The concession by the government on the septic tank registration charge is a desperate attempt to stem the growing opposition to household taxes. Momentum is now building against the household tax and, with 95% still not paying, the government faces mass non-registration of the first troika-imposed tax.

Huge attendances have taken place around the country in the last week at public meetings organised by the Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes, most recently last night in Carlow where 400 packed the Seven Oaks Hotel, 200 in Galway and 160 in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis.

Hundreds also turned out last week in Mayo, Monaghan, Leitrim, Laois and Kildare. This follows a trend of monster meetings in January, largely ignored by the national media: 300 in Clonmel (16 Jan), 500 in Cork (26 Jan), 400 in Limerick,(30 Jan), 250 in Kilkenny (25 Jan) and hundreds at a series of meetings in Donegal.

CAHWT spokesperson Cllr Ruth Coppinger said:

“The vast crowds at these meetings are incensed about the household tax, but they are speaking also about a general inequality in society. They have seen their incomes slashed and their schools and hospitals cut to fund the ongoing bailout . They see this as their chance to make a statement. At the meetings, people are voicing a growing anger at the government whom they hoped would take on the bondholders but instead bowed down to them. ”

“This retreat by Minister Hogan should be seen by all opposed to the household tax as an encouragement to continue the campaign of non-registration. With 95% still not paying, the government has a real problem on its hands. History could be made and the first troika-imposed tax in Ireland could be stopped in its tracks.”

One month on: mass boycott of Household Tax on course

Mass boycott of registration for the Household Tax is on course, based on the government’s own figures of around 4% after the first month. 96% of householders have not signed up, with an actual slow-down in the rate since early January. If this rate was to continue, only 12% would have registered by March 31st. Even if the rate doubled, 76% would be boycotting the tax. Registration also includes people not liable for the charge at all, masking the real level of non-payment.

The figures bear out the overwhelming opposition to the Household Tax shown in attendances at CAHWT meetings. Thousands have attended public meetings in cities and towns, such as 500 Cork, 350 Limerick, 300 west Donegal, 400 Enniscorthy, 350 Clonmel, 250 Kilkenny and thousands at localised meetings in Dublin.

The message is that ordinary people are angry but determined to resist government attempts to force them once again to pay the gambling debts of bankers and developers. People are not fooled by government claims that this tax is to fund local services – meetings in Dublin expressed their anger at the sell-off of waste collection, a key local public service, to private operators.

The Campaign steps up a gear this week with meetings in Leitrim, Kildare, Mayo, Monaghan and Roscommon and more rolled out for next week. 250,000 newsletters are being distributed door-to-door and a protest is planned to coincide with a motion on Dublin City Council next Monday evening. CAHWT will respond to any escalation in government threats or propaganda in February.

We are confident that this tax can and will be beaten. People see this as their one real chance to send a message about the onging austerity. Non-payment and non-registration are the only effective means to beat the tax and we encourage people to hold firm, ignore the government propaganda that will come and see that, by St. Patrick’s Day, we can have hundreds of thousands refusing to register and make the tax unworkable.

Press statement 25 Jan 2012 – issued after protest at Anglo Irish Bank offices, Dublin, by Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes.
The protest was supported by 9 TDs backing the non-payment of the household tax.

Single Anglo payment dwarfs household & austerity taxes

Witholding Household Tax can send powerful message about the bailouts

The payment today of €1.25 billion to Anglo Irish Bank unsecured bondholders is a national scandal. This payment in a single day equates to eight years full collection of Household Tax. The government threatens householders hoping to collect €160 million in a year, but meekly transfers over eight times that amount in one payment in one day to Anglo!

Ordinary people are being asked to accept penury to enrich anonymous bondolders in this and other banks.The ongoing funding of Anglo requires no end of new taxes and charges be placed on householders. All the resources of the state are being geared for the bailout.

The annual transfers promised to Anglo will overwhelm and swallow up any amount of property and water taxes. The sums are staggering and completely contradict government claims that new taxes will benefit public services.

€74 billion is the estimated ongoing cost for Anglo and means that every single man, woman and child in the State will pay €16,157 to cover the promissory note to a toxic bank that no longer holds deposits. This is €24 billion more than the cost of running the State for a full year. It would fund the entire health system for nine and a half years.

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes calls on all ordinary people to state ‘we will not pay for bankers and speculators’ by witholding payment of the new Household Taxes. A mass non-registration, non-payment campaign against this new austerity measure is our first real chance to send a message to government about the opposition of our people to the bailout of bondholders.

