STOP!

NATIONAL DEMO DUBLIN, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27

A SMALL number of business, bank-ing and political figures have broughtthis country to the brink of ruin.Their reckless practices and mis-

guided policies have left us facing thegreatest crisis since the foundation

of the state. If they go ahead withtheir plans, they will do irreparabledamage and turn this country into asocial and economic wasteland.No society in history has eliminated

a deficit by austerity and cuts alone.

Those that have tried have simplymade the problem worse. We havehad two years of cuts, but the deficitis bigger now than when we started.The numbers out of work have

almost trebled in that time, ►PAGE 3

THERE IS A BETTER, FAIRER WAY

PPEEOOPPLLEE SS VVOOIICCEENOVEMBER 2010

PEOPLE’S VOICE2

PPEEOOPPLLEE SS VVOOIICCEE

Crisis by numbersHow stats stack up

Justine McCarthyLetting off steam

Fintan O’TooleAn unequal Republic

Emigration scandalYoung, gifted & going

We warned them...They wouldn’t listen

Rich beyond beliefGolden Circle bigwigs

PAGES 6/7

PAGE 8

PAGES 10/11

PAGES 12/13

PAGES 22/23

PAGE 14

PEOPLE’S VOICE was produced by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, 32 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 www.ictu.iePictures: Paula Geraghty & Photocall Ireland

ON November 3, more than 40,000students took to the streets ofDublin to march on GovernmentBuildings.

This event has been described asthe largest student march in a gener-ation and was the beginning of USI’s‘Education not Emigration’ Campaign.

Its aim was to send a very strong,clear and decisive message to Gov-ernment that students are no longerthe easy target for cutbacks and willno longer allow politicians to destroythe future prosperity of the nationthrough the ‘slashing and burning’ ofhigher and further education.

Students travelled from across thecountry, with more than 200 buses ofstudents from outside Dublin alonedescending on the capital.

The aims of the campaign arethree-fold – the existing registrationfee of €1,500 must be capped at itscurrent level, the current rate of stu-dent supports must be maintainedand the Government must tackle the

ongoing problem of graduate unem-ployment.

The USI estimates that over 1,250people are forced to emigrate fromIreland each week. This combinedwith increases in the registration feeand cuts in student supports willhave a long-lasting and detrimentaleffect on the economy and our future.

Increases in the registration fee andcuts to the maintenance grants willdirectly lead to students being forced

to drop out of education. Educationis the silver bullet to economic recovery and only by investing in education and continuing to producegraduates of International calibre willIreland be able to recover.

USI have launched a websitewww.tellyourtd.com allowingthe public to contact their local TDsand the Minister for Education &Skills about the proposed cuts inBudget 2011.

In the 14 days since its launch, USIthe site has already generated 25,000letters which will be delivered toTDs in the coming days.

USI will intensify its campaign in thecoming weeks with a march in Galway on November 18 and Corkon December 1.

The message is simple, in the nextgeneral election students will vote inunprecedented numbers and politi-cians who are determined to destroyour future will pay the price at theballot box.

It’s just the beginningProtest: 40,000 young people took to the streets of Dublin to voice their fury at the government’s education policy

By Gary Redmond President of USI

PEOPLE’S VOICE 3

emigration is afeature of Irish life once moreand people are worried aboutlosing their homes. And allGovernment can promise is (at least) four more years ofthe same.

That does not add up to success, by any standard.

We are repeatedly told thereis no alternative. That is a lie.

We will only begin the recovery when we turn ourfocus to jobs and growth.

We need to get people backto work. We need to makeclever and innovative invest-ments that will create jobs andhelp drive the recovery.

Down one road lies despairand disaster. The other provides hope.

It is up to the people to decide which path the countrytakes. We can take the firststep on November 27.

STOP!PAGE 1►JOBS GROWTH

THE KEY TO RECOVERY&

Tens of thousands of jobs could be created if Governmentadopts new investment initiatives proposed by Congress...

CUTS cannot deliver jobs or growth.And growth will not happen without investment, which fell by 9.5 per centin recent months.

That means Government must takethe initiative and step into thebreach. This would also help encour-age investment by the private sector.

Investment in infrastructure

Every €1 million euro invested ininfrastructure can create betweeneight and 12 jobs.

There is huge scope for investmentin this area, investment which willcreate thousands of jobs, generatea return and markedly improve national competitiveness.

Potential projects include: waterconservation, a national system ofnext generation broadband and en-ergy retrofitting of poorly-insulatedhomes.

They can be financed by using €2bnper year from the National PensionReserve Fund (NPRF), over threeyears.

Money from the NPRF has alreadybeen ‘invested’ in the banks fromwhich we are unlikely to see a return.

It would be better to put it towork creating new jobs. Congresshas investigated this matter and isfully satisfied that this form of invest-ment can be made without breachingEU rules.

Making use of the Pension Funds

There is huge potential to supple-ment the NPRF investment withmoney from pension funds. Thiscould be done by: ► Starting auto-enrollment in the

state pension fund immediately,generating a hugeflow of funds to theExchequer.► Introduce legis-lation to facilitatepension fund in-

vestment in

infrastructural projects, as agreed by Congress and the construction industry.► Encourage PRSAs to invest in thestate pension scheme. If 20 per centis invested next year, it would provide around €1 billion.► Establish the State Holding Com-pany which would attract pensionfunds into investing in these compa-nies and into much needed public infrastructure.

Enterprise & Innovation

In addition NPRF money could beused to encourage the developmentof new enterprises (or the expansionof existing ones) through risk-shar-ing.

The funds could be channelledthrough a State Holding Company –as proposed by Congress in 2005 –or a state investment bank couldtake up to 49 per cent of the equity.

The project company could bestructured to enable the majorityshareholder to buy out the state in-vestment at a good commercial pricewithin a set timeframe.

Other potential investment sources

Given the problems we are experi-encing with bond markets, it makessense to maximise investment fromdomestic sources.

The National Solidarity Bond con-cept – an idea originated by Con-gress – is performing well but itsterms need to be amended to makeit more attractive for people.

For example, the 10 year termneeds to be shortened to five. Itshould be designed to ensure peo-ple can invest in specific sectors – aneducation bond, a school-buildingbond and so on. That could make ita real winner for the economy andworkers

Multinational sectorNearly €32 billion in profits is sent

home every year by this sector. Butmultinationals could help Ireland andthemselves by deferring repatriationfor a time and using the money to

set up an investment fund to investin new or existing Irish based enter-prises and infrastructure.

Such a fund could amount to billions and make a significant contribution towards economic renewal and growth.

Small enterprisesThere are a number of innovative

measures we could take in this area.These include:State Credit GuaranteeScheme This has been the mostwidely adopted measure across developed countries, in response tothe crisis. Under this proposal thestate would provide a credit guaran-tee up to a certain portion of a loan,which in turn an SME could use toget short or medium term financingfrom any of the main banks. Citizen’s Investment in Inno-vation Enterprise Ireland currentlyparticipates in venture capital andseed funding worth up to €600m.

This is intended for high potentialstart up business and for expandingexisting businesses.

With funds in short supply there isa need to harness other sources offunding to support business activitiesin this country.

The National Pension ReserveFund already participates in thesefunds as part of its activities, but inorder to attract additional invest-ment, we propose that a Govern-ment backed Innovation Fund thatwould attract individual depositsavers to invest in these venture andseed capital funds.

This could be managed by Enter-prise Ireland and would not neces-sarily be limited to Irish residents.Restructure Company Debt A

recurring problem throughout thecrisis has been the crippling indebt-edness now affecting so many com-panies.

Many viable companies haveadapted operations but often anyprofits are wiped out by interestowing on outstanding loans.

Companies who can demonstratetheir potential viability should behelped to restructure and renegoti-ate part of their existing debt.

Another way: Congress chief David Begg

NUMBERCRUNCHINGBAILOUT COSTS:€34 billion – the potential totalcost of the Anglo bailout to thetaxpayer.

€16 billion – the potential totalcost to the taxpayer – accordingto the Government – of bailingout Bank of Ireland, AIB, Irish Nationwide and EBS.

€42 billion – the actual poten-tial cost to the taxpayer of bailingout AIB and Bank of Ireland according to economist MorganKelly.

€40 billion – the amountNAMA will end up paying to thebanks for near worthless propertyloans.

AND THEN THEHUMAN COST...The long-term unemploy-ment rate has continued to risewith 147,608 people or 34.3per cent of the total out of workcontinuously for one year or more.This is an increase of more than60% on October 2009.

Youth unemployment is over32 per cent and is over threetimes the Eurozone average.

PEOPLE’S VOICE4

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Picture: Photocall IrelandMan with the plan? Finance Minister Brian Lenihan

THE Government says it must cut €6 billion in thecoming budget, in order to make savings. Yet at thesame time, it ignores obvious sources of new revenue and areas where savings can be made. Con-gress has a few suggestions:

At this time of national crisis we should extendthe income levy to corporate profits, until the 3%budget deficit target is reached. Only companiesmaking a profit would pay.

Multinationals could also defer repatriation of aportion of their profits and help set up a fund to invest in new or existing Irish-based enterprises andinfrastructure.

This fund could amount to billions of euro andcould make a significant contribution towards economic renewal and development.

