Greyhound Lockout What next for the Left? The destruction of

September 2014
Vol.13 No. 7
ISSN 0791-458X
Greyhound
Lockout
Page 6-7
dscsdcsdcsdcsd
The
destruction
of Palestine
cdscdscdscds
What
next for
the Left?
xxxxxxxx
PagePage
15-18
Page20-21
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Page
Call for
water
tax
credit
BUDGET
CAN BOOST
JOBS AND
WAGES
Page 12
WORKPLACE
RELATIONS
BILL 2014
Page 25
by Frank Connolly
SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, has
called for the introduction of a “Water Tax
Credit” in the October budget and has said that
under no circumstance should tax reductions be
funded by cuts to public expenditure.
The refundable water tax credit, he argues, would “offset the total cost of every person’s household and domestic needs at a cost to the exchequer of less than €350
million per annum.”
O’Connor said: “It would respect the principle of an
adequate supply of water to meet normal needs universally available free at the point of use. It would preserve
the incentive for water conservation because it would
not extend to subsidising non-essential activities such
as filling swimming pools, watering gardens, washing
cars or just plain waste.”
“There is no such thing as a free supply of water. The
debate is only about which way it is paid for. The trade
union movement has always subscribed to the principle
of universal provision of essential public goods free at
LIBERTY
CROSSWORD
WIN a hotel
break for two...
Page 31
1
Greyhound workers march from Liberty Hall to Dublin City Hall, on Monday 1st
September: The Greyhound workers strike committee, assisted by the SIPTU legal
team, are engaged in negotiations with the management of Greyhound Recovery
and Recycling aimed at reaching an agreed resolution to the 14 week lockout
of workers by the waste disposal company. Photo: Photocall Ireland
3
4
11
5
8
9
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Continued on page 2
2
7
19
In this month’s Liberty
Decent work drive
in construction
sector
Page 4
2
Liberty
News
SEPTEMBER 2014
Memorial to International Brigade
Recalling the
Building Strike
of 1964
Page 8-9
Liberty View
Page 11
Liberty
View
All change
for Scotland
Page 14
The missing
children of
Argentina
Page 19
Saving the Welfare
State in Northern
Ireland
Page 24
Dubs outfoxed
Page 30
SIPTU General President, Jack
O’Connor, addressed visitors from
around Ireland, the UK and Spain,
in Limerick on Sunday, 14th September, at the unveiling of a memorial honouring six local men
who volunteered to fight for the
Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.
“When they saw [the] Republic
in Spain under attack from the
rising forces of European fascism
they understood the necessity of
standing with their Spanish
brothers and sisters in the fight
to defend it and, in the process,
the newly won gains of the Spanish working class”, Jack O’Connor said.
The Limerick International
Brigades Memorial unveiled at
the event honours Frank Ryan,
Emmet Ryan who died at the battle of Ebro, Jim Woulfe who fell
at Belchite in Aragon, Gerard
Doyle, Paddy Brady and Joe Ryan.
Read the full speech at
www.siptu.ie
Hospital support staff ballot for strike action
SIPTU members working as
support staff in Dublin’s main
training hospitals are balloting for strike action in response to an attempt to
unilaterally change existing
rosters and shift pattern
arrangements which are protected under the Haddington
Road Agreement.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “Management
at St. Vincent’s University Hospital
has already attempted to remove
our members from working weekend and unsocial hours with only
three days notice. The plan was to
have these duties carried out by
Support Staff Interns rather than
full time hospital staff. When it
was made clear to management
that SIPTU members were resolutely opposed to this move it
was suspended.
“However, following engagement with the management of the
HSE and St Vincent’s University
Hospital it is clear that they still intend to misuse the Support Staff
Intern programme in order to unilaterally change our members established shift patterns and pay”.
The workers currently being balloted include hospital porters,
catering staff, household workers,
central sterile services department
staff and laboratory technicians
working in all the Dublin training
hospitals. The facilities affected
are Beaumont Hospital, Tallaght
Hospital, St. Vincent’s University
Hospital, the Mater Public Hospital, National Maternity Hospital
and St. Luke’s Hospital.
The ballot is scheduled for completion on 9th October. If members vote in favour the ballot
allows for workers to issue protective strike notice meaning that industrial action can be taken if
management attempts to force
through roster changes.
Approximately 4,500 support
staff in Dublin are being balloted.
Support staff account for over
20,000 workers throughout the
Health Service.
Paul Bell added: “This dispute is
also focused on the consistent refusal by the management of the
HSE to agree a protocol for the recruitment, deployment and training of Support Staff Interns. It is
now obvious that the HSE intends
to use this element of the Haddington Road Agreement to undermine
the pay and conditions of our
members.