“There has been no delivery yet on whistleblowing legislation. Indeed the Labour Party presented such legislation when in opposition in 1999. The non renewal of Ms Bayliss’s contract is a loss to the psychiatric care sector and cannot but be seen as a vindictive response by the HSE, who part fund her post, to her role in exposing the mistreatment of patients.

“Similarly a member of staff in Blanchardstown Hospital has been the subject of a disciplinary hearing for allegedly sharing information related to cuts with the Defend Blanchardstown Hospital campaign.

“Whistleblowers don’t just require protection but active encouragement. More timely whistleblowing by decent people in the financial sector, the Catholic church, the nursing homes, in the Garda Siochana and many other places would have well served us in recent years.”

Campaign goes nationwide as 97.5% still not paying Household Tax

* CAHWT vows to build mass non-registration by St Patrick’s Day

* Nationwide meetings, poster and newsletter launched

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes today (Friday 20 Jan) launched a national poster and 250,000 newsletters to build a series of nationwide meetings.

Speaking at the launch today, Cllr Matt Waine of the CAHWT steering group said:

“We are part of the 97.5% who still have not registered to pay this new unjust tax. Why should we pay another tax for the bankers and speculators? The Campaign is bringing a message to householders ‘Don’t Register, Don’t Pay’, instead get involved in the campaign and build mass non-registration by St Patrick’s Day, at which time we believe hundreds of thousands of householders boycotting together would give the collective strength to go all the way. This is how we make fines and threats unworkable and pile political pressure on the government.

Already, very large meetings have been held in the past week, with attendances of 100 to 400. These turnouts should act as a warning to the government to back off and instead tax the considerable wealth that exists in this country.”

Cllr Brid Smith said:

“Meetings are now arranged for every county of Ireland against the Household and the septic tank tax, with TDs opposed to the taxes on the platforms. The CAHWT will be postering every county in the next weeks for these meetings, increasing the confidence of householders to not register for these taxes as part of a huge protest movement. The government ignores the angry mood of both rural and urban people at their peril.”

Nationwide meetings of CAHWT

Munster

Limerick: 30th of January, 8pm, Clarion Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Dock Rd.

Cork – 26th January, 8pm Imperial Hotel

Waterford – 7th of February 8pm

Tipperary:

Clonmel: Mon 16th Jan 8pm Hearn’s Hotel

Carrick On Suir: Thurs 19th Jan 8pm Carraig Hotel

Tipperary Town: Fri 20th Jan 8pm Community Services Centre.

North Tipperary- planned.

Kerry: Killarney 13 Feb.

Connaught

Galway – 6th February, 8pm, Harbour Hotel

Roscommon – 3rd of February, Gleesons, Roscommon

Leitrim (Ballinamore) 31st Jan, 7.30, McGirl’s Bar

Mayo (Castlebar) – 1st Feb, 7:30pm Welcome Inn

Clare (Ennis) 6th Feb

Sligo 9th February

Ulster

Monaghan – 2nd February, 8pm Four Seasons Hotel

Cavan 15 Feb

Donegal: Sun. 15 Jan. Inver;Mon 16 Jan Dungloe;

Mon 16 Jan Burt; Sat 21 Jan Árainn Mhór

Mon 23 Jan Letterkenny; Wed 25 Jan Ramelton;

Sat 28 Jan Buncrana.

Leinster

Louth – Dundalk – 8th February

Longford – 7th February, 8pm Longford Arms

Offaly (Tullamore) 9th February, 8pm,

Laois 30th of January, 7:30pm, Portlaoise GAA Club

Kildare: 31st January, 8pm Keadeen Hotel

Carlow – 6th February, 7:30pm Seven Oaks Hotel

Meath (Navan), Newgrange Hotel, 9th Feb 8pm

Kilkenny – 25th January, 8pm Kyteler’s Inn

Wexford:

Thur 19 Jan 8pmWhites Hotel

Saturday 21 Jan 7pm Scaville Lodge, Duncormick

Mon 23 Jan 7.30pm Astro Active Community workshop, Enniscorthy.

Wicklow:

Monday 16th January 7:30pm Little Bray Community Centre

Thursday 19th January 8pm, Lee’s, Kilcoole

Thursday 26th January 7.30pm, Ballywaltrim Community Centre, Bray

Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes

Minister Hogan’s comments vindicate campaigns warning of €1,000 per
year charge on hard pressed families

Household tax the first step to property and water taxes

The Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes today claimed that
Government plans to introduce water taxes by 2014 mean that ordinary
households will be hit with stealth taxes of 1000+ euro within two
years when the combined cost of water tax and property tax are taken
into account.