Government must act in the interests of its peo-ple, not the markets. It must force down the valueof all bondholders’ holdings – which they risked inrecklessly run, private banks – to 10% of their value.This could see a saving of up to €24 billion for taxpayers.

The tax system is rife with exemptions and reliefs.Their combined impact narrows the tax base. Un-less there is a proven benefit to the taxpayer, theymust be closed.

A rise in the general rate of DIRT to 30% wouldraise an additional €75million.

The minimum tax for high earners – using avoid-ance schemes – should be increased to 35% and the

threshold reduced to €100,000. There should be alimit on earnings for pension purposes of €100,000.

The beneficiaries of capital gains are better placedto meet tax liabilities than those on minimum wage.In the United States , capital gains are taxed as income with lower discounted rates on long-termgains. We should do likewise.

The current threshold for inheritance from parents (€414,799) is far too high and should be reduced. Specific protections might be required incases of people living in inherited property, wherethese beneficiaries are on low incomes.

Wealth taxPlace a (temporary) wealth tax on wealth above

€2 million, wealth being defined as current value ofall assets, including the excess of €1m in the valueof private houses.

Reduce the 183 day test for tax residency purposes to at least 90 days, as happens in the UK.Where a tax exile’s main centre of vital interest ishere or if they are assessed on a permanent hometest, they should pay tax here.

The minimum funding standard must be eased tohelp occupational pension schemes which areunder great stress, with most defined benefitschemes in deficit.

We should immediately introduce a 12.5% oil andgas royalty tax - on production and profit and alsoensure that this has country has first call on any oilor gas extracted on our territory.

Government ignores savings and revenue

PEOPLE’S VOICE 5

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CLUELESS TAXDEMONSTRATION

NATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27

ASSEMBLE

WOOD QUAY, DUBLIN12 NOON

PEOPLE’S VOICE6

THE CRISIS BY NUMBERS

HOWIT

The Government has created the jobs crisis, the fiscal crisis & the banking crisis and now it wants to make it worse by takinga further €6 billion out of the economy and putting 60,000more people on the dole queues. Here are a few billion reasons how and why there is a better, fairer way...

The Government must act in theinterests of the people, not themarkets. It must force down thevalue of all bondholders’ holdings –which they risked in badly-run, private banks – to 10% of theirnominal value. This could see a saving of up to €24 billion for taxpayers.

€24BN €14.5BNWe have takensome €14.5 billionout of the Irish

economy over the last three budgets but the deficit ishigher and unemployment has almost trebled since 2008.

270,000There are now over 270,000 fewer people at work than in 2007.They are no longer paying income taxes and their spending power is hugely reduced. This is seen in the fall in income tax receipts and retail sales. Putting people back to work should be the priority, not

putting more on the dole.

PEOPLE

€20,000Every joblost coststhe state

€20,000 per annum in income tax foregone, reduced spending and welfare payments.

30,000A state-of-the-art Water & Waste

Network would cost €4.2 billion.Efficient use of water will

create considerable long-term environmental savings and has the capacity to create

over 30,000 jobs during delivery stage and up to 12,000 permanent jobs.

JOBS

Everyone fortunate enough to be still earning a living pays theincome levy. If the 2% levy weretemporarily extended to corpo-rate profits it would generate an additional €630 million.

€630MILLION

€100MILLIONA minimum tax forhigh earners of 35% on all income over€100,000 and limitingthe earnings ceiling forpension purposes to€100,000 would save€100 million.

€250mReform of gift and inheritance taxto ensure people pay their fairshare would yield €250 million.

HUMAN FACEOF THE CRISIS

THE solution to Ireland’s fiscal and monetary problems

does not lie in cutting benefitsfor those on social welfare, including pensioners.

It must be found through creating employment and expanding the economy.

A very large group of pensioners depend entirely on the State Pension – a payment we believe is already inadequate.

Under no circumstances mustit be reduced in the Budget.There are both moral and economic reasons why thisshould not happen.

The moral reasons are self-evident. Older people areentitled to an adequate standard of living and while the pension is not in itself adequate, any reduction wouldbe morally unacceptable.

And older people spend theirpensions in Ireland and so help maintain demand for goods andservices.

Michael O’Halloran, Congress Retired Workers’ Committee

’’

Pensionmust not bereduced inthe Budget

1

COMMUNITYVOICES

“Marriage Equality works forequality, justice, and fairnessfor same sex couples seekingaccess to civil marriage rightsin Ireland. We are supportingthe march on November 27 in solidarity with all the otherfamilies, workers, unemployedand excluded people of Irelandto demand a new way forward,a new model of social solidar-ity where equality is a meaningful term to all thepeople of Ireland.

“We support the idea thatfairness is not only morallybetter, it is economically superior as well.”

Marriage Equality

PEOPLE’S VOICE 7

THE CRISIS BY NUMBERS

ALLSTACKS

Every €1 million spent on infrastructure can create eight to 12 jobs. It’s time toincrease spending, not cut it.

1.4MILLIONGermany, Europe’sstrongest economy, intervened with a stimulus package to protect jobs threatenedby the crisis and kept an additional 1.4 millionpeople in work as a result. If it’s goodenough for them, it’sgood enough for us. Unemployment is nowfalling in Germany.

JOBS

Pictures: Photocall Ireland

LEADER COMMENT

JACK O’CONNORPRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

DON’T STAND IDLY BYjoin the march for a better,fairer way on November 27THE Government has promised the harshest budget since the foundation of the state as its partinggift to the people of Ireland.

This is the result of allowing speculators, bankers and developersto run riot, pillaging and ruining oureconomy.

They capped it all by including useless banking institutions in the credit guarantee scheme on September 29, 2008, thus mortgaging the future of everyonewho lives in Ireland.

We are told the impending draconian budget is essential to convince investors in the bond markets to lend us the money torun the country. This is exactly thesame as whatwe were toldlast year when a cut of€4 billion wasinflicted. Theproof of the pudding is in the eating.It doesn’t work.

More businesses closed, more people lost their jobs and the economy recorded no growth whatsoever. It didn’t work in thebond markets either and borrowingrates have escalated.

The bond buyers don’t carewhether we eat caviar for the nextfour years or starve to death.

They are only interested in knowing how we are going to growour economy so that we can paythem their money back.

That cannot happen without acredible plan for investment andmeasures to promote domestic demand, instead of cutting it.

Our national sovereignty is atstake as a result of the Govern-ment’s policies.

The EU is insisting on reduction ofthe gap between our state revenue

and spending to 3% of GDP by 2014.This is a virtually impossible targetbecause it restricts the capacity forgrowth.

However, if we disregard it there isa real danger that the EuropeanCentral Bank will stop funding our domestic banks, resulting in atotal collapse.

It will not stop at the timeframefor the adjustment.

Already, unbridled free-marketeersin the EU are insisting on restructur-ing our labour market, i.e. curtail-ment of people’s rights at work,social welfare entitlements, etc.

Repeatedly we are told that thereis no alternative and there is nopoint in protesting.

This is completely untrue. Thereis a better, fairer way.

The timeframe for the adjustmentis too short. It should be extendedto 2017.

Critical issues remain at play. The economy is in the doldrums

because people are afraid to spend.They are afraid of losing their jobs,their homes and their pensions. Yet the savings ratio has more thandoubled since 2007.

The key to recovery is a credibleplan for job creation to inspire hopeand confidence. This cannot be accomplished without an intelligentstrategy for investment.

The Congress of Trade Unions hasdeveloped comprehensive proposals.

At least €2 billion per year fromthe National Pensions Reserve Fundshould be deployed for the nextthree years to fund new projectsand businesses. Our commercial

semi-state companies should be directed to raise off balance sheetresources for investment.

Some of the €80 billion held inIrish occupational pension funds canbe brought into play. This approachwould result in the creation of tensof thousands of jobs. The other great question which remains to be decided is as to who is going to bearthe burden of the adjustment?

Over the last two years the Gov-ernment has inflicted over €14 bil-lion of cuts. The lion’s share of thesehave been shouldered by workingpeople and those who depend most on public services, while thewealthy have remained pretty much insulated. There is talk of broadening

the ‘tax base’. Inother countriesthis usuallymeans raising taxon wealth andcapital, but here

it seems it’s only about middle andlower income families paying more.We must reverse this equation.

The people cannot be expected toendure misery whilst those whocontributed most to the cause ofthe problem go on living prettymuch as they always have. It is timeto insist on taxing the greedy notthe needy.

There are more ways of influenc-ing budgetary policy than waitinguntil whenever the Governmentsees fit to call it a day and go to thecountry. It may be too late by then.

Democracy is about more thanjust voting in elections once everyfive years. We must not stand idlyby while the final nail is driven intothe coffin. We can influence the outcome by turning out and joiningthe march for ‘A Better, FairerWay’ in Dublin on Saturday, November 27.

It is time to insist on taxing the greedy and not the needy

UP

€1m

PEOPLE’S VOICE8

HEN world economieswent into meltdown in2008, a common refrainrose up: If LehmanBrothers had been

Lehman Sisters, would the financialcrisis have been as severe?

The mere asking of the questionsuggested an acceptance that the virtual exclusion of women frombanks, boardrooms and the widerruling elite had exacerbated thecrash.