SIPTU is committed to the recruitment and deployment of
1,000 Support Staff Interns for the
purpose of reducing agency staff
costs and reducing overtime costs
that have arisen as a result of a failure to fill vacancies due to the
HSE’s staff recruitment embargo.
It is also the union’s intention to
ensure that Support Staff Interns
are made permanent once they
have completed their two-year
training programme.
Continued from page 1 – Call for water tax credit
Editor: Frank Connolly, SIPTU Head of Communications
Journalist: Scott Millar
Design: Sonia Slevin (SIPTU), Joe Mitchell (Brazier Media) & William Hederman
Publications Assistant: Deirdre Price
Administrative Assistant: Karen Hackett
Produced, designed, edited and printed by trade union labour.
Printed by The Irish Times, City West, Dublin.
Liberty is dedicated to providing a platform for progressive news and views.
If you have any ideas for articles or comments please contact:
[email protected]
Liberty is published by the Services, Industrial, Professional & Technical Union,
Liberty Hall, Dublin 1
SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor • Vice President, Patricia King •
General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn
Production: SIPTU Communications Department, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1,
Tel: 01 8588217 • Email: [email protected]
the point of use and funded by
general taxation.”
O’Connor also described calls for
reducing the 41% tax rate as “a blatant call for tax cuts for the rich
which would be subsidised by the
great majority (86%) of income
earners who would get nothing”.
He said that calls for the expansion of the standard rate band was
“not quite so perverse” but would
still mean that only 14% of tax payers would benefit, again at the expense of the 86% who would get
nothing.
He says that “cutting the Univer-
sal Social Charge would be fairer”
as every earner would benefit.
However, he said the concept of
the “Water Tax Credit” would be
the most equitable way to provide
for low earners and those dependant on social welfare.
Jack O’Connor said that “under
no circumstance should tax reductions be funded by further cuts to
public expenditure.”
“Indeed, there is an unanswerable case for increasing spending
in key areas especially the health
service which is now undergoing
an unprecedented funding crisis.
Our public health, education and
social services are key to the quality of life and the standard of living of the vast majority of people,”
he said.
He said the only room for tax reductions is through the resources
generated by the resumption of
economic growth and “by applying
the benefits of the early rollover of
the repayment of International
Monetary Fund loans at more
favourable rates of interest, as has
just been agreed with the Eurozone institutions.”
See page 11.
Liberty
News
SEPTEMBER 2014
Campaign against
bus privatisation
continues
Bus workers’ opposition to
plans to privatise some
routes was outlined at a
meeting involving SIPTU, the
National Transport Authority
(NTA) and the management
of Bus Éireann and Dublin
Bus, hosted by the Labour
Relations Commission (LRC).
The meeting on 20th August
was held to discuss a plan to privatise 10% of routes at both CIE
companies.
SIPTU Division Organiser,
Owen Reidy, said: “SIPTU has
been campaigning against this illconceived and flawed plan. The
NTA plan will be a bad deal for
the taxpayer, the travelling public
and workers in both companies”.
He added: “The NTA must
agree to freeze its plan and allow
for an open public debate on the
future of public transport. Otherwise services are likely to be affected by major industrial action
in the near future”.
A further LRC meeting is scheduled for 17th September.
3
Cuban Five anniversary
marked in Dublin
Workers to vote on
Irish Rail proposals
WORKERS in Irish Rail are
voting on a set of proposals
that emerged following talks
with management at the
Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
The Rail Committee of SIPTU,
which met on Wednesday, 3rd
September to discuss the proposals, agreed to put them to a full
ballot of the 2,100 union members in Irish Rail.
SIPTU Organiser, Paul Cullen,
told Liberty: “The SIPTU Rail
Committee examined the document issued by the LRC and we
agreed we would put this to a ballot of the membership which
commenced on Wednesday, 10th
September and will be completed
by Wednesday, 24th September.”
He added: “A consultative
process on the proposals with the
members in Irish Rail is also
under way.”
Following the LRC discussions,
SIPTU representatives suspended
two work stoppages at Irish Rail
scheduled for Sunday, 7th September and Sunday, 21st September. The actions were to be in
response to a unilateral cut to
workers’ wages in late August.
The company has agreed to suspend the pay cuts for the duration of the ballot.
New guidelines for domestic workers
employed by diplomatic staff
Domestic workers employed by foreign diplomatic staff will enjoy
increased protection following the publication of
new guidelines by the Department of Foreign Affairs
on Friday, 12th September.
As a guiding principle, diplomatic staff of embassies or consulates in Ireland who wish to
employ private domestic workers are expected to demonstrate
respect for Irish laws and good
employment practice.
The
guidelines clearly set out the ex-
pectations regarding payment,
employment records, health insurance, and social security.