The Campaign challenged Minister Hogan’s contention that water
metering and water taxes would create 1000s of new jobs and argued
that the opposite is the case. Cllr Mick Barry, an activist with the
Campaign said, “water taxes would take money out of people’s pockets
and further deflate the economy costing jobs. Jobs should be created
instead by a state-funded investment plan to improve the water
distribution network and minimise leaks which is up to 40%
nationally.”

The Campaign warned that taking control of water supply from the hands
of local authorities and centralising control of water services in the
hands of a new utility, Irish Water, was a step in the direction of
privatisation of water services. Charging for water would make water
supply potentially lucrative and multinational corporations would bang
hard on the door to gain control of this service. The Campaign
claimed that Minister Hogan’s comments on Newstalk that he “wants to
attract private investment into the equation” was a sure sign that the
Government are planning to go down this road.

Mr Barry continued, “the Campaign is calling on members of the public
to refuse to register for the new household tax given that
registration was necessary to give the state the information necessary
for a database to levy property and water taxes.

“The Campaign is encouraging communities to organise “people power”
gatherings aimed at preventing the installation of water meters at
peoples’ homes when the programme is rolled out in the autumn.

Press statement 12 Jan 2012

Anti-Household Tax Membership Drive to Fund Campaign

Mick Murphy, of the Fundraising group of the Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes, responds to media commentary about the €5 membership card for the Campaign:

“All the Campaigns against the various attempts to introduce household taxes since rates were abolished in 1977 have had a membership. Funds are needed to pay for millions of leaflets, posters, conference venues and, of course, the new Campaign hotline number of 1890 98 98 00.

The successful Campaign in Dublin Against the Water Tax during 1994-96 had a nominal household membership of £2. It was a very important part of people’s affiliation to the Campaign with thousands signing up. The money was used to publicise the campaign and to pay the huge legal bills we had taking on the government and defending all residents called to court. Similarly, with the campaign against bin taxes.

The membership of the CAHWT is in the same tradition of Trade Union subs and is intended for the purpose of defending the members. It would be collected by the local groups and gives great assurance to people. Membership cards are held as a badge of honour and traditionally kept on fridge doors to show neighbours and to promote the aims of the campaign. It will be no different for this Campaign.

Funds are of course accounted for to the members at meetings such as the one this Saturday in the Teacher’s Club, Dublin at 1pm.”

Press statement 11 January 2012

National Hotline 1890 – 98 98 00

Launched by Anti Household Tax Campaign
National hotline launched today by the Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes in response to government threats;
*CAHWT plans to organise meetings in every county and major town of Ireland.
* National activists meeting this Saturday 1pm in Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square, Dublin to gear up Campaign.

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes today launched a national hotline. The launch was attended by the following public represenatives: Mick Wallace TD, Thomas Pringle TD,Clare Daly TD, Seamus Healy TD, Joe Higgins TD, Joan Collins TD, Richard Boyd-Barrett TD, Paul Murphy MEP.

Speaking at the launch of the Anti Household Tax national phoneline, Cllr Ruth Coppinger from the CAHWT Steering Group said:

“The launch of this phoneline allows householders to contact the Campaign to deal with their queries and to link them to their nearest campaign group. The number — 1890 98 98 00 — will be staffed by volunteers or will respond very quickly to messages. This hotline shows the serious intent of this Campaign to reach as many people as possible and to build mass non-Registraton over the next two and half months.

We call on people not to be bullied by the extraordinary fines and threats of this government. A stand can and must be taken against what is simply another austerity measure on ordinary people. We will not pay for the bankers and speculators. We will explain to people that this €100 euro will next year be several hundred in a hefty misnamed ‘property tax’ and then an additional water tax.

Mass non-registration can neuter government intimidation. For example, one million refusing to register would stun the government in its implementation of this tax, make threats of fines inoperable and create political pressure to repeal the tax.

Plans are underway to organise county-wide and local meetings and we call on people not to register but to attend those meetings and hear what the Campaign is saying.”
ends

Paul Murphy MEP slams increase in Dublin Bus fare rates as scandalous

Dublin Bus fare rates have been increased on average across the city by 15% since January 01. At a time when many people will be struggling financially in the post-Christmas period, this fare increase is yet another blow to ordinary people’s purse strings. The new fares represent an increase five times greater than that of inflation and the Consumer Price Index of 2.9% (November 2011).

Responding to the increase Paul Murphy MEP said:

“This increase of 15% is yet another shameless and scandalous attack on ordinary people. The new fares now mean that a journey in-and-out of Dublin city centre will cost many suburb dwellers more than €5. For users of Dublin Bus this is simply not affordable on a regular basis. Even though the new integrated transport ticket system is welcome news, it also represents a hike in fare prices.”