The obvious conclusion was that,for the sake of all of us, things weregoing to have to change.

How long ago that seems two yearslater, as men debate the recession incessantly in the media and in themale bastion that is Dail Eireann.

Authors with such names as Shane,Matt, Fintan and David tour the country opining on corporate ethicswhile economists of every persuasionexcept the female one bombard uswith their inexact science.

Official blessingRTE, the citizens’ broadcaster, gave

this single-gender culture its officialblessing in September with the first instalment of Freefall, a two-part documentary on the biggest catastrophe to strike Ireland sincethe Troubles erupted more that 40years ago.

Out of 30 commentators interviewed in 50 minutes, not a single Irish woman featured.

Not even Joan Burton, a contenderto be the next Finance Minister.

That was bad enough. What wasworse was that nobody else seemedto notice. Or, if they did, they didn’tthink it worth mentioning.

Women have vanished back to thehomes they were lured out from by

Ibec with promises of childcare support when the economy ranshort of bodies in the late 1990s.

We had other uses too. Our profit-generating potential

was clinically targeted by designers of obscenely priced handbags andunguents for eternal youth.

The female exodus from the workforce is being impelled by thefact that women are more likely towork in the low-paid, menial jobs thatare first to get the chop.

There is anecdotal evidence that females of child-bearing years arebeing victimised by employers aghastat possibly having to pay them maternity leave.

A lawsuit filed in the US DistrictCourt against Citigroup in October

claimed that the bank, while takinggovernment bailout money, was exploiting the financial crisis to purgeits workforce of scores of female employees.

OME is no refuge either.An increase in the incidence of domesticviolence has been attributed to financial

stress caused by the reces-sion, as has a rise in the number ofwomen seeking abortions.

As the traditional homemakers, byand large, women have the task oftrying to hold families together on ashoestring.

In the community, women form themajority of carers and advocates for

the marginalised, like abuse victims,the sick, the elderly and victims ofdiscrimination. These are the peopleat the coalface of the spending clampdown by the State.

The elimination of women from theofficial narrative and analysis of thisrecession is the only proof we needthat nothing has been learned.

One would have thought that, afterthe breast-beating about the need tobanish cross-over directorships,crony capitalism and acquiescent regulation, this was an opportunity toencourage the participation ofwomen in shaping society.

Changes has been made all right.There are new chairmen, directorsand chief executives over-seeing thebanks.

There are new financial regulatorsand new personnel in charge at theDepartment of Finance, the Cen-tral Bank and the National Treas-

ury Management Agency. Virtually allof them are men.

Planet NAMAIn the case of the newly-created

planet known as NAMA, not only areits masters men, but so too are all itsclients. How ridiculous is that?

Ireland’s financial and corporatelandscape is as testosterone-driven as ever it was as it hurtled towardsArmageddon. Apart from a myriadother arguments, it’s downright stupid not to include women.

Broadening the range of life experiences and perspectives in ourdecision-making can only be for thegood of the whole nation.

Stark crises call for stark solutions.As Eleanor Roosevelt explained: “Awoman is like a tea bag – you don’tknow how strong she is until she getsinto hot water.”

JUSTINE McCARTHY

W

H

It’s time Irish womenlet off a little steam

PEOPLE’S VOICE 9

HUMAN FACEOF THE CRISIS2

I cannot see how we’d survive further cuts

WE moved to Longford fromDublin five years ago and my

husband was a Parts Manager in a localgarage, but he was made redundant in 2008. I was at home with three children aged 15, nine and five and myhusband’s benefit took eight weeks tocome through.

We were solely reliant on the Community Welfare Officer (CWO)until it did.

We were given an amount to live onwhich left us short every week. As afamily of five we had to struggle on thisfor eight weeks and ended up in debt.

Trying to survive put further financial pressure on the family. Wewere borrowing from Peter to pay Paulto make ends meet.

We applied for mortgage supplementbut this was very time consuming andinvolved a lot of form-filling. It tookseveral weeks for a decision to comethrough.

We were told we qualifiedfor €16 per week, so I haveno alternative but to use theChildren’s Allowance to helppay my mortgage.

We couldn’t afford to paythe TV licence and then Iwent to CWO and asked for help but I felt degradedhaving to do so.

The CWO is not obligedto give you this as it not anecessity.

On one occasion I brokedown crying in the office andI would not go back afterthat as I felt so low.

My husband constantly tried to findwork but was unsuccessful. When thebenefit ended he had to apply for JobSeekers Allowance and that took eightweeks to come through.

We were back to square one again,borrowing to keep ourselves afloat.

Every week, just as I thought wewould catch up, another bill would arrive.

We used to be confident in life andevery year we would book a holidayabroad and you always had sparechange in your pocket. I could buy newshoes for the children when theyneeded them, but now I really have tobudget and buy the cheapest brands.

The children ask when are we goingon holidays when all their friends aregoing away in the summer and I had tosay that we can’t. Day trips were notpossible for a family a five when you

are living on €415 per week. It’s beendifficult for the children to adjust.

We had to get rid of the phone asthat was a luxury we could not afford.

It’s cold now and we do not get fuelallowance because you have to be onJobseeker Allowance for 15 months toqualify.

My husband went on Back to Educa-tion Allowance but still could not

access the fuel allowance.I was accepted onto the

Community EmploymentScheme with the EDI Centre, Longford.

But financially life is notmuch better even though Iam on a scheme.

People don’t do the CEschemes for money – theydo them because it buildsyour confidence, gives you access to training andallows you to feel you arepart of the working worldagain.

I feel it is very importantfor my well-being and it has

given me the confidence to excel inwhat I do.

If there are further cuts my husband will not be able to continuehis education as he does not get travelallowance.

My daughter is about to do her leaving certificate now and if the college fees are doubled that will justruin her future. Her dreams of going tocollege will go down the drain.

I cannot see how we could survivewith any further cuts.

The Children’s Allowance goes to mymortgage every month and if that is cut we could be facing homelessness.

Jennifer O’Reagan EDI Centre, Longford

’’

I brokedown crying

office andI wouldnot go

back afterthat as I

felt so low

COMMUNITY VOICES

The three unions with significantmembership in this sector –SIPTU, IMPACT and UNITE – havejoined with key community andvoluntary organisations to mounta wide ranging campaign of oppo-sition to the cuts.

We have already seen many cutsby stealth, affecting a wide rangeof vital services.

This budget is expected to targetthe poorest communities, theirservices and organisations and weintend to organise and mobilise people to oppose the implementa-tion of any cuts and to Defend Ire-land’s Communities.

Many migrant workers and theirfamilies have made Ireland theirhome, contributing hugely as a result. The slump has seen themlose jobs in greater numbers thanIrish counterparts. Many reportdifficulties in accessing their fullentitlements and benefits. Thereis a notable increase in hostilityand racism in accessing servicesand in public places. The numberof people becoming undocu-mented is also increasing. Govern-ment attempts to introducesummary deportation withoutnotice represents a breach of fun-damental rights. We need greaterlevels of solidarity across societyin these challenging times.

Community Sector &Trade Union Campaign

Migrant Rights Centre

Have Your Lost Your Job?

Do you need information on your entitlements and further training?

We Can Help

► Community Employment Scheme

► Local Training Initiative

► Social Welfare Rights► Secondary Benefits – FIS, Medical Card, School and Clothing Allowance, Housing

► Appeals and Representation► Redundancy Information

► Education and Training

We are FETAC accreditedFor more information visit www.ictu.ie/ccn/

Or email: sylvia.ryan@ictu.ieIrish Congress of Trade Unions

32 Parnell SquareDDuubblliinn

PEOPLE’S VOICE10

EXODUS OF YOUTH AGAIN

YOUNG, GIFTED & GOINGSHOCKING new figures have re-vealed that most of this year’s 1,600nursing and midwifery graduates haveeither left the country or will do sobefore the end of 2010, according tosurvey carried out by the IrishNurses and Midwives Organisation(INMO).

Those not in a position to travelabroad face the prospect of minimalwork at best, or the dole queue, hav-ing spent four years training to de-gree level at a cost of €90,000 eachto the taxpayer.

And the situation is set to worsen.Some 1,900 nursing/midwifery jobshave been lost in the last two and ahalf years, according to the HSE’sown figures and up to 1,000nurses/midwives are eligible to retire

in 2011. These will not be replacedunder current HSE policies.

“It is just soul destroying to seesuch highly educated young peoplenot being given an opportunity towork in Ireland .

There is now a worldwide shortageof nurses and many of our emigrantswill build new lives and settle abroadand will be lost to the Irish Healthservice forever”, said INMO Presi-dent, Sheila Dickson.

“This is even more frustrating whenit is obvious that these new profes-sionals are needed in the Irish healthsystem. We have provided the Minis-ter with a cost neutral way to holdon to them but she has taken no ac-tion.”

Meanwhile, up to one thousand

fully qualified primary teachers arestruggling to find regular work, ac-cording to the Irish National Teach-ers Organisation (INTO).

For much of the last decade leavingcollege with a teacher qualificationmeant a guaranteed job in one of thecountry’s 3,200 primary schools.

