhaistír said: “Wednesday’s action is the first by éirígí in what will be a vigorous campaign against the mark two Lisbon referendum. éirígí intends to play an active role in the progressive No campaign and is confident that the argument can be won for a second time.

“All of the reasons why éirígí and the Campaign Against the European Union Constitution opposed the Lisbon Treaty during the first campaign remain ensconced within the document. The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty would ensure the further erosion of workers’ rights, sovereignty and democracy.

“The fact that the exact same Treaty is being placed before the electorate in the Twenty-Six Counties for a second time proves the point that democracy and sovereignty are anathema to the European Union’s empire-building project.”

Daithí concluded: “Last year’s defeat of the Lisbon Treaty in the Twenty-Six Counties sent shock waves through the right-wing establishment across Europe, a second rejection would give them even more food for thought.”

Stiallann Lenihan Daoine ar Phá Íseal

27/07/09
(English version follows.)

Tá moladh Aire Airgeadais Átha Cliath Brian Lenihan gur chóir an pá íosta sna Sé Chondae Fichead a ghearradh cáinte ag cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson.
Rinne Lenihan an moladh le linn díospóireachta ag Scoil Samhraidh Mhic a’ Ghoill le déanaí sna Gleannta, condae Dhún na nGall. Sárthaispeánann an Scoil Samhraidh cuid de na smaointí is coiméadaí in Éirinn agus san Eoraip ar bhonn bliantúil. I mbliana, i measc an lucht freastail bhí Dermot Gleeson, cathaoirleach Bhainc-Aontas Éireann; iarcheannaire Fhine Gael agus stiúrthóir láithreach Bhainc-Aontas Éireann, Alan Dukes; agus Colm McCarthy, ollamh urchóideach an Bhoird Snip Nua.

Mar chúis imní, ag féachaint ar mhianach iad siúd páirteach sna díospóireachtaí, an téama a bhí ag Scoil Samhraidh na bliana seo ná ‘The Irish Economoy – What Went Wrong? How Will We Fix It?’

Le linn a léachta sna Gleannta, thug TD Fhianna Fáil Lenihan le tuiscint go gcaithfí tabhairt faoin phá íosta. Is é €8.56 [£7.40] san uair an t-íosráta pá sna Sé Chondae Fichead faoi láthair. Dóibh siúd i bhfostaíocht lán-aimseartha ag saothrú an phá íosta, is ionann an ráta seo agus €337 [£291] pá comhlán sa tseachtain.

Ag ceisniú loighic shaobh Lenihan agus a chomhghuallaithe sa rialtas, d’fhriafraigh Brian Leeson: “An bhfuil an t-aire ag moladh i ndáiríre go ngearrfaí tuarastal na n-oibrithe is lú pá sa stát chun íoc as fiacha cearrbhachais na n-ilmhilliúnaithe ar nós Seán Fitzpatrick, Seán Dunne agus Bernard McNamara?

“I ndiaidh fhoilsiú Tuairisc Mhic Chárthaigh agus a mholadh an tseirbhís phoiblí a dheachú, tugann an moladh is déanaí ó Brian Lenihan a thuilleadh fianaise ar cheangal daingean Fhianna Fáil do pholaitíocht loicthe an nua-liobrálachais.

“Oibrithe ar phá íseal, páistí scoile, na heasláin agus pinsinéirí ata thíos leis agus Fianna Fáil fós ag tairiscint baoi tarrthála dá gcairde bhaincéirí agus fhorbróirí. Níor chuala muid ag aon phointe moladh ón Roinn Airgeadais faoi theorainn a chur le tuarastal na ndaoine is mó pá san eacnamaíocht, faoi cháin ar bhrabúis agus ar na saibhir a ardú, faoi scéim oibreacha poiblí nó faoi náisiúnú ár n-acmhainní nádúrtha. Ina n-áit, bhí sruth seasta ann de mholtaí a fhéachann le hionsaí a dhéanamh ar na daoine is leochailí sa sochaí.”