“Many of the problems that Dublin Bus is currently facing are due to a lack of capital investment and a reduction in demand. This reduction is directly attributable to many not being able to afford public transport and obviously many others no longer commuting to work due to job loss. This is yet another indictment of austerity as being a clear excarebator of deflation and unemployment”

He added:

“Public transport should be a vital part of any urban area in terms of jobs and infrastrucutre. There are also environmental factors to consider in relation to making bus services less attractive. In the past we have seen Governments hiking up prices to make privatisation more attractive for potential investors. I call on the Minister for Transport, Tourism to reverse these price hikes and to give a guarantee that Dublin Bus’ services will be safeguared and not privatised.”

Responding to the occupation by workers of the La Senza lingerie outlet in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre following the sudden announcement of the firm’s closure of all its Irish operations Socialist Party/United Left Alliance TD Clare Daly said:

“Like Vita Cortex and Lagan Brick and countless previous examples since the crisis began here we have another situation where workers are treated with utter contempt.

“With no arrangements for redundancy and no opportunity for the workers to be involved at looking at options to save their jobs the occupation of the shops in Liffey Valley and Cork is 100% justiftlet in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre following the sudden announcement of the firm’s closure of all its Irish operations Socialist Party/United Left Alliance TD Clare Daly said:

“Like Vita Cortex and Lagan Brick and countless previous examples since the crisis began here we have another situation where workers are treated with utter contempt.

“With no arrangements for redundancy and no opportunity for the workers to be involved at looking at options to save their jobs the occupation of the shops in Liffey Valley and Cork is 100% justified. Workers from the closed outlets in Grafton Street and Dundrum have joined their colleagues in Liffey Valley.

“These workers deserve the active support of their community and workers everywhere. Ways of forging links with workers in the closed chains in the North and Britain should be found so that maximum organised pressure can be put on the company.

“The determined stand taken by these workers demonstrates that the ground for a massive unionisation drive in the retail sector is very fertile. Our trade union movement must be equal to the task.

“It is also becoming increasingly obvious to workers that militant tactics are required to protect their rights. The principles of the global occupation movement have found there way into the popular consciousness of workers in Ireland which is something the Socialist Party welcomes.”

Effective state ownership via NAMA of companies like Vita Cortex should result in production being maintained and jobs saved or created

Responding to the research produced by Vision-net which looked at the impact of the crisis on private companies last year Joe Higgins TD said

“The figures provided by Vision-net regarding the closure of 1,930 private companies in 2011 up to November amount to further testimony of the failure of austerity. That this figure was 20% up on 2010 and also given the fact that this government is persisting with a strategy of austerity it is blindingly obvious that this trend will continue.

“The most high risk sectors according to the research were hotels, bars, retail and wholesale, in other words those sectors most sensitive to the spending power of low and middle income workers. This backs up our contention that the cutback approach of successive governments and unfortunately advocated by the representatives of small employers is totally self defeating. ”

Clare Daly TD said:

“The government themselves have indicated that they expect at least 40,000 job losses in the private sector over most of 2012 and the whole of 2013. We know this because they have projected €185 million in ‘savings’ over this period by cutting the employers rebate for statutory redundancy.

“We can extrapolate from 2010 figures (figure for all of 2011 are not yet available) based on the average rebate per worker made redundant that almost 39,000 will receive statutory redundancy from the time the reduced rebate comes into effect until the end of 2013. If one takes into account those workers who won’t have worked the necessary two years to avail of statutory redundancy you are looking easily over 40,000 job losses based on the government’s own figures.”

“This shows that in reality they don’t even believe their own propaganda about creating the conditions for jobs!”

Joe Higgins added:

“The United Left Alliance proposed a range of job creation measures in the run up to the budget centered around an emergency programme of public works. The Socialist Party in addition to this calls for the nationalisation of firms threatened with closure or widespread job losses.

“Take Vita Cortex in Cork for example which was a viable firm with a full order book but because of their employers entanglement with NAMA have been sacked in the most outrageous manner . The workers are demanding their statutory redundancy which is their right. However I ask the question, why must this firm which is already in effective state ownership close?

“Instead production could resume under public ownership but under the local control and management of those workers who want to hold on to their jobs and likewise employment opportunities could be created to fill the vacancies of those who want to take the redundancy. These proposals will meet with predictable scoffs from the government and their supporters in the media but I say to them that this is the only adequate response to the jobs catastrophe they preside over.”

Speaking at the press conference in Buswells Hotel on behalf of the CAHWT, Malachy Steenson, ACRA and Paul Murphy, Dublin MEP, said:

The fast forwarding of the so-called Property Tax nails the lie from the government that ‘just €2 a week’ was being asked of householders. What is now revealed is a burden of hundreds of euros on low and middle income homeowners already struggling with inflated mortgages, negative equity and drastic cuts in incomes.