CutbacksThe rising birth rate was the main

driver of employment, as well as theneed to make sure that every childhad a qualified teacher.

Teachers who started a three yearprimary training course in 2007 hadgood job prospects.

Overnight that changed. Big cut-backs in school staffing over the lasttwo years has meant fewer jobs leav-ing this despite schools taking in

more pupils.As a result up to a thou-sand primary teachers are now un-employed or surviving on occasionalsubstitute work. The primary teach-ers union says this is indefensible.

“ Ireland has some of the biggestclasses in Europe ,” said SheilaNunan, INTO general secretary.“Over a hundred thousand childrenare in classes of 30 or more. The average in Europe is 20 pupils in aclass.”

“The last time we saw teacher un-employment on this scale was in the1980s. Then thousands of teachersemigrated to teach all over theworld. Most of them never returned.”

She added that Irish teachers arewell regarded throughout the world.

Newly-qualified teachers and nurses are struggling to find regular workand many are now looking abroad for jobs. The taxpayer paid thousandsto train them. Now other countries will benefit from their skills

We really want tostay but we can’tWhen Ann-Marie King, left, started her nursing degree course in Dundalk Institute of Technology in 2006 she andher classmates were assured therewould be jobs for them all in Ireland.

“We were told that nursing was a greatcareer and we would be able to get jobsanywhere we liked in Ireland ”, she recalls. “In second year we were toldthat there would be no jobs for us butby then it was too late, we were alreadywell into the course by then.”

Ann-Marie starts work in the A&E department of St Richard’s Hospital inChichester in Sussex on Monday, November 22. She dearly wishes she wasutilising her hard earned skills in thiscountry.

“I’m delighted to have got a job inA&E, that’s the area of nursing I wantedto get into but I’m very, very sad tohave to leave home. I’m leaving behind

my family, my friends and my boyfriendof three years. I feel I’m not ready forthat yet. I would have loved to stay inIreland at least for a few years. It wouldhave been good to give something backto the place where I trained.”

She also feels a mix of emotions rang-ing from anger to guilt to disappoint-ment.

“When you come out with your degreeafter four years hard work and you’retold there are no jobs you feel that yourdegree is worthless and that you’re notwanted.

“Also, you feel a bit of a traitor whenyou’re doing your work experience andyou are telling hard working nurses inthose hospitals that you are leaving thecountry. They are short-staffed andthey need your help but there are nojobs for us there. We’d love to stay hereto help but we can’t.”

PEOPLE’S VOICE 11

EXODUS OF YOUTH AGAIN

YOUNG, GIFTED & GOING

Picture: Photocall IrelandWe’re outta here: Queue of mostly young people outside the RDS during last month’s emigration expo

“I qualified in 2007 and re-turned home to Mayo towork. For the first two yearsI got regular temporary orsubstitute work. “This September when the

new school year started itwas different. There’s moreand more teachers lookingfor work. All that’s available

now is the odd day subbing.It’s very hard. I have appliedfor every job going. “We have a small child

and my partner has no work.I always wanted to be ateacher and trained to workhere in Ireland not abroad.”Marie, Primary teacher in Mayo

“I came out of college this year.So far I’ve had a bit of sub workbut nothing else. If I can’t getwork I’ll have to go because a jobis a job. I want to teach butthere’s very little work availableand huge numbers looking for it.”

Emily, Primary Teacher in Dublin

PEOPLE’S VOICE12

WE WARNED THEMBUT THEY DIDN’T LISTENTThhee pprroobblleemmThe crisis has its roots in Governmentpolicy going back many years but a pivotal point came in 2003 when the Irishbanks began borrowing on the international money markets for thefirst time. Billions of euro was raised andused to fuel the already unsustainablehousing boom.

In that year alone the banks borrowed10% of Ireland ’s GDP – by 2007 this hadreached 60%. This was a staggeringamount of money and it was being usedmainly to underpin grossly over-inflatedproperty prices and maintain a bubbleeconomy.

When the global crisis hit, the madnessof our banks was exposed. They foundthat their supply of money had dried upand their creditors were looking to berepaid. Light to non-existent regulationof the financial sector was official Government policy and it gave a greenlight to reckless bank behaviour.

Meanwhile, Government was busyeroding the country’s tax base and had become hugely over-dependent on revenue from the property sector including Stamp Duty and income taxfrom construction workers wages.

We were consistently critical of theGovernment’s policies and warned theywere unsustainable. The entire edificewas literally built on sand.

WWrroonngg rreessppoonnsseeWithin months the mortgage markethad dried up and with it new house sales.Throughout 2008 shares in the threequoted banks fell sharply in value butthe bank bosses and the Governmentwere in denial. The public finances toowere falling into disarray, but nothingwas done.

Finally, in September 2008, the Govern-ment announced its €450 billion bankguarantee scheme and since then theirfocus has seemed to be almost entirelyon saving the banks at the expense ofthe people and the country.

Overnight, taxpayers became responsi-ble for the bad debts run up by privatebanks.

Earlier this month it was revealed thatIrish banks have borrowed €119.1 billionfrom the European Central Bank. Because of the bank guarantee that burden could fall on the taxpayer.

It was a bad decision and we are payingthe price today.

FFrroomm bbaadd ttoo wwoorrsseeTo make matters worse, Government responded to the crisis by cutting wages,incomes and public services.

Take money out of the economy in arecession and you deflate it. That meansmore people lose their jobs.

The National Economic and SocialCouncil said the crisis facing Ireland hadfive elements: economic, fiscal, social,banking and reputation.

It pointed out that these elementscould not be addressed individually or sequentially, but had to be tackledholistically.

Each was inextricably linked with all ofthe others and only an approach whichtook that into account could succeed.

Congress has consistently supportedthis view. Sadly, the Government hasnot. It has chosen to see the economy as of paramount importance and everything else as subordinate to it.

Congress challenges that view – for usthe economy exists within society, notthe other way around.

The Government has taken €14.5 billionout of the economy in the three brutalbudgets so far and the situation hasworsened.

The deficit is bigger and the there aremore people out of work.

There are 270,000 less people in worknow than there were in 2007 and unem-ployment is running at almost 14%.That’s hardly the sign of success.

It is clear that the Government’s concentration on bailing out the banksto the exclusion of almost everythingelse has been an act of folly and that the continuing pursuit of deflationarypolicies is not working either.

COMMUNITYVOICES

“If there is one group whichcannot make a further contribution it is those on the lowest incomes – people dependent on social welfare and the minimum wage. Fami-lies have had electricity discon-nected and struggle with rent or mortgage arrears and risingdebt. We say The Poor Can’tPay. Tell your local TDs you are one of thousands of voterswho want our poorest citizensprotected.”

www.thepoorcantpay.ie

FAIRNESS: not only morally better... but economically superior as wellTHE CONGRESS VIEW

JJOOBBSS►Extend the period of adjustment to2017 and focus on jobs and growth►Take €2 billion per year from the National Pension Reserve Fund forthree years and invest in job creation ► Change the law to let Irish pension

schemes invest in infrastructural projects► Tens of thousands of jobs could be created through a new water andwaste network; retrofitting older build-ings; building a next generation broad-band scheme; public transport; betterthird-level facilities to cope with the

surge in student numbers►Create a State Holding Company tomaximise the job creation work of thesemi-states

SSOOCCIIAALL WWEELLFFAARREE►Reform social welfare rules that discourage taking up work

AUSTERITY is not working. After three harsh budgets the deficit is bigger and the numberout of work has almost trebled. The 2014 target is arbitrary and artificial. Trying to reach itcould cause irreparable damage to economy and society. Instead we must:

The Poor Can’t Pay

PEOPLE’S VOICE 13

WE WARNED THEMBUT THEY DIDN’T LISTEN

CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY DAVIDBEGG ON THE STATEWE’RE IN AND WHY

Picture: Kevin Cooper Photoline

COMMUNITYVOICES

“Retired secondary teachershave paid for their pensionsthrough 40 years of contribu-tions. Since 1969 our pensioncontributions exceeded thepayout to those already re-tired and Government prof-ited to the tune of €5 billion intoday's terms. They werehappy to get and spend thatmoney. Now it claims there isnot enough money to ensureretired teachers get what theypaid for. This is unjust.”

Warning: David Begg responds to theTaoiseach’s address to a Congress conferencein Tralee in July of last year

FAIRNESS: not only morally better... but economically superior as well

www.ictu.ie/publications/fulllist/prebudget-submission-2011/

Retired SecondaryTeachers’ Association

NNeeww aapppprrooaacchh ––jjoobbss aanndd ggrroowwtthhCongress has been proved right everystep of the way and the Government hasconsistently been proved wrong. As farback as January 2009 we warned thatadopting a ‘cuts strategy’ would notwork.

They must extend the period of adjust-ment. Four years (until 2014) is far toorapid and short a timescale to correctthe imbalance in our public finances.

No one is arguing that a correctiondoesn’t have to be made. We are proposing a longer seven year timescalefor the adjustment – until 2017 – and wesay it must be accompanied by measuresto stimulate the economy.

In Europe, 22 countries chose to prioritise job protection and creationand it was hugely successful, with coun-tries such as Germany suffering no in-creases in unemployment despite therecession.

