the alternative
to cuts & crisis
l Better to ‘burn’ the bondholders than impoverish the innocent
l EU/IMF savage cuts will bankrupt the economy
l A radical strategy for investment, jobs & better public services
l Fine Gael and Labour are pledged to the same policy of
cuts as Fianna Fáil and the Greens, but are cynically
pretending that they can turn this rotten deal into a
good one.
l Standing in almost half of the constituencies nationwide,
the Socialist Party/United Left Alliance fights for a real
alternative:
l Not a cent toward the billions of gambling debts of
bankers and developers.
l Public ownership and democratic control of key
resources to facilitate major state investment in the
economy to end unemployment and emigration.
l On 25 February, you can use your vote to elect
Clare Daly to fight the austerity attacks and to
build a powerful new party that provides a real
alternative.
1
VOTE
NO.
OR HIGHEST
POSSIBLE
PREFERENCE
Joe
HIGGINS
SocIalISt Party/UNIted left allIaNce
to create jobs & defend living standards
we can’t pay the bank debts!
Slashing spending will
make the crisis much worse,
guaranteeing
bankruptcy.
The only way to overcome
deficits or debt is through
economic growth.
The idea that Ireland
would not be able to get credit
and would financially collapse
if we don’t pay the bondholders is wrong. Working class
people in countries defied IMF
and forced them to retreat.
Rather than being isolated,
many people internationally
would support such a stand.
There are many sources for
getting credit, including within
the domestic economy.
WE SAY:
l Resist the
attacks on
living standards,
fight for jobs.
These debts will choke the
economy (the interest alone
will be €10 billion in 2014,
20% of all tax revenue). Not
paying these debts, linked to
taking key aspects of the
economy into public ownership would give the opportunity to plan major investment
and create growth and jobs.
l Don't pay the
bankers’ debts
and reject the
EU/IMF
austerity
diktats.
fIGHt for JobS! fIGHt tHe cUtS!
Create tens of thousands
of jobs now
1
There are 100,000 unemployed building workers as well as
a need for vital infrastructure like proper public transport, modern water infrastructure, broadband, health facilities and new
schools while billions are being wasted on bankers and speculators (€4.8 billion paid in interest on the debt alone in 2010).
l Create tens of thousands of jobs by
investing in building and staffing
essential infrastructure and the public
services we require
Take control of the banks
Reduce mortgage repayments
3
With the bad debts
scrapped, the banking system should be nationalised
but not as this government
has done, where they refuse to lend to ordinary
people or small businesses,
but publicly controlled and
used for the benefit of society.
l Nationalise all the banks, guaranteeing the
savings of all ordinary depositors, and run
them democratically under public control
and management.
l Reduce mortgages & repayments to
affordable levels. Outlaw repossessions.
Take the vacant houses & provide homes
at affordable prices in communities fully
resourced with public services.
2
Reverse
the cuts
in pay &
services
People’s rights to public services and benefits
should not be relegated
behind parasitic speculators “right” to make super
profits. These cuts will result in a downward economic spiral of more
unemployment, more indebtedness and more
cuts.
l Reverse all
cuts in social
welfare, health
& education.
l Restore pay
rates & the
Minimum Wage.
l Scrap the
Universal Social
Charge & Water
& Home Taxes
Make tHe rIcH Pay for tHeIr crISIS
4
Tax big business and
the super rich
Ireland’s millionaires have approximately €120 billion.
The top 10% have 25% of total income, 11 times that of the
bottom 10%. €18.5 billion was transfered out of the state
from the bank accounts of rich Irish people in 2010. The
idea that multi-national corporations will run at the hint
that Corporation Tax will go up is an attempt to intimidate people. Countries with low tax on
profits are worst hit by this crisis.
5
Develop an economy
that can create jobs
Jobs are the key issue. There was a 31% fall in physical investment alone, so the idea that private foreign or Irish investors will get us out of the crisis and create jobs is fantasy.
In reality, they are on strike and won’t use the wealth to benefit
society. The only chance of developing productive manufacturing industry and overcoming mass unemployment
is through major investment, including in Research and
Development.
Taxing the rich, combined with
real economic growth would bridge
the budget deficit. For example, corporation tax at the Austrian level of
25% (low in european terms), and
scrapping tax reliefs to the rich, could
raise e1o billion per annum Attempts to
siphon wealth out of Ireland to evade tax must be
stopped, if necessary with capital controls.