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes believes this is not a property tax. It should more properly be called a home tax, a levy on the family home that takes no account of the actual income of the occupants.

The Commission on Taxation recommendation of a tax of €188 on homes valued at up to €150,000; €563 on homes between €150,000 and €300,000 and €938 on homes up to €450,000 hits at the modest homeowner. The average price of a house in Dublin in 2006 was €385,000, which implies a home tax of up to €1,000 on young families in the capital.

If the government was serious about taxing the rich proportionately, it would go after all property by introducing a tax on the assets and wealth of the wealthy. Rich people have lots of property – shares, helicopters, commercial property, pension pots, sports cars and so on — and not just their residential homes. In contrast, the family home is the only real property of low and middle income earners. For most people, it is a place to live, not an investment.

Also incredible is the idea that the site on which homes reside holds huge value. Tens of thousands of homeowners are living in homes where prices have crashed and are highly distressed trying to pay mortgages based on bubble prices. The figures cited of a 500 to 600 euro tax on a modest terraced or semi-detached home show how removed this government must be from reality.

Government and media spin is that most European countries have property taxes. However, such comparisons cannot be made between countries as there is totally different public service provision, as well as huge disparity in the indirect taxes burden.

In any case, this home tax is yet another instalment in the ongoing austerity on ordinary people in order to fund the bank bailouts. It is being implemented at the behest of the EU/IMF. By yet again taking hundreds of millions out of the economy, it would further damage any prospect of recovery and should be resisted.

“I and my party colleagues support the action taken by the EBS workers 100%. A clear distinction must be made between the obscene rewards still given to the senior management in Ireland’s banks and the hard won pay and conditions of the ordinary employees.

“The strike by the EBS workers clearly falls into the latter category. The 13th month payment was a modest but important concession won by EBS workers 45 years ago to supplement a basic salary range which today amounts to €18,000 to €34,000, in other words below the average industrial wage.

“When I called upon Minister Noonan in the Dáil last week to intervene and give his consent to the 13th month payment he scandalously attempted to put the EBS workers in the same category as the top bankers who, incidentally, in the case of EBS received bonuses this year thanks to an exemption stood over by this government.

“The strike is a warning to senior management and the government that these workers have had enough. If there is no movement from the employer further action will likely be needed to place the necessary pressure on the employers.

“This dispute has to be understood in a wider context of an assault on the jobs and conditions of ordinary workers across the entire financial sector since the crisis began. The employers and government are opportunistically using the crisis and the justifiable anger that exists among the wider public towards the banks and financial institutions to implement sackings and cuts.

“A fighting response is needed and the lead from UNITE and the IBOA is vital in that regard. The EBS workers have set a good example to others.

“The Socialist Party will continue to give the EBS workers every practical support we can until the workers win back the payment they are rightfully due.”

The government has targeted 1.6 million householders to pay this tax. They are supposed to volunteer registration of their homes and pay at least part of the €100 demanded by March 31. Responding to a very strong mood to resist this new imposition, the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes has outlined clearly how an unstoppable movement of opposition can be built.

The Campaign is calling for the most effective strategy to be deployed which is mass non registration and non payment. The Campaign is pointing out how those who might be a little apprehensive that they would be isolated if they take a stand, can approach the issue step by step.

The first deadline for registration is March 31. In the month of January no one among the huge majority that oppose the tax should register or pay. During the month of February likewise, and also the first three weeks of March. That would mean arriving at the last week of March with well over a million householders, or more than three million people, having refused to register or pay. That would demonstrate their enormous power and give confidence that a permanent boycott is the way to win and can win. Any government would set itself against such a demonstration of people power at its peril.
For three years now ordinary people have been callously targeted to pay for the crisis brought about by the greed of the players in the financial markets who gambled on Irish property in pursuit of mega profits and lost, but then demanded that society at large make up their bad gambling debts. Public sector workers have had their wages slashed. Likewise, private sector workers in many cases, while many have lost their jobs. The Universal Social Charge has decimated people’s take home pay. Homeowners in negative equity and unsustainable monthly mortgage payments suffer.

All of this was imposed on them without a choice. Money was taken directly from their pay packets or in some other way which they had no possibility to stop. In the case of the Household Tax, for the first time, people have a choice to refuse to pay.

The next key issue is to organise active campaigns in every county. Already public meetings have been held by Campaign activists from Donegal to Wexford. In many rural areas they have blended with the protest against a new septic tank registration tax which is being levied on those who were not in a location to be tied into the public drainage systems constructed by local authorities.

