ICTU Protest on Nov 27th 2010
A crucial first step in the resistence to the upcoming budget cuts of $6,000,000,000 will be taken this coming Saturday 27th November in Dublin at the ICTU national demonstration. Labour Youth NUIM will be there, as will other Labour branches and a number of groups from all across civil society. The aim is to send a strong message that the poor and hard working middle classes simply cannot pay the crippling debts that have been built up during the grossly inflated boom time property dealings.
The government today unveiled a four-year plan, the objective of which is to take an unspeakable amount of money out of an already fragile economy. All sectors of society would gradually see falling living standards, a progressive elitism creeping into our education and health systems, crippling taxes and job losses in both the private and public sectors.
Here is some of the measures that will be taken:
€15bn correction over four years
* Public expenditure down €10bn, tax up €5bn
* Corporation Tax will remain at 12.5%
* Social Welfare to be cut by €2.8bn by 2014
* VAT will rise to 23% by 2014
* Health spending to fall by €1.4bn over term of the plan
* Minimum wage to fall to €7.65 per hour
* Property tax in place by 2012
* Domestic water charges to be in place by 2014
* Plan includes ‘full implementation of the Croke Park deal’
* New entrants to Public Service will face a 10% pay cut
* Public Service pensions to be cut by an average of 4%
And the irony of this plan is: It may not even solve the problem; indeed it could make it worse. One solution now being proposed by certain experts is a programme of debt forgiveness, not just for governments, but also for those hard working and law-abiding citizens struggling with personal debt. Indeed, this is the logical solution.
In the meantime, we have to get onto the streets, we have no choice but to participate in the resistance to the cuts. If we don’t, we simply lose our voice.
What can you do? Assemble at Wood Quay in Dublin at 11:30 am and march to the GPO. If you would like, you are most welcome to march with Labour Youth NUIM. Contact labour@nuimsu.com if you’re interested for more details on what train we’ll be getting from maynooth.
Additionally, it is strongly recommended that you write to your local TD. www.tellyourtd.com Whilst some may think it’s futile, the reality is that if students and young people put real pressure on our elected representatives, they will listen. We can make our voices heard. And if we do, a better future will result for us all.
In the meantime, see you all on Saturday!! Check out the ICTU website for further details on the route etc. www.ictu.ie/november27
AGM, Tuesday 12th, 7pm, Hall C, Arts Block
For those of you who are new to the society (and for existing members as well) Tuesday 12th is our AGM.
We have Councillor Dermot Looney as our guest speeker. Come along, everyone is welcome to join.
Tuesday 12th October:
Labour Youth NUIM AGM with Special Guest, Councillor Dermot Looney
Hall C, Arts Block, 7pm
AGENDA:
-Introduction to the Committee & from Members on the floor
-Introduction to the Labour Party by Councillor Dermot Looney
-Election of an t-Oifigeach Gaeilge (Irish Officer)
-Election of 1st Year Officer (position involves liasing with our first years and keeping them interested in our society)
-Election of Deputy Officers
-Constitutional Amendments
-Upcoming Events
-AOB
August Update
It’s been a good while now since the last blog update but we hope to update and use this website a good bit more from now on!
The new issue of the Left Tribune (Vol 5 Issue 2) is only available online this time and there’s some excellent contributions as usual. Luke Field talks about the civil partnership bill, our very own Comms Officer Declan Meenagh debates the pros and cons of Facebook, Conor Ryan writes about the importance of following through on positive poll ratings and Neil Warner reviews one of the cornerstones of early liberal theory, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. There’s also a selection of pictures from events around various places and a Branch in focus section on DIT Labour.
Also, the deadline for contributions to the important recruitment issue of Left Tribune are due on August 17th. They can be emailed to the NYE Commuications Officer.
As for our branch, NUI Maynooth Labour are currently preparing for the recruitment drive in September and we would encourage every member who can to get involved and help to get new members onboard. You may even get a Labour Youth t-shirt! (Reminder: Clubs and Socs day is set for September 29th)
- Steve
We ♥ our staff!
n this coming Tuesday, the 24th of November, all unions representing staff on the NUI Maynooth Campus are taking part in a one-day strike. The strike is protesting against the threat of further government-imposed cuts in the pay of university employees. Action is being taken following ballots in which the majority of members of the unions that are taking part voted in favour of coming out on strike.