The publication of the new
guidelines follows a campaign
by the Migrant Rights Centre
Ireland highlighting the abuse
of domestic staff by some foreign diplomats.
The adoption of the guidelines is consistent with Ireland’s ratification in July of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic
Workers, of 2011.
Chris Andrews, Sinn Féin Councillor, Maureen O'Sullivan, Independent TD, and Dr Hermes Herrera
Hernández, Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, at an event on the Rosie Hackett Bridge in Dublin last
week to mark the 16th year of the detention of the Cuban Five in the US. Photo: William Hederman
On Friday 12th September, demonstrations
were held in over 50 locations across the world
to mark the sixteenth anniversary of the
detention in the United States of the Cuban
Five. In Dublin, a demonstration was held on
the Rosie Hackett Bridge. As part of the event
wreaths and flowers were cast into the Liffey
and floated out to sea.
The Cuban Five also include Gerardo Hernandez,
Antonio Guerrero, Remon Labanino and Fernando
Gonzalez. The five are Cuban intelligence officers
who were convicted in Miami of conspiracy to
commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder
and acting as an agent of a foreign government due
to their work exposing anti-Cuban terrorists
operating in the US.
Two of the five, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene
Gonzalez, have been released.
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benefit concert
for the children
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See PAGE 15
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for more deta
4
Liberty
News
SEPTEMBER 2014
HSA begins
construction
safety drive
Decent work drive in
construction sector
builds momentum
CONSTRUCTION
unions
staged protests last month
in an escalation of their ‘decent work’ campaign in the
sector and to highlight
abuses by contractors engaged on public contracts.
The protests, organised by the
Construction Industry Committee
(CIC) of ICTU, and took place on
13th August at the City West
Hotel, in Saggart, County Dublin,
and at a nearby school-building
project, where serious abuses
have been uncovered.
Approximately 50 trade unionists, including activists from Cork
and Limerick, took part in the
protests. Further protests are
planned for the coming weeks.
SIPTU Organiser, Pat McCabe,
told Liberty: “The City West Hotel
protest was aimed at sending a
clear signal to those attending an
event at the venue about the
Dublin Institute of Technology
Grangegorman Campus development.
“The message the workers delivered was that Registered Employment Agreement (REA) rates
and conditions must be implemented by contractors at this development.” Unions involved in
the Decent Work Campaign claim
that despite repeatedly informing
the Department of Education and
Skills (DES) of the abuses suffered
by workers on school projects, the
“race to the bottom” on these and
other public contracts continues.
They have pointed out that
workers are being forced to masquerade as self-employed – despite clearly being employees – in
order to drive wages lower and
deny workers their pension and
death-in-service entitlements,
along with legal protection for
holiday pay and other employment rights.
The unions have said they are
aware of skilled trades people
being paid as little as €250 a week
on sites – well below the established rate.
The DES has continued to
award new contracts to the contractors involved, despite being
aware of these abuses for more
than two years.
The key campaign demands are:
¥ Apprentice opportunities;
¥ Stop bogus self-employment;
¥ Source labour locally;
¥ Support the construction
workers’ pensions, sick pay
and assurance scheme; and
¥ Regulate pay and conditions.
DEMANDS:
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THE Health and Safety Authority (HSA) launched a twoweek national construction
safety inspection campaign
on Monday, 8th September
aimed at improving compliance levels on building sites.
Con Hegarty,
now 90, has
been fighting for
workers’ rights
since the 1940s
Still proud to
be a SIPTU
activist at 90
C
ON Hegarty, known
to all staff and union
activists in Cork City,
continues the fight
for workers’ rights in the
construction sector to this
day.
Con served in the Irish Army
during the Emergency and was
stationed in Castlehyde, Fermoy,
County Cork.
After leaving the Army, he
found work in the construction
industry, joining the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union,
(ITGWU) in 1947.
Conditions on building sites at
the time were appalling. No attention was paid to health and
safety and there were no tea/rest
breaks and no “wet time” payments. Pay was also exceptionally
poor.
Concerned by these conditions,
Con became involved in union activism and played a key role in
setting up a strong building section of the ITGWU in Cork.
He went on to work with a number of the larger construction companies, including P.J. Hegarty’s and
Sisk. Con worked on the building
of the Dunlop’s plant and the
construction of the Cork Regional
Hospital, now known as the Cork
University Hospital (CUH).
Con remained a staunch trade
union activist throughout his
working life, becoming President
of the Cork No.3 Branch a number of times. Involved in several
disputes over the years, his only
objective was to fight for improvements for workers.
These improved conditions on
construction sites today are a direct result of struggles fought and
sacrifices made by the likes of
Con Hegarty and other members
of the section since the late
1940s.