We have the National Pension ReserveFund and we can use this to invest in infrastructure projects and some commercial ventures with the privatesector to stimulate economic activity, toprotect and create jobs in the short tomedium term while we get the public finances are back in order.

We cannot cut our way out of this. Jobs and growth are the answer.

► Tackle poverty traps►Tackle fuel poverty►No further cuts

BBAANNKKSS && TTAAXX► We must burn the bank bondhold-ers and save billions for the taxpayer► Close down tax exemptions and

shelters that deliver no benefit to the taxpayers► Extend the income levy to the corporate sector► Introduce a Temporary Wealth Tax on all wealth above €2 million► Bring in a Royalty Tax on all oil and gas production and profits

PEOPLE’S VOICE14

ONSIDER thewords of two greatphilosophers of ourtime – Paul 'Gazza'Gascoigne and Roy

Keane. "I never make pre-dictions", Gazza once said, "and Inever will."

Which tells us something about thenature of predictions: they are usuallywrong.

Roy Keane, on the other hand, defined stupidity as "doing the same things and expecting different results."

As Irish citizens, we are caught between these two realities. On theone hand, we cannot trust anythingwe are being told by "the authorities"about our future.

We were told the bailout of ourbanks would be the cheapest in theworld. It turned out to be the mostexpensive.

Endless billionsWe were told that pouring endless

billions into the banks would getcredit following again. It hasn't.

We were told that, after three cruelbudgets, the worst of the pain wouldbe over. It is only just beginning.

We were told that feeding thosebillions to the banks while slashingthe budget deficit would make "themarkets" happy.

They're so happy they're chargingus four times more to borrowmoney than they're charging the Germans.

And even if we could trust what theGovernment is telling us about thenext four years, what do we have tolook forward to?

Four more years of slash and burn,with the most pain borne by themost vulnerable. The continuation ofmass unemployment. At least100,000 people emigrating. A bitterlydivided and despairing society. We

will 'celebrate' the 100th anniversaryof the 1916 Rising with our sover-eignty all but gone and a society thatis a parody of a republic of equals.

Which brings us to Roy Keane'sdefinition of stupidity.

We know the results of a very narrow policy that concentrates onpouring money into the banks andcutting everything else. They are disastrous. Why would we keep doingthe same things?

But we also know, more broadly,that the same people, the same system and the same political culturethat got us into this catastrophe arenot going to get us out of it.

We need change – not a tinkeringround the edges but a completetransformation of our values, priori-ties and systems of government.

E also need hope. Weneed to focus on thethings we can do tocreate a decent society.If we do them, things

will still be tough. But we can hold our heads up in

2016 and say something we can't saynow: that we live in a republic.

There are two sides to this change.Firstly, we have to scrap the politicalinstitutions that have failed us so

badly. There is a simple question: ifthis system couldn't manage thegreatest period of prosperity in ourhistory, how could it possibly man-age our worst crisis?

We have to bring in properlocal democracy.

We must change the elec-toral system to create asmaller Dail with genuinely na-

tional politicians who are willing tohold the government to account.

We need to get women into politics. We need to make senior civilservants answer for the decisionsthey take.

But there's no point in creating newinstitutions unless we know what wewant to do with them.

Here, we should remember whatpeople did in Europe in circum-stances much worse than our own.

Shattered citiesAfter the Second World War, with

shattered cities and shortages ofeverything, Europeans concentratedon the idea of giving everybodyenough.

Within a decade they had createdhealth, education and housing systems that massively improved thelives of most people.

We can do this in Ireland. We can give every citizen five

things: security (decent pensions andhousing); a health system that treatseverybody according to need; and aneducation system that doesn't writekids off before they're 10 years old.

We can restore a sense of equalitythrough a fair taxation system and byending the 'Mercs and perks' cultureof our governing elite.

And we can restore a sense of citi-zenship by making laws that punishwhite-collar crime and instil an ideaof morality in business and public life.

These are modest aims and we canachieve them over the next five years.We just have to want them enough.

FINTAN O’TOOLE

C

Republic of unequals

Fintan O'Toole's proposals for change arecontained in his new book Enough isEnough: How to Build a New Republic.

W

PEOPLE’S VOICE 15

OLDER people are very fright-ened about where the countryis going. They are terrified of

more cuts and added charges in thebudget. They all want to keep theirlandlines because if anything goeswrong that’s their connection to theoutside world.

An unemployed person aged 20 isonly entitled to €100 per week – butmany are refused based on their par-ent’s income. Parents on low incomesare expected to provide for dependentadults up to the age of 24 years of age.We have appealed this.

Many of the newly unemployed are inshock. A lot would have mortgages andpersonal debt and their biggest fear isthat the mortgage supplement will becut in the next budget.

The MABS (Money Advice & Budget-ing Service) officers are assisting peoplebut it can take up to two months to getan appointment. A huge concern wouldbe child benefit… people are usingtheir benefit for mortgage paymentsand this has them really concerned.Everybody is cutting back and shoppingin discount stores.

So many of the stories you hear areheart-wrenching and you can do noth-ing but give them the information. Weoffer full support with form completion,phone calls, social welfare appeals andlabour law appeals. We would refer alot of people to St Vincent de Paul and99 per cent of them hate having to go down that road.

Bridie Finnegan,Dundalk Congress Centre

Terrifed ofmore cuts& charges

’

HUMAN FACEOF THE CRISIS3 Diary of a

SouthsideSenator

Monday

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is thecleverest of them all? Wonderful. That’swhat I am. The bearded brethren were furious when I exposed them (again) yesterday. I am the people’s champion and Iam determined to cut down on patronageand cronyism. The Independent senators(Harass and I) will make a determined ef-fort to root out nepotism. As Eoghan him-self says, blessed is he who has an entirefamily organ with which we can fight thisevil. Who better than a Trinity-elected sen-ator to lead the charge against privilege –ably assisted by a genius nominated to theSeanad by Bertie Ahern. Never mind whatthe begrudgers say – I think I’m great.

Tuesday

I have to complete my declaration of inter-est as a member of the Oireachtas.It’s hard work because I hold down somany jobs: Business Editor, Senator,company director – and bits and pieces on the side. I’m the Chair of SVM Global, investment

trust and Saltire Fund investment trust,Not forgetting my non-executive director-

ships of Barings Russian Fund in Londonand the Baring Hedge Select Fund inGeorge Town in the beautiful Cayman Islands.That’s an impressive list for the champion

of the little man.All I hope is that some pesky journalist

does not start writing about my interest inhedge funds. Bankers are the root of all evilbut hedge fund managers and stock brokersare a different kettle of stinking fish.

�

Wednesday

To Seanad Eireann to deliver a speechabout abuse of public service funds. On arrival at Leinster House I have to ring Anguish. Apparently some low-paid civilservant from the CPSU is giving out aboutmy column and accusing me of taking advantage of facilities as a senator. Just because I thanked the Oireachtas librarystaff for helping me research my hugely successful book Wasters. I see no problemsin making phone calls from Leinster House.And what’s the library for if not to help mein my valuable work?

Thursday

Anguish wants me to write about the public service. Everyone has to do thesame. He picks a target and we all fire arrows in the same direction. This week it’spublic service workers. Again. And I haveto write about tax reform. Needless to saywe won’t be suggesting any changes for taxexiles. We all love my Tony too much forthat.

Friday

Another rainy day. And the cat won’t stopmeowing. I have to make an appearance atthe office in Talbot Street. Can it get any worse? Wasters. That’s what

they are. The utterly useless civil service,the inept senior management; the incompe-tent commercial semi-state companies, thelazy employers, the dreadful trade unionists,the horrendous politicians. Democracy isall well but it is grossly exaggerated.As I said to Dunphy last night: “When

are the people of Ireland going to get the message? There is only one person fit torun this country. Only one man knowswhat is good for this benighted state andthat’s yours truly...”

COMMUNITYVOICES

“Ireland’s difficulties haveprompted the Government tocut the overseas aid budget re-peatedly and disproportion-ately - by some 27% since 2008.Yet recent opinion polls showsome 84% of the public stillsupport the promise to spend0.7% of our national income onaid. Slashing the aid budget willnot make much of a differenceto Ireland, but it would doenormous damage to peoplewho depend on our aid. Wemust not balance our books onthe backs of the world’s poor-est people.”

ActNow2015.ie

’

PEOPLE’S VOICE16

THE rhetoric from the political partiesand the right wing commentariat inthe run up to the budget has beenbased on the notion of ‘everyone shar-ing the pain’. This may sound fair andjust, but it is simply not true.

Working people have already givenall they can.

Those that have held on to their jobshave seen the price of necessities –like petrol and heat and light – in-crease considerably, whilst also beinghit by the levy and other stealth taxesimposed by the Government over thepast two years.

Many have also seen their core payrate frozen or even cut. They havenothing left to give.

Daniel McCarthy works in theretail sector in Cork and finds it diffi-

cult to make ends meet:

“My take home pay would averageabout €300 a week but I don’t knowfrom week to week what it will be”, hetold People’s Voice.

“I work around 24 hours a week butI don’t know how many hours I’ll getuntil the rosters get put up on aThursday evening. I could get three fulldays and two half days or the other

way around. You never know.”