Lean Leeson: “Cad chuige a bhfuil ionsaí a dhéanamh ar an lucht oibre agus orthu siúd is mó san angar fad is atá baincéirí agus forbróirí ag baint sochair as na billiúin euro d’airgead na gcáiníocóirí? Luíonn an freagra san fhírinne go bhfuil nasc dofhuascailte idir Fianna Fáil agus an aicme gnó sna Sé Chondae Fichead: dhá thaobh an bhoinn chéanna ata iontu go simplí.”

“Theip go mórthaibhseach ar eacnamaíocht agus ar pholaitíocht an nua-liobrálachais agus, dá bhrí, tá stát na Sé Chondae Fichead anois ag tabhairt aghaidh ar an ghéarchéim eacnamúil is measa le glúnta. Ach tá Fianna Fáil fós ag leanúint go huiríseal an teagaics nua-liobrálaigh a scrioss na céadta pobal lucht oibre.

“Ní féidir na polasaithe is cúis leis an ghéarchéim láithreach sa chaipitleachas a thairiscint mar an fhreagra. Le seachtain anuas, tá cailliúint 700 post fógraithe i ndá chomhlacht, Intel agus Element Six. Caithfidh oibrithe moltaí a chluinstin a chosnaíonn postanna, ní cinn a bhaineann faoina bpá agus gcionníollacha. Ba chóir nach nglacfar le gearranna don phá íosta.”


Lenihan Lashes Out at the Low Paid

The suggestion by Dublin minister of finance Brian Lenihan that the minimum wage in the Twenty-Six Counties should be cut has been slammed by éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson.
Lenihan made the proposal during a debate at the recent McGill Summer School in Glenties, County Donegal. The Summer School showcases some of the most conservative thought in Ireland and Europe on an annual basis. This year, attendees at the week-long event, included Dermot Gleeson, chairperson of the Allied Irish Bank; the former head of Fine Gael and current director of Anglo Irish Banks Alan Dukes; and Colm McCarthy, the now notorious don of An Bord Snip Nua.

Worryingly, considering the calibre of those contributing to the debates, the theme of this year’s Summer School was The Irish Economy – What Went Wrong? How Will We Fix It?
In the course of his address in Glenties, Fianna Fáil TD Lenihan suggested that the “minimum wage would have to be addressed”. The minimum wage rate in the Twenty-Six Counties is currently €8.56 [£7.40] per hour. For those in full time employment earning the minimum wage, this rate equates to €337 [£291] gross pay per week.

Questioning the perverted logic of Lenihan and his colleagues in government, Brian Leeson asked: “Is the minister seriously suggesting that the wages of the lowest paid workers in the state be cut in order to pay for the gambling debts of multi-millionaires such as Seán Fitzpatrick, Seán Dunne and Bernard McNamara?

“Following the publication of the McCarthy Report and its proposals to decimate the public service, the latest suggestion from Brian Lenihan provides further evidence of Fianna Fáil’s firm attachment to the failed politics of neo-liberalism.

“Low paid workers, school children, the sick and pensioners are being made to suffer as Fianna Fáil continues to offer a buoy to their banker and developer friends. At no point have we heard suggestions emanating from the Department of Finance about capping the wages of the highest paid in the economy, increasing taxes on profits and on the rich, a public works scheme or the nationalising of our natural resources. Rather, there has been a steady stream of proposals that seek to attack the most vulnerable in society.”

Leeson continued: “Why are working class people and those most in need of public services being attacked while bankers and developers benefit from billions of euros of tax payers’ money? The answer lies in the fact that Fianna Fáil and the business class in the Twenty-Six County state are inextricably linked: they are simply two sides of the same coin.

“The economics and politics of neo-liberalism have failed spectacularly and, as a result, the Twenty-Six County state now faces its worst economic crisis in generations. Yet Fianna Fáil continues to slavishly follow the neo-liberal doctrine that has devastated hundreds of working class communities.