That will only happen if the major economic resources, including gas and oil resources off the west
coast (worth in excess of €500 billion), are taken into
democratic public ownership and management and
used in a planned way for people’s needs not short
term profits.
l End the abuse of wealth by the
capitalist establishment. Take the
economy and natural resources into
democratic public ownership and
plan the development of a real
manufacturing base, sustainable
jobs and a secure future for all.
l Make the rich & big business pay!
l Scrap the subsidies and tax reliefs
to the rich and big business
l Tax wealth and increase
Corporation Tax.
for a SocIalISt alterNatIve!
6
End the Mercs, Perks &
high salaries of politicians
TDs, Ministers and Senators get huge salaries and “gravy train”
expenses. Retiring Ministers get a pension jackpot! Most of these
are completely divorced from the lives of ordinary people. In turn
more and more decisions at central and local government level reflect the demands of big business not the public interest.
l Abolish the Senate & end exorbitant
salaries & pensions of TDs & Ministers.
Pay them the average industrial wage &
verifiable expenses only.
7
Establish a new party for
working class people
None of the Dáil parties represent working class people, (workers,
the unemployed, pensioners and
the young). Labour now accepts the
market. Sinn Fein is implementing
huge cutbacks in the North. Vote
United Left Alliance and help found
a powerful new party to represent
working class people.
l Elect Socialist
Party/ULA TDs
so we can
launch a new
party to organise working
class people
8
A government for people’s
needs, not profit
We need a real alternative. With the establishment of a new
mass party the struggle for an alternative government for working people becomes real, and that combined with reclaiming the
unions and turning them into fighting organisations can create
a movement that would be powerful enough to transform society.
l For a government based on working class
people that implements socialist policies &
puts people before profit.
“the day has passed
for patching up the
capitalist system; it
must go.”
James connolly
1 Joe HIGGINS
VOTE
NUMBER
SOCIALIST PARTY
UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE
dublin North needs real change - break up their cosy club
l Dublin West has critical issues
that call for a fighting response.
Joe Higgins is a proven campaigner for the rights of ordinary
working class people
l Funding for our local hospital has
been savagely cut from €103 million last year to €87.7 million this
year. There is persistent speculation that the 24 hour A&E service
will be downgraded to 12 hours
and then phased out. This would
be the beginning of the end for
Connolly Hospital as a vital acute
general hospital.
l Joe Higgins says, “we stopped attempts to close Blanchardstown
Hospital in 1987 with a powerful
show of people power. If elected
to the Dáil, I pledge to lead a
major campaign, including mobilising the local community, to force
whichever government is in place
On other issues...
to fund our hospital.
United Left Alliance (ULA):
l Despite nearly two decades of a
building boom, nearly 7,000
households languish on waiting
lists. However, there are nearly
1,000 empty, or nearly completed,
houses in Dublin West. We believe
these vacant homes should be
taken over by the state to begin to
house those in need of a home.
l We also believe the government
should commence a house-building programme to house the remainder and end waiting lists, and
by doing so, put hundreds of construction workers back to work. To
that end we have brought forward
a ten-point jobs programme for
Dublin West, which would create
thousands of more jobs by delivering schools, health facilities and
infrastructure that is sorely missing fro our communities.
WOMEN’S
RIGHTS:
Women often
bear the brunt
of the crisis,
like the Laura
Ashley
strikers (left).
Trade unions
must take
action to
defend all
workers.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Build unit
y
between Catholic & Protestant
workers & fightback against the cutb
acks
and attacks on the working clas
s.
ENVIRONMENT: State must inve
st to
ensure that by 2020, more tha
n
50% of Ireland’s energy is from
renewable sources.
ty
EDUCATION: The Socialist Par
ary,
opposes all fees and cuts at prim
l.
leve
d
thir
and
ry
seconda
Challenge the consensus
of austerity
Big business has many parties. Workers,
unemployed, students and pensioners
have no mass force to fight back against
attacks on jobs and living standards.
That's why the Socialist Party initiated
the launch of the ULA, unifying fighters
like Joe Higgins, local campaigners and
combative trade unionists. ULA candidates stand in 20 constituencies nationally: For TDs promoting mass action to
challenge big business and its parties.
Be part of the start to launch a new
mass working class party in the best
tradition of James Connolly and Jim
Larkin.
www.UnitedLeftAlliance.org
Joe can be contacted 01 6795030
joehiggins@socialistparty.net /
www.socialistparty.net
text ‘Join’ to 087 6684616
EUROPE: We stand for a joint fightback
by workers across Europe against
austerity and cuts and for a Europe for
the millions not the millionaires.
HEALTH: For a
publicly owned
health services,
funded through a
progressive tax
system to
provide prompt
healthcare for
all.
For more information, check out socialistparty.net