Daniel lives at home with his parentsand contributes €100 a week towardsthe home.

“After that I have to pay for my car;that’s €1,000 a year on insurance, andthen there’s the road tax and thepetrol. After everything I’m left with-out about €50 a week disposable in-come. I couldn’t take any cut in my

pay. The levy was an absolute disgracethe way it hit people on low pay.

“They should hit the higher paidpeople who can afford it. If they increase tax again it would be shock-ing.”

Tom Fox is a forklift driver withthe Kerry Group owned Rye ValleyFoods in Carrickmacross, Co Mon-aghan.

He takes home around €415 a weekbut has seen his overall incomeeroded in recent years: “The KerryGroup is into lean manufacturing soit’s very difficult to get any improve-ments in terms of pay and so on.

“Our Christmas bonus is gone andwe are still behind a lot of other com-panies in the area like Bose, whowould have higher pay rates than

It’s real people who have to deal with the grim reality of cuts agenda

GOT NOTHING LEFTTO GIVE

I just can’t afford more carbon taxes or other stealth taxes

’

Just about scraping by: Forklift driver Tom Fox fears what’s in the next Budget Picture: Paula Geraghty

PEOPLE’S VOICE 17

It’s real people who have to deal with the grim reality of cuts agenda

here.” After paying his mortgage andother bills Tom says he is lucky if hehas “€50 or €60 to play with” eachweek and that he couldn’t afford anyadditional taxes that might come as aresult of the budget.

“We just couldn’t afford to pay ifthe Government introduces waterrates or property tax. We just don’thave the money.”

John Montgomery has workedin the Britvic soft drinks plant in Bal-lyfermot and regards himself as rea-sonably well paid in some respects.“Our pay is good by some stan-dards,” he says.

“There wouldn’t be anyone herecoming out with less than €450 aweek in take home pay.

“We haven’t had to take a direct

pay cut but overtime has been cutback.”

Married with one child John alreadystruggles to make ends meet on hisown €480 take home pay.

“I already have a mortgage I can’tafford and I have a 110 mile roundtrip to work every day fromCastelpollard. That costs another€70 a week in diesel alone.

“If the Government was to increaseincome tax in any way that would re-ally kill me. I certainly can’t afford anymore carbon taxes or other stealthtaxes.

“Our biggest worry is that they willbring in property tax and watercharges and we simply couldn’t affordto pay them.”

I just can’t afford more carbon taxes or other stealth taxes’

THE Irish government’s cap-doffing attitude to the speculators and bond-holders who lent money to the reck-less bosses of Anglo Irish Bank and the other banks is costing the taxpayerbillions.

The cost is staggering. It is at least€55bn and growing.

“And we will get nothing in return”,says Congress Economist PaulSweeney.

“As taxpayers, we do not have torepay these debts,” he said.

“They were privately incurred byAnglo, Nationwide, AIB, BOI etc. It isthe Government and the bankspokespersons who say that the tax-payers, must repay all of these debts.They say that if we don’t repay the pri-vate debts run up by the banks, Irelandwill be ‘in default’. They claim this willdrive up the cost of loans (they are

high already) or that we might not beable to borrow more.

“Yet even the Financial Times, a paperwhich knows a bit about the City andbondholders, said on November 1 thatIreland ’s leaders were wrong not toburn the bank bondholders. It also saidthe Irish government is mistaken to seeprivate debt (run by the banks) andsovereign debt (run up by a govern-ment to build schools) as one and thesame thing.

“There is a risk in not paying thebank bondholders or paying them just10% of the debts. But the gain is farbigger and worth this risk. If we donnot repay the bondholders then wecan save around €55bn over the next10 to 20 years.

“Then other bondholders will happilylend to Ireland – a country that wouldhave €55bn less debt.”

Cap doffing tobondholders iscosting us dear

IT IS estimated that every €250,000spent by Irish consumers on Irishgoods directly supports one job.

If every Irish household – 400,000 inall – were to spend just €1.67 perweek extra on Irish food, for example,it would represent an investment ofabout €35 million directly to the Irisheconomy.

That would create 140 new jobs forless than the price of two litres of milk,per family, per week.

One of the main arguments againsteconomic stimulus programmes in asmall open economy like ours is thatthe money would be spent on im-ported goods and services and thatIrish people would not benefit in thelong run.

However, Irish people have proventime and again that they will buy Irishgiven the opportunity.

A survey carried out some years agoby Shelf Life magazine found that 91%

of Irish people try to buy Irish foodwhenever possible.

Last year Ireland imported €3 billionworth of food and drink from the UKalone.

If just one third of that could be sub-stituted by Irish products it would re-sult in an additional €1 billion beingspent here in Ireland and the creationof up to 4,000 new direct jobs andmany more indirect jobs.

We need a campaign to persuadepeople living and working in Ireland tospend their money on goods and serv-ices produced by other people livingand working in Ireland.

And no one should attempt to hidebehind EU rules on this one – theFrench have managed to designate hun-dreds of their food products as insome way ‘unique’ or ‘traditional’ toFrance under EU labelling regulations.So far, Ireland has managed to desig-nate just a handful.

Buying local tosave Irish jobs

Hit hard: Retail worker Daniel McCarthy finds it difficult to make ends meet

COMMUNITY VOICESFocus Ireland

We work with the people who have suffered most from the economic crisis. We believe Government policy will drive more people to dependon welfare and homeless services. We believe the Government must:Protect the budget of homeless services; Prioritise social housing for people moving out of homelessness; Fund support services targeted toprevent people from losing their homes.

PEOPLE’S VOICE18

ON the hit-list are major employers who contribute keyservices and revenue to theeconomy: the ESB, Bord naMona, RTE, An Post, CIE, ourairports, the remaining share-holding in Aer Lingus, VHI and many other important organisations.

They employ over 40,000people and any sell-off wouldmean job losses.

The sell-off is the latest brain-wave from the same peoplewho have brought the countryto the brink of bankruptcy.They’re looking for quick cashfrom the sale of key state assets to pay the people whoare holding the country to ransom at the moment – theinternational bond markets.

Margaret Thatcher pulled offthe privatisation con job inBritain in the 1980s and the Fianna Fail/PD coalition did ithere in the late 1990s whenthey persuaded us to pay twicefor an asset we already owned.

The Irish people had paid forEircom several times overthrough their taxes and theirtelephone bills by the timeGovernment came to privatiseit in 1999. We are still livingwith the disastrous conse-quences of that decision todayin the form of a debt-riddennational telecoms provider thatcannot afford to invest in thebroadband infrastructure criti-cal to Ireland ’s economic

future. We must learn the lessons of the Eircom debacle ifwe are not to repeat the wholesorry saga again in our remain-ing state companies.

The downward spiral of Eircom since it was sold intoprivate ownership has beennothing short of a scandal. Aprofitable and well-fundedcompany worth €8 billionwhen it was sold in July, 1999 –and €10 billion one monthlater – has cut its staff by thousands, failed to invest adequately in new infrastruc-ture and has debts approaching€4 billion.

In the meantime, everyonebut the Irish taxpayer has mademoney out of it. The disastrousdecision to sell off its fastgrowing and highly-profitablemobile phone division – Eircell– to Vodafone in 2001 was justthe beginning.

Next came the takeover ofthe company by Sir AnthonyO’Reilly’s Valentia consortiumin 2001 for just €3.2 billion –less than a third of its valuetwo years earlier.

In a move which fans of ManUtd and Liverpool will under-stand all too well, O’Reilly andhis cohorts financed thetakeover with more than €2.7billion in debt which theyquickly transferred to the company.

So a profitable company withcash in the bank found itself in

The campaign has already started to ‘soften’people up for the sale of prized state assets

SELLING US SHORT...

► Challenging Times - What this means for the World of Work

► Making your money Work for You

► Exploring options - Thinking outside the Box

► Starting your own Business - Supports and What you need to Know

► Identifying Job Opportunities - What's the Best Approach

Sally Ann Kinahan, Assistant General Secretary, ICTU

James Martin, TeamLife Training and SchoolForStartups.ie

Yanky Fachler, SureSkills

Tony Nugent, Open Financial Services

Jerry Kelly, First HRD

A FREE half-day conference for people seeking new

opportunities Croke Park, November 23, 2010

9am to 1pm

PLUS over 15 stands with information on managing your money, volunteering opportunities, training and employment options.

For information or to reserve your place, contactMark Donoghue at 01 600 8249 or

email mdonoghue@eircom.ie A full brochure is available on www.Positive2Work.ie

Key Speakers:

COMMUNITY VOICES

Dolphin House is one of the estates that was earmarkedfor regeneration. The collapse of PPP scheme andbudget cuts mean that is in serious doubt. Residents areleft living in structural poverty conditions: dampness,sewerage problems, ghettos for anti-social behaviour.The Government should fund the regeneration and getpeople back to work building new houses and commu-nity facilities. Existing services are vital to maintainingthe fabric of this community. Government policy iswrong and Congress has outlined an alternative strategy.Our voices must be heard. November 27 is the start.

We represent a large number of community and volun-tary projects in the Canal Communities of Inchicore,Rialto and Bluebell, in Dublin. These work directlywith families, children and individuals who access awide variety of services across the Canal Communitiesthat have been slowly built up over the last 25 years.The cuts to date mean projects are now in real dangerof being dismantled. We believe it is vital that commu-nities stand together and protest over these cuts.That’s why we will there on November 27.