Five United Left Dáil deputies are taking a very strong stand against the new tax. A number of independent deputies are also standing very firm. This is very important but the tax will only be defeated and a blow struck for taxation justice if ordinary people become actively involved themselves and make it into a real vibrant campaign. That means people helping to organise meetings in their communities. It means distributing campaign leaflets door to door so that everybody is kept informed. It means raising finance so that resources are available to publish campaign material but also to have a legal defence fund to fight in the courts and defend householders if there was an attempt to bring them to court.

A template for this campaign is the successful Anti Water Charges Campaign which culminated in the dramatic abolition of the hated water tax in December of 1996. This followed a long struggle beginning after the then Labour Leader Dick Spring brought in local charges in 1983.The campaign intensified massively in 1994 when three Dublin Councils reintroduced the water charges and were greeted with organised resistance in the form of a boycott by tens of thousands of householders.

Intimidation of protesting householders by water disconnection or court action was strongly resisted. The then Fine/Labour government recognised reality and abolished a tax that would otherwise have risen to a €1,000 or more by now. The campaign against the Household Tax will be far greater in its scope, national in scale and massively significant as a blow against the ruinous policy of austerity and the crazed workings of the financial markets. People can become part of this by accessing www.nohouseholdtax.org

Mass campaign of non-payment and non-registration stepped up against new draconian Household Tax

Speaking today at Press conference at Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin, on Thursday 15 December 2011:

Cllr Ciaran Perry (Ind) gave background :

“The CAHWT was set up over the last 12 months in preparation for a new burden of household, property and water taxes being enforced on householders. The Campaign is based on mass non-payment as the keyway to defeat these taxes. Already major meetings have been held around the country before this tax is even introduced, with attendances of sometimes even 100s at meetings in Donegal, Sligo, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, Kilkenny, Laois, Dublin and other areas. We pledge to build a powerful campaign with meetings in the new year to establish groups around the country.”

Eoghan Ryan, activist (Workers Solidarity Movement), said:

“This is and will progress into one of the most unjust taxes in this country’s history. It is a hugely regressive tax inflicted on 1.6 million households. There are thousands of families in real hardship already after three years of austerity. The low level of waivers shows the real nature of this tax, with pensioners, social welfare recipients and those in negative equity all included. Far from being about just €2 a week as the Minister refrains, this is the first step in implementing a property and water tax which would be a real burden on home-owners. The ESRI has called for over one billion euro to be raised from this tax and suggested sums of 1,300 per household. This must be fought by the entire community.”

Cllr Brid Smith (People Before Profit/United Left Allliance):

“We are continually told that this tax is to provide for local services. Nothing could be further from th

The Socialist Party TD for Dublin West, Joe Higgins, has called on Element Six, which is a subsidiary of the incredibly wealthy mutlinational De Beers to immediately honour the agreed payments into its Defined Benefit Pension Scheme, after it announced that it is winding up this plan.

In 2009, De Beers/Element Six came to an agreement with the Labour Relations Commission that in return for a reduction in the terms of redundancy offered to laid-off workers, the company would honour its outstanding obligations to the Defined Benefit Scheme up to 2020. The company had since written to employees, deferred and retired members to confirm its commitment to the plan.

Joe Higgins TD on the matter said “It is an outrage that De Beers/Element Six is reneging on its commitment to honour pension contracts. This is a firm that has been in Shannon since 1960
and has made very substantial profits in the process. The complete disregard shown to current and former employees is scandalous. Since the announcement that the scheme was being wound-up, the company has made no attempt to engage with the workers and they have also signalled their intention to not honour the outstanding debt due to the pension scheme. It is simply not acceptable, for De Beers which posted pre-tax profits of $1.2billion for the first six months of 2011, to plead inability to pay.”

“I call on the De Beers company, which in June reported having gross assets totalling €8.2 billion, to immediately honour outstanding and future pension entitlements. If it does not, it is crucial that the workers of Element Six alongise retired employees mount a serious challenge on this company, using industrial action if necessary. I call on SIPTU who are representing these workers to take a stance on the increasing phenomenon of MNCs using the economic crisis internationally to attack wages, working conditions and pension entitlements.”

National Organising Forum of Campaign to take place next Saturday at 1:30pm in Teacher’s Club in 36 Parnell Square

“Minister Phil Hogan’s statement yesterday that people will ‘pay through the nose’ for water is a true indication of what ordinary people will be faced with in a short few years if the government gets its way.

“Despite his other utterances about the recently announced Household Charge being ‘only €100′ people well understand that as we seen with the bin tax this is but a first stage of what ESRI economist John Fitzgerald estimates will be combined water and property taxes of over €1,000 per annum.