“The very policies that caused the current crisis in capitalism cannot now be offered up as the solution. In the last week, there have been announcements of almost 700 jobs losses in two companies, Intel and Element Six. Workers need to hear proposals that protect jobs, not ones that further undermine their pay and conditions. Cuts to the minimum wage should not be tolerated.”

Enniskillen & Dublin protests re 28-Day Detentions and Plastic Bullets

The use of 28-day detention legislation and the firing of lethal plastic bullets by the PSNI are proof positive of the British government's willingness to use repression to maintain its occupation of the Six Counties. éirígí will be protesting against both of these dangerous measures in Dublin and Fermanagh on August 8. Click here for more.

Leas Cross – More Evidence of an Immoral System
Saturday, July 25, 2009

“The Irish Republic fully realises the necessity of abolishing the present odious, degrading and foreign Poor Law System, substituting therefor a sympathetic native scheme for the care of the Nation's aged and infirm, who shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the Nation's gratitude and consideration.” – Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, 1919

While not on the same scale or of the same type as that of the shocking treatment of children recounted in the recent Ryan report, the neglect of older people cited in the report into abuse and neglect at the Leas Cross nursing home makes for difficult and disturbing reading.

The litany of ill-treatment highlighted in both reports stands as a shocking indictment of a system that condemned tens upon tens of thousands of young and old alike to a life characterised by abuse and neglect instead of the love, care and appreciation they should have been treated with.

The ill treatment of older people in the privately-run nursing home in Swords, County Dublin first surfaced in 2005 after an RTÉ Prime Time undercover investigation into allegations of neglect of residents. It was shut down in August of that year after investigations showed the level of care provided in the nursing home to be sub-standard.

It subsequently emerged that there were 105 deaths at the nursing home during the period 2002-2004, a figure well above the average death rate for a similarly sized nursing home. A report by professor Des O’Neill described what happened in Leas Cross as the “systematic abuse” of residents. Many of the dead had telltale signs of severe ill treatment at their time of death, including bedsores, dehydration and malnutrition.

Amongst its key findings, the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Leas Cross Nursing Home identifies the inadequacy of state inspections of the facility. It also identifies the fact that no one in the Health Boards or Beaumont Hospital either noticed or reported the high rate of admissions to the hospital of unwell, dehydrated, wound-infected and malnourished residents from Leas Cross. No one from either the Twenty-Six County Health Service Executive [HSE] or Beaumont Hospital is identified by name in the report, something which prompted relatives to denounce the report as a “whitewash”.

The most interesting aspect of the report, however, is that which links the registration by the state of 73 new beds, on top of the 38 already in use in Leas Cross since the business’ establishment in 1998, and their subsequent filling by high-dependency dementia and Alzheimer’s disease suffering former residents of St Ita’s Hospital in Portrane, County Dublin with a decline in levels of care. The report states that the registration of these beds occurred in the absence of due consideration being given to the quality of care that residents might subsequently be liable to experience.

Although the report’s author doesn’t make this point [and he should have], it is a fact, nonetheless, that a decline in standards of this type is a feature of what happens to health and social care services when they are ‘outsourced’ to private business interests. It goes something like this: it costs money to take care of residents. Businesses are concerned with making profit. The less money expended on the care of residents equals more profit. The tendency, therefore, is for the standard of care to be less where there is a profit motive. This is the logic of the market.

It is an iron law of capitalism that profit must be made if a business is to remain ‘viable’. Making profit from crucial social services is facilitated where you have a government that believes in the neo-liberal agenda. In effect, what you have, in this instance, is a situation where the state turns over crucial social services to private, for-profit business interests and, in the process, abdicates its responsibility to provide for the care of its infirm senior citizens. This is exactly what happened in Leas Cross.

One of the main findings of the report is that there was nowhere near enough qualified staff in Leas Cross to meet the needs of residents [qualified staff cost money] and no-one from the HSE to notice this because inspections weren’t prioritised – a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
Rudolf Rickes could very easily have been writing about Ireland when, in his book Social Justice Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow, A Critical Reflection, he notes how, “If one considers the observation that the worth and dignity of a civilization is judged by the way it treats its weakest members, we cannot help but look back in shame at our past.”