Dolphin House Community Development Association

Canal Communities campaign for Equality & Fairness

COMMUNITY VOICESNational Youth Council of Ireland

The scale of the proposed cuts could

devastate youth work services that

support some of the most vulnera-

ble young people in our communi-

ties. The cuts agenda serves to

further depress the economy,

hinder job creation and deplete the

vital education and training that

young jobseekers need. A slash and

burn budget may make the bond

markets happy for a few weeks, but

it could destroy the social bonds of

our country for a generation.

PEOPLE’S VOICE 19

hock for almost €3 billion with the new owners having“bought” it for practically nothing.

This group of so-called investors paid themselves hugedividends. Valentia even paid itself huge dividends when itwas making losses while sellingoff everything that wasn’t naileddown.

In March 2004, O’Reilly andhis pals decided to cut and runand float the company on thestock exchange once again.

The sell-off valued the com-pany at just €1.15 million – notmuch more than one-eighth of1999 worth – but still gaveO’Reilly and his fellow investorsa tidy return of more than€600 million, in addition to thedividends they had previouslyextracted from the company.

The position had improved

marginally by 2006 when Australian investment groupBabcock & Brown took controlof 65% of Eircom in a dealwhich valued the company at€2.4 billion.

But worse was yet to come.Having posted losses of almost€500 million in the first half of2009, Babcock & Brown too decided to take their moneyand run and in the first week ofJanuary 2010 sold the companyto Singapore Technologies Telemedia for a mere €140 mil-lion in cash and shares.

This has been the sorry saga of Eircom – thousands ofjob losses, a disaster for the national economy and profitsfor everyone but the Irish taxpayer.

Don’t get fooled again – don’tlet the Government sell off anymore of our prized assets!

The campaign has already started to ‘soften’people up for the sale of prized state assets

SELLING US SHORT...

Pictures: Photocall Ireland

Sell-off: Margaret Thatcher

Talking telephone numbers: Tony O’Reilly’s Valentia consortium snapped up Eircom for €3.2bn

Fair Hotels is an initiative of hotelworkers employed in Fair Hotelsthroughout Ireland and our trade

union representatives.

Fair Hotels are hotels that treat their staff fairly.

Fair Hotels understand that thehospitality industry is a people industry and that in order to attract and retain a skilled and committed workforce; staff mustknow that their work is valued.

Fair Hotels pay a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. They accept thathotel workers deserve to be paid afair wage on which to support themselves and their families.

Fair Hotels take their responsibilities as employers seriously. They respect the fundamental human right of workers to a voice at work. They engage in collective bargaining with staff.

Hotels listed on the Fair Hotels’website – www.fairhotels.ie – were

invited to participate in the Fair Hotels campaign by their own staff and their staff

representatives.

Each of the hotels listed has agreedto participate.

Our objective is to support and promote quality employment in the

hotel industry in Ireland.

COMMUNITY VOICESThe European Anti Poverty Network (Ireland) welcomes this opportunity to mobilise in supportof the values at the heart of our communities. It isimportant that those to be affected by the pro-posed Budget cuts - from young families to the unemployed - take action to encourage a moreequal way forward. EAPN supports proposals madeby Congress for Budget 2011, such as the ‘job protection’ initiative. Every person of working ageshould have access to a quality job. EAPN Irelandopposes any cuts to social welfare rates and essen-tial public services.

European Anti-Poverty NetworkCommunity Workers’

CooperativeThe community sector provides cost

effective local solutions to local

problems and supports some of the

most marginalised people in Ireland.

Since 2008, government policy has

ensured those who benefited least

from the boom have had to pay for

the excesses of those who benefited

most. We have seen cuts to the

welfare system, education & health,

along with cuts to the community

sector that supports disadvantaged

individuals and communities to make

long-term changes to their lives.

At some point we have to say ‘stop –

not in our name’.

PEOPLE’S VOICE20

DDoo yyoouu bbeelliieevvee wwee sshhoouulldd pprriioorriittiissee jjoobbss aanndd ggrroowwtthh??DDoo yyoouu ssuuppppoorrtt CCoonnggrreessss’’ ppllaannffoorr iinnvveessttmmeenntt iinn jjoobb ccrreeaattiioonnuussiinngg tthhee NNaattiioonnaall PPeennssiioonn RReesseerrvvee FFuunndd??DDoo yyoouu bbeelliieevvee wwee sshhoouulldd eexxtteenndd tthhee PPeerriioodd ooff AAddjjuussttmmeenntt ttoo 22001177??DDoo yyoouu aaggrreeee wwee nneeeedd aa jjoobb pprrootteeccttiioonn ppllaann aass iinn ootthheerr EEUU ssttaatteess??DDoo yyoouu aaggrreeee tthhaatt tthhee bbuurrddeenn ooffaaddjjuussttmmeenntt mmuusstt ffaallll hheeaavviieesstt oonntthhoossee wwhhoo ccaann aaffffoorrdd ttoo ppaayy??

1122334455

FFiivvee qquueessttiioonnss ffoorryyoouurr TTDD

PEOPLE’S VOICE 21

HUMAN FACEOF THE CRISIS4

MY husband worked all his lifewhile I reared our four children.He managed a pub/restaurant

for 14 years. When the downturn started he took

a 10 per cent pay cut. He lost two stone in weight and

couldn’t talk with worry. After the Christmas break he was

made redundant and my eldest son –who is 31 – took voluntary redundancyfrom the same establishment.

I had a part-time position there for10 years and I lost my job too. So, overan 18-month period three in ourhousehold lost their jobs.

My youngest son is in college in Carlow and he had to repeat one of hismodules this year and I cannot get anygrant towards this additional year.

He is relying on an application to thestudent assistance fund in the college.

Living on social welfare is very diffi-cult. The worst part of it is my husbandhas nothing to do and after working allhis life. It is very disheartening.

When you have never experiencedthis before, it is very hard asking thesocial welfare office for assistance.

We didn’t even know where the social welfare office was.

I felt very down, depressed andshocked but my husband felt it evenworse.

He does not know how to occupyhimself at all. I was over a year unem-ployed before I got a place on a CE

scheme and it is working out great. I am now getting €215 instead of

€130 and this is helping the family. Our mortgage was paid because we

had it so long and could afford to finishthe payments with the redundancymoney.

But this has left us with no surplusand no savings. We worry about whatis going to happen as we get older.

We are worried about the budget. Myson has qualified for €100 per week. Iam going to have to cut back on foodand heating if there are any further cutsto social welfare. My son’s bus fare to

college in Carlow every week is €40and I worry he may not complete hisdegree.

I get really annoyed when I watchministers on television. They are alwaysin their cars and using hotels and noneof them seem to have had anythingtaken from them yet.

I don’t see myself ever goingon holidays again unless we winthe lotto.

Barbara Whyte,Newbridge Congress Centre

We worry about what’llhappen when we get old’

’COMMUNITY VOICES

Social welfare payments to unemployed people werecut by 4.1% last year. The loss of the Christmas Bonusmeant another 2% drop in income. Reductions havealso been made to other supports, including rent supplement and dental care. Many unemployed peopleare already struggling to survive. The INOU demandsthat Government: maintains payments and improvessupports; invests resources to address the jobs crisis;produces an integrated and inclusive Jobs Strategy;broadens the tax base based on the principle thosewho can afford to pay, do pay.

“The toxic legacy of the budget will be more job lossesin the community and voluntary sector. Some 5,000jobs have gone already. It will also mean more poverty,more social exclusion, hitting hardest at a young generation who will be handed the bill for this crisis.

“Without the vital services that this sector provides,poverty related crime and health problems will soar. It makes no sense to cut when we know the long termconsequences will be so severe.”

Shay Cody, General Secretary, IMPACT

Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed

Community & Voluntary Sector Workers

COMMUNITY VOICESCommunity PlatformThe Community Platform chal-

lenges the notion that there is no

alternative to this level of cuts and

has identified four realistic and

achievable suggestions for how

€3bn could be raised in Budget

2011 without further deflating the

economy. The Community Plat-

form is calling on the Government

to take on board its suggestions for

progressive tax reform –

‘4steps2recovery’ – and in so doing

begin the journey to social and

economic recovery.

COMMUNITY VOICES

Women will bear the brunt of this recession. They aremore reliant on social welfare payments, which havebeen cut.

Women do most of the unpaid care work in societyand when vital public services are cut, women carrythe burden. Women are paid less than men and areover-represented in low paid jobs.

Violence against women has dramatically increasedand under-funded services are struggling to cope.

The ongoing strategy of cuts simply exacerbates thisinequality.