“Early indications from street stalls activities and door to door canvases by activists in communities alongside opinion polls show deep opposition in society to these charges and a widespread willingness to engage in an active boycott campaign.

“A number of left political groups, residents associations and ordinary community and trade union activists have initiated the Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes. We see ourselves building a mass campaign of non-payment throughout the country in the same tradition as the successful Anti Water Charges Campaign of the 1990s.

“Already some 80 to 100 public meetings are being planned for every community in Dublin and city and county. This Saturday’s National Organising Forum is intended to equip people who want to fight the charge from across the country with the know-how for building campaigns of non-payment in their community. Anybody who wants to fight this charge is welcome to attend.

“Before this unjust Household Charge is implemented in January there will be in place a visible campaign capable of getting information into the communities and responding to every threat that comes from the government to bully people into payment.

It is well understood by many working people and the unemployed that this charge is simply another austerity measure at the behest of the EU/IMF which won’t boost the services provided by our local authorities. People are at breaking point and the Household Charge alongside other cuts and impositions will provoke an inevitable fightback.”

For information and confirmation

Malachy Steenson (Association of Combined Residents Associations) 086 6024239

Tom Crilly (Workers Party) 087 2937558

John O’Neill (Irish Socialist Network) 0872762719

Cllr. Cieran Perry 087 9393331

Gregor Kerr (Workers Solidarity Movement) 086 1501151

Stewart Reddin (éirígí) 086 2146746

Frank Keoghan (People’s Movement) 087 2308330

Joe Higgins TD (Socialist Party/United Left Alliance) c/o 087 2400331

Joan Collins TD (People Before Profit/United Left Alliance) 086 3888151

Cllr Brid Smith (Socialist Workers Party/United Left Alliance) 087 9090166

*United Left calls on electorate to put a real opposition in the Dail

*Best way to stop Fine Gael agenda is to vote against the coalition for cuts

In a statement today, the United Left Alliance said that the electorate must put a real opposition into the next Dail who will stand up to the coalition for cuts. The Alliance accused the Labour Party of being cynical and opportunist is its attack on Fine Gael as the “party of austerity” and cuts.

The Alliance said that the current squabble between Labour and Fine Gael is about who will take most off ordinary families. Fundamentally, neither party represents any change in current policy which is focused on cutting the livelihood of workers, the unemployed and social welfare recipients in order to fund the bail out of the banks. Rather than a policy divide the real divide is about the number of cabinet seats each party will have.

Joe Higgins MEP and Socialist Party / ULA candidate in Dublin West said:

“Labour’s opportunism and cynicism is breathtaking. The reality is that the Labour Party has accepted the parameters of the EU/IMF austerity itself and proposes cuts that are also savaged, unjust and will further damage the economy.

“What is the reality? Fine Gael Propose cuts and extra taxes of €6 billion this year – Labour is only a little way behind at €4.5 billion. Fine Gael plans to axe 30,000 jobs in the public sector with Labour putting the figure at 18,000. Fine Gael intend to impose a new site tax that is a home tax – Labour likewise.

“In attacking Fine Gael for its proposed cuts, the Labour Party is being utterly dishonest. This is a desperate attempt to try and win support by tapping into the anger among the big majority over the savage attacks on living standards to pay off the banks bad gambling debts. But while pretending to be the champions of ordinary people, the Labour Party is cruelly deceiving them in covering up its own ageanda of cuts and stealth taxes.”

Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett People Before Profit / ULA candidate for Dun Laoghaire said:

“Both Fine Gael and Labour will continue the attacks on ordinary people. Neither is committed to reversing the cuts and tax hikes in the Budget. Neither is committed to scraping the Universal Social Charge. We should not forget that both parties facilitated the government in passing this draconian budget. Both parties are fundamentally committed to taking money from the public to bail out the banks. Neither is committed to taxing the real wealth in the country. The idea of a balanced government has no meaning when both parties are committed to cuts.

“The best way to stop the Fine Gael agenda of cuts is to put a real opposition in the Dail who will stand up to Fine Gael and mobilise the public in a widespread campaign of opposition to cuts.

“Todays poll shows that Labour is on the slide. Labour have failed to offer a real alternative and increasingly the electorate are seeing through the rhetoric. Until it refutes the IMF, Labour will remain locked into the coalition for cuts.

“A key issue facing the electorate is jobs. Neither Fine Gael and Labour have policies which will lead to a serious assault on unemployment. Neither have given a commitment to refute the IMF deal and use the Pension Reserve Fund to invest in jobs. There is a crying need for investment. For every billion invested we can create up to 12,000 jobs. Labour has not committed to the demand of Unite the Union for a €15 billion investment programme.