However, Rickes didn’t need to refer to Ireland specifically. In noting the tendency in some ‘civilized’ societies to mistreat its weakest members, he was, in fact, referring to a characteristic that is a relatively constant feature of care systems in capitalist countries.
As callous as it might seem, the reality is that those who find themselves in the care of the state are, by that very fact, no longer contributors to the economy. Their age or infirmity makes them superfluous to the needs of the economy, unless that is, they can be sent out to work as slaves, which is exactly what happened in many state institutions. Their powerlessness means that they are liable to be and, often are, deemed a burden on the system.

As the recommendations of the McCarthy Bord Snip report clearly demonstrate, in bourgeois societies it is the health of the economy which is deemed to be far more important than the health and welfare of human beings. Where this is the principle that governs social and economic life, it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to see how the young and old in care might not be seen as a priority for those in control of society.

Mr Tony Mullins of the Leas Cross Deaths Relatives Action Group found it “ironic to note that the abuses highlighted in the report happened at a time of plenty and not cutbacks”. In the context of a capitalist state, however, there is, unfortunately, no irony at all in this fact.
In the final analysis, the abuse and neglect that occurred in residential care institutions derived principally from the fact that the people who inhabit them have traditionally been seen as a burden on the state and society. It has ever been a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, and, once out of sight and out of mind, there has always existed the real possibility that a society that views the vulnerable and powerless this way will treat them accordingly. Thankfully, this is changing somewhat. Certainly, the ability of the authorities to keep secret what happens behind the high walls of its institutions is becoming less and less tenable. Hence, the Leas Cross report, although the best that Twenty-Six County minister for health and children Mary Harney could offer in the aftermath of its findings was that she couldn’t “guarantee this won’t happen again”, but could “guarantee that it would (if it happened again) be picked up quickly”.

The publication of the Leas Cross report does not for a second suggest that abuse and neglect does not still occur and will not occur in future in state institutions and the private companies to which the state has increasingly outsourced its responsibilities. Given the nature of government in the Twenty-Six County state, it is highly possible that this type of scenario will occur again in the future.

According to Age Action Ireland’s spokesperson Eamon Timmins: “The arms of the state responsible for protecting these people let them down, and let them down in a major way. It is unclear if the systemic failures would have hidden the problem if it had not been for the media.”
In an article entitled Respect for the elderly, Jim Clarke states that “a study into elder abuse by the National Council for Ageing and Older People estimated that as many as 12,000 older Irish people might be suffering from some form of abuse at any given time. The report, 'Abuse, neglect and mistreatment of older People' found that the reluctance of society to recognise the problem of elder abuse is merely following a pattern of how such abuses come to be accepted.”

As with all others forms of abuse and neglect, the institutionalised abuse and neglect of older people will continue as long as we have an economic system based upon the profit motive. We will continue to see the vulnerable suffer so long as the profit motive and outsourcing of social services is supported by a government that cherishes the market and is content to rule in a society where greed triumphs over need.

On a daily basis, we are reminded of the reality that the vision of the 1916 Proclamation remains just that, a vision. We are constantly reminded that the most important aspect of the liberation of Ireland, i.e. the liberation of its people, is impossible under capitalism. We are readily reminded of the chasm that exists between the intent, spirit and letter of the 1919 Democratic Programme of the First Dáil and that of every subsequent programme for government.

The more the state abdicates its responsibilities towards the young, the old and the infirm, the more it loses its right to govern. The more government surrenders to a neo-liberal agenda with its guiding notions of the ‘small state’ and the ‘government-as-facilitator for private business and profit’, the more it moves away from the citizen-centred principles at the heart of the 1916 Proclamation and the 1919 Democratic Programme.

The more it does so, the more it demands others to depose them and institute a system where the population and not profit margins are cherished.