The Spectacle of Defiance is an act of creative resist-ance to the cuts being implemented by Government.We aim to bring a new energy and creativity to ex-pressing the concerns facing vulnerable and margin-alised communities all over this country. The Spectacleis a grassroots initiative which includes community andyouth organisations as well as trade unions, studentgroups and campaigning organisations. It takes placeon December 10, 7pm, from City Hall in Dublin. Thetheme for the Spectacle is ‘STOP Tearing the Heartout of our Communities’. Contact John Bissett - 087 988 9132

National Women’s Council of Ireland

Spectacle of DefianceCOMMUNITY VOICESAONTAS

Demand for adult education has

soared. It is often the first port of

call for people wishing to upskill or

retrain. Investing in people now will

result in long-term benefits for the

country. Community education has a

significant social impact by respond-

ing to inequality, poverty and disad-

vantage. The adult education sector

commands only a small part of the

overall education budget – currently

less than 5%. AONTAS is asking

Government to retain the existing

infrastructure and to ensure that

adult learners can access financial

support to fully take up the oppor-

tunities of education.www.aontas.com

PEOPLE’S VOICE22

THE diminishing tally of achievementsfor current Health Minister Mary Har-ney should not mask one of the mostoutstanding, if little remembered, successes of her Ministerial career. She was the one who defeated the attempt to keep top executive pay a secret.

During her stint as Enterprise Minister at the end of the 1990s, MsHarney fought off a spirited rearguardaction by the usual vested interestswho maintained that individual executive pay should go unreported.

All manner of spurious reasons forsecrecy were put forward to justify thenon-disclosure, including the risk thatthe ‘overpaid’ would be set up as po-tential kidnap victims!

PerksUndeterred the Minister pressed

ahead with the measure that insistedthat the pay, bonuses, perks and pen-sions of directors of all listed compa-nies should be included in annualreports. So starting in 2000, the publichad the opportunity to see how theother half lived.

It was no surprise that pay packagesfor these senior managers happily mirrored the other excesses of theTiger economy. By 2007 the pay andperks of the directors of even modestlisted companies were three and fourtimes higher than they were at thestart of the Millennium.

By the peak of the boom virtuallyevery executive director of a listedbank or financial service company waswalking away with salary and pensioncontributions worth more than €1 mil-lion a year. It goes without saying thatAnglo Irish Bank led the charge.

The bank’s CEO, Sean FitzPatrick, was

the first to pay himself €1m a year; the first to pay himself €2m and would have been the first to pay himself €3m if the climate of greed hadnot spread so rapidly to the otherbanks.

We now know that in FitzPatrick’scase the salary reported in the company’s annual report was only chickenfeed compared with the extra-curricular businesses he was conduct-ing outside the bank, using loansfurnished by his board colleagues.

A similar story applied atIrish Nationwide where eyescontinually popped at thegenerosity CEO Michael Fin-gleton applied to his ownearnings. The fact that his so-ciety was a mutual andwas – on the face of it

– owned by its depositors, and that fewif any of these owners knew of his ex-traneous business ventures, made hispay scale truly ‘cheeky’.

As Anglo adopted a leadership role inthe pay race, the mainstream banks fol-lowed suit with reckless enthusiasm.For the public in general, the straw thatbroke the camel’s back was the admis-sion by an unhappy-looking Bank of Ire-land CEO – Brian Goggin – that he was

taking a significant pay cut and thatfor the year in question he

would end up with just €2m.

This was the year in whichthe bank had been forced toshelve dividend payments; themarket capitalisation had

fallen by an unbelievable 90per cent and the life savings of

people inside and outside thebank had disappeared for-

ever. But banks were not the only onepaying obscene salaries to their topmanagers.

In the 1990s there was controversyand questions raised at AGMs aboutexceptional payments to people suchas Michael Smurfit, but in the course ofthe ‘noughties’ everyone got in on theact.

At Independent News & Media, TonyO’Reilly, long retired from the HeinzCorp and a tax exile who could onlyvisit his Irish charges for 183 days ayear, pocketed a pay and perks packageof €2.2m in 2007, as the companywilted and the share price sank underthe weight of heavy bank debts.

TemptationInterestingly, the only high-profile

CEO to resist the temptation to payhimself like an Oriental potentate wasRyanair’s Michael O’Leary.

He had the advantage of giving his networth a periodic boost by sellingshares that he had accumulatedthrough share options – yet anotherdevice for directors to see themselvesthrough the rainy day.

The great Canadian economist, JKGalbraith opined that “the salary of thechief executive of the large corporationis not a market reward for achieve-ment. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture bythe individual to himself.”

This was especially the case in theCeltic Tiger years and it is only fair toremember that Mary Harney was the one who changed the rules and allowed the public to see how open-handed and generous Irish executiveswere to each other.

Top execs really didn’twant you to know what they earned but luckilyHarney just didn’t buy it

OF RICHES EMBARRASSMENT

That’s rich: Harney, left, didn’t buy into argument about privacy & earnings.Above & right: Michael Fingleton, Sean FitzPatrick and Brian Goggin

High flyer: Michael O’Leary

Pictur

es: P

hotoca

ll Ire

land

Defend Your Rights at Work. Join a Union.

PEOPLE’S VOICE 23

NOBODY elected them and be-fore the crisis most people didn’teven know their names.

Yet this tiny group of men – andvery few women – wielded extraordinary power and influenceover the Government during theyears when the ship of state wassteered onto the rocks.

They supped together in the Gal-way Tent and in the boardrooms ofIreland they made the calamitousdecisions which helped bring thecountry to its knees.

They are the Golden Circle; theshadowy group of well-connected individuals who helped inflate theproperty bubble, cause the bankingcrisis and bring the State to theedge of bankruptcy.

The independent think-tank TASChas identified a network of 39individuals who held powerful positions in 33 of Ireland’s top 40public organisations and privatebusinesses in the years leading tothe bust.

Between them they held morethan 93 directorships in these com-panies during this period; as well asan average of ten directorships eachin other companies – that’s almost500 directorships shared among agroup of just a few dozen.

But these people were just theouter circle – the back benchers ofthe shadow government.

The real power was exerted by amuch smaller inner cabinet of just11 people who were particularlywell connected.

These exalted eleven had 10 ormore links, through multiple direc-torships, to other members of theGolden Circle and sat on three, fouror even five boards of the top 40companies simultaneously.

It will come as no surprise thatSean FitzPatrick was among theleading lights of this inner circle.

No surprise either that over halfthe members of the Golden Circleheld board positions in at least

one of Ireland’s four largest finan-cial institutions: Anglo Irish Bank,AIB, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life &Permanent.

And they paid themselves verywell for their trouble.

The TASC research found a trend

Pictur

e: Ph

otoc

all Ireland

Quiz: Sean FitzPatrick exits Bray Garda station

Defend Your Rights at Work. Join a Union.

THE level of pay for Ireland’sdirectors – especially ChiefExecutive Officers and boardchairpersons – was exceed-ingly high over recent years.

The average pay of CEOs in 21 of the largest privatecompanies was €1.1 millionper annum in 2007, and roseto €1.6 million in 2009.

That represents an increaseof 46 per cent.

Chairpersons were paid€267,600 on average in 2009,for essentially part-time positions.

Meanwhile, ordinary non-executive directors were paidon average €66,000 in 2009,for what were very muchpart-time positions.

In 2007, for example, Sean FitzPatrick was paid€774,000 for two chair positions and three non-executive director positions.

This level of pay was completely out of kilter with rates in the rest of the economy.

In 2009, CEOs were paidover 14 times what could be considered ‘high pay’(€119,000) and 136 times the level of income for those‘at risk of poverty’ (approx€11,000).

One in six households inIreland lived under the ‘atrisk of poverty’ threshold in2009.

Reform of corporate gover-nance – of how business doesits business – is absolutelyessential if we are to ensurethat we begin to undo thereputational damage thathas been suffered.

There can be no more ‘business as usual’. Source: Mapping the Golden Circle

BOSSES’PAY WENTUP & UP

THE IN CROWD

www.unionconnect.ie

of excessive pay: for example in2005-2007, total pay for the CEOsof both private companies and State-owned bodies increased by morethan 40 per cent on average, whileinflation was at 9.1 per cent for bothyears combined.

While not all of these people are responsible for the decisions whichhave wrecked our economy andthreaten the same for our societythe very existence of this small eliteis symptomatic of the malaise whichhas brought us to ruin.

But one fact that cannot be over-looked is that every member of theinner cabinet of 11 was a director ofone of the banks or building soci-eties during the crucial period from2005 to 2007 when the seeds of thebust were sown.

The boards with most links toother boards within the top 40companies were all financial institu-tions: Anglo Irish Bank with 10 links,and Irish Life & Permanent and Bankof Ireland, which each had nine links

to other companies. Allied Irish Bank(AIB) also had a large number oflinks, to seven other firms.The influ-ence of the Golden Circle was by nomeans limited to the private sector.

Members were also directors of anumber of State companies includ-ing: the Irish Aviation Authority, IDAIreland, Enterprise Ireland, theDublin Airport Authority, Bord naMona, Forfas, and most notoriouslythe Dublin Docklands DevelopmentAuthority (DDDA) which has ex-posed the taxpayer to hundreds ofmillions of euro in losses on theDublin Glass Bottle site in Ringsend.

It’s time to shout stop, to put anend to these Golden Circles andelites which have bedevilled Irish so-ciety for generations.

All political parties must committo bringing in legislation to rein inthe activities of such well-connectedindividuals and ensure that powerrests where it should – with thepeople.

Written, designed, printed and produced by trade union labour

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK peoplesvoice@ictu.ie