“In the next Dail the ULA will offer principled and determined opposition to all of those who would seek to inflict further pain on PAYE workers, the unemployed and the poor.”

Minimum wage cut a green light for employers offensive

Union leadership must rise to the challenge of attack on workers’ right and conditions.

Opening today’s press conference Cllr. Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit and United Left Alliance candidate for Dun Laoghaire commented:

“Yesterday we saw the ridiculous spectacle of some of the highest paid people in this country lecturing the lowest paid about how they have to accept another pay cut on top of the Universal Social Charge, changes to the tax bands, reduction in Child Benefit.

“This is a green light by the government for an employer’s offensive. The attack on the minimum wage combined with social welfare cuts and the incorporation of the low paid into the tax net is part of a wider agenda of forcing wages down and ensuring that the ‘race to the bottom’ is actively facilitated.

“But we need to be very clear about this. We can resist these cuts. We are calling on trade union leaders to provide real leadership on the issue and to fight to defend the wages of its lowest paid members.”

Joe Higgins, Socialist Party MEP and United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin West commented:

“The competitiveness arguments presented in favour of this cut are false to the core. Those sectors where the minimum wage and Registered Employment Agreements, which refer to the minimum wage as a baseline, are most concentrated are not engaged in exports but indigenous economic activity.

“The minimum wage as it previously stood at €8.65 an hour was too low when one takes into account the cost of living and the poor social wage. This reduction, if enforced by employers will tip thousands of families further into poverty.

“Employers up and down the country are going to seek the ‘written consent’ of their existing employees for the amendment of their contracts permitting the reduction of their wages. A campaign must be waged by the unions, particularly MANDATE and SIPTU to urge workers not to give this consent to their employers but to organize resistance to this attack.”

Cllr. Clare Daly, Socialist Party and United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin North added:

“The next step in the employer offensive will be an attack on the Registered Employment Agreements and Employment Regulation Orders which cover 300,000 private sector workers. Batt O’Keeffe in one of his last acts as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation ordered a ‘review’ of these.

“Already the REAs for building workers have been reduced by 7.5% and there is a loud lobby from the restaurant sector calling for pay reductions and the ending of Sunday and overtime premia.

“All these attacks taken together with the various social welfare reductions and tax hikes that have been loaded on working people and the unemployed will reinforce the deflationary spiral the indigenous economy has been locked in. It is a strategy that has failed since the crisis begin and the trade union movement has to step up to the mark to prevent further suffering for their members.

Cllr. Joan Collins People Before Profit and United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin South Central also commented:

“The cut to the minimum wage is a scandalous attack on the low paid. On the same day that Brian Cowen and Fianna Fail finally left the Dáil with six figure pensions and golden handshake deals, paid for by taxpayers, the low-paid are once again being forced to bear the brunt of the attacks.

“The attack on the minimum wage is about continuing a wider strategy of protecting those at the top of society who created this crisis while making working people bear the brunt. Social Justice Ireland’s report, launched this week, shows that while poverty in Ireland is high, government policies over the past two decades have systematically moved resources towards the top ten per cent dramatically widening the gap between rich and poor so that today the overall share of the top 10 percent is nearly 11 times the share of the bottom 10 percent.”

Dozens of apartments were flooded and damaged when thawing snow from balconies seeped down into ground floor apartments. In one case, a ceiling actually collapsed. In many others, apartments are now soaked, stained and damp, causing ill health for residents.

Accompanied by a Chartered Engineer, local residents and SP Councillor Ruth Coppinger, Joe Higgins viewed a number of apartments in North Road and Chipping Row.

“While I am a seasoned observer of the type of slap-dash building that took place during the boom, even I was amazed at the catalogue of sub-standard building problems being endured by Ongar residents. What we saw amounts to a litany of shoddy building and poor design: terraces directly above apartments, without proper drainage and flashing; rainwater pipes with nowhere for water to run; floors made from chipboard in one kitchen… the list goes on. (Note to editors summary of faults available on request)

“Residents here are paying the price for the love-in that took place between Fianna Fail and the builders, who were allowed to regulate themselves for the last 15 years.

“I am also concerned about suspected pyrite in the fill used in the buildings also. This is a growing problem in west Dublin, Fingal and Leinster and again results from the unmonitored building bonanza that went on.

“I am demanding that Fingal County Council pursues the relevant developer to rectify these problems and to bring homes up to standard in Ongar. A new government must be pressured to introduce proper building regulations for the future and to assist apartments and house-owners to get structural defects addressed without having to spend thousands of euro themselves. My party colleague, Councillor Ruth Coppinger, is actively pursuing these issues on the Council and with local residents.”