IFUT has worked closely with student organisations, including Labour Youth in the fight against the reintroduction of fees and the Government’s callous and careless handling of education funding must be reconsidered. Pay-cuts are merely one part of a wider package of cuts to third level education funding, resulting in the systematic reduction in the quality of your lifestyle and education. Students and staff have a common interest in the protection of our education system against the kind of destructive changes with which it is currently threatened.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers, among other unions, is actively seeking the support of students in this issue and after a unanimous decision of this Thursday’s committee meeting NUIM Labour Youth is joining the call for solidarity. There will be pickets at the entrances to both North and South campuses and we implore you: do not cross the picket. The only people working or attending classes on campus on Tuesday will be those who have deliberately crossed the picket. If you do not wish to specifically support or oppose the strike, then we advise you to simply stay away from NUI Maynooth that day.
If you wish to join us in supporting the strikers then meet us at Manor Mills Shopping Centre at 11.45 am on Tuesday to stand with our friends on the academic and services staff.
Landslide Victory in the Lisbon Referendum
48 hours ago, nearly two million Irish men and women, tired of the scare tactics and the apathy that has kept us from progressing in the past, and seeking for Ireland a new and better deal with Europe, piled into polling stations across the country and with one voice declared YES to the Lisbon Treaty.
Democracy, prosperity and Human Rights – these are the hallmarks of the treaty that, rather than risk party politics, Labour campaigned for in the national interest.
But the truth is that this is just the first stop. This is our first step to bring about the change our country needs – not just in government, but in our politics. There’s so much that needs to be reformed, and built up again on new fundamentals. But challenging as these things are it’s not the size of our problems that concerns me the most – it’s the smallness of our expectations. And that’s what we have to change first.
We voted for Lisbon despite Fianna Fáil, not because of them. Over the coming weeks we will be redoubling our efforts to get Fianna Fáil out, to bring about a change of government and to give the country to new start it needs.
Labour Youth Now the Second Largest Party on Campus!
They said this day would never come.
Thank you, Maynooth.
They said that voter apathy would win again. That young people don’t care about politics. That the same old Civil War politics matter more than ideas and energy.
But 24 hours ago, at one of Ireland’s fastest-growing universities, you came out in your droves and packed into in a busy, stuffy hall on the north campus and did what the skeptics said we couldn’t do. You came out and, together, made Labour Youth the second-largest party on Maynooth Campus. Thank you, Maynooth.
You out-recruited all other parties for the first time in our University’s history. You helped buck the trend from apathy and towards passion. And with your signatures, your commitment and your energy you have made visible for everyone to see the new trend in Ireland – Ireland is starting over.
You came out and you said ”Let’s stop, and start again”. You came out and called an end to the wrong kind of politics. And with a stroke of your pen you asked to commit to a new kind of politics – care, not greed; opportunity, not waste; and an Ireland that works.
Our government has said that students will have to tighten their belts. And nothing makes this student madder than someone telling those citizens most likely to revive the economy that their belts aren’t tight enough. For it has been said so truthfully that it is the student, not the banker, who drives our economy forward. It is the student, not the politician, who has to live the politician’s choices. And it is the student, not the multinational, that loves their country, that works so hard to change their country, and that gives the leaders they elect the permission to abuse that country. It is not their patriotism, it is their judgement that has been so sorely lacking. Nobody should even think about running for office if they don’t belief, with full heart, that students have nothing but the fullest capacity to offer their country. And that ends today. It ends with your signature.
We are not alone in this new trend – all across the country, Labour Youth has had a huge influx of new members who want to change their community and their country for the better. In every college in the country, students are signing up to help grow a party that insists on social justice. Today we are one step closer in Ireland because of what you did in Maynooth.
Thank you, Maynooth.
Oisín O' Reilly, Aengus Ó Maoláin, Emmett Stagg T.D. & Mag's Murphy
Yes, it is that important!
“This is one of the most important referenda we have held in recent decades. The outcome will not just determine our relationship with the rest of Europe. It will also have a major impact on our capacity to recover from the economic crisis and to get people back to work,” the labour Leader Eamon GIlmore TD said launching the final phase of Labour’s Lisbon poster campaign.
The poster carries the simple message ‘Yes, it is that important’ because nobody should be under any doubt about the importance of Friday’s poll.
Eamon continued: “The economic environment has changed beyond recognition since we last voted on Lisbon in June 2008.
“The world has been plunged into an unprecedented recession and the impact has been felt more deeply in Ireland than most other countries.
“If we are to receover from the recession and get people back to work, action is required at both national and economic level. We have to work with the EU or we will trail behind other countries when recovery comes.”
Eamon’s full statement is available in our press centre and you can see photographs from the launch on our Flickr account and you can download the poster from here for use on your own site.