To this day, Con remains actively involved and maintains a
close working relationship with
the construction sector in Cork.
He continues to notify the office of the various building work
and construction sites operating
around the city and has maintained his Trusteeship of the
Builders’ Benevolent Fund.
Most importantly, he is still
held in the highest esteem by
union members and staff alike.
Outside of his trade union activities, Con has selflessly devoted his time to community
activities and has helped to improve the lives of many people –
whether they were members of
the union or not.
Con’s advice to to all workers is
simple: “join the union and organise.”
(Editor: We are delighted to
hear that Con is also a distributor
of Liberty.)
The number of serious and fatal
accidents in construction has risen
over the last three years. And with
increasing levels of activity in the
sector, the HSA is seeking to ensure that standards are maintained
and areas where the risks are high,
such as working at height, are controlled.
Inspections will target sites
where small contractors are carrying out work due to concern at the
high number of accidents among
either self-employed tradespeople
or those working for contractors
with less fewer three employees.
Welcoming the move, SIPTU
representative on the Construction
Safety Partnership, Eric Fleming,
said: “Anything that seeks to
improve workers’ safety has to be
welcomed. I have personally called
for such action at the Construction
Safety Partnership.
“However, what is really needed
is an increase in the number of
inspectors as recent years have
seen a clear decline in safety
standards on construction sites.”
Kilkenny CTU
meets local
politicians
KILKENNY Council of Trade
Unions met with local politicians
for the annual pre-Budget discussion on Friday, 29th August.
It was a well-attended event and
was held in the SIPTU office in the
town.
According to one local union
source, “some very interesting and
constructive material was teased
out” during the meeting.
Issues raised included why fees
were being forced on apprentices
who, unlike students, have no recourse to grants and the privatisation “by stealth” of school bus
services.
Also raised was the issue of fines
imposed on non-complaint employers as well as the re-issuing of
contracts to such employers.
Taxation and the public ownership of water services was discussed as was union recognition.
Liberty
News
SEPTEMBER 2014
5
SIPTU sets out four-year plan to
deal with chronic housing crisis
A DOCUMENT, entitled
Discussion Paper on Ireland’s
Housing Crisis and which sets
out a four-year plan to deal
with
the
shortage
of
adequate social housing in
the State, has been launched
by SIPTU.
SIPTU General President, Jack
O’Connor, told Liberty: “We propose that the task of resolving the
housing crisis over the period between now and 2019 should be
embraced as the major societal
project in the context of commmorating the centenary of 1916.
“We urge the parties in the Government and indeed all of the political parties represented in the
Oireachtas to provide the leadership to promote the task of resolving the housing crisis within the
timeframe envisaged." The SIPTU
plan is based around the provision
of 25,000 social housing units over
the four-year period from 2015 to
2018 while generating 65,000 jobs
at an overall estimated cost of
€3.7 billion.
The document proposes that the
funds can be raised, off balance
sheet, from accessing the NTMA
guaranteed funds facility, loans
from the Council of Europe and
the European Investment Bank
and through the setting up of a social housing real estate investment
trust (REIT).
The plan also contains measures
such as the introduction of temporary rent controls, accompanied by
a range of other of planning, regulatory and tax changes.
The full discussion paper can be
downloaded at www.siptu.ie
LGBTQ Network in
vanguard at march
Family Fun
SIPTU LGBTQ Network leading the trade union bloc on the March
for Marriage in Dublin on Saturday, 24th August. Next meeting of the
Network is on Tuesday, 30th September at 6.00 p.m. in Room 205 in
Liberty Hall. All LGBTQ members are welcome to attend.
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6
Liberty
Justice for Greyhound Workers Campaign
SEPTEMBER 2014
‘Many people
realised this
fight had to be
won if workers
across Ireland
were not to be
faced with a
massive
acceleration
in the race to
the bottom’
and were told their wages were
being cut by up to 35% and there
was nothing they could do about it.
This simply cannot be accepted and
it is important that a clear message
goes out to all employers that
workers will not be simply walked
over”.
At the community meeting in
Coolock, Pamela Kenny spoke of
the impact the dispute had on the
workers’ children as families struggled to pay for school uniforms and
books.
Anne Scargill (left) and Betty Cook
of Women Against Pit Closures
with locked-out workers at the
Greyhound depot on Crag Avenue,
Dublin. Photo: Jimmy Thompson
‘A fight for all workers'
By Scott Millar
W
HEN the owners
of Greyhound Recycling and Recovery, Michael and
Brian Buckley, took the decision to lock out more than 70
workers on 17th June, they did
not anticipate the scale of the
response their actions would
provoke.
The Greyhound Lockout has
united people from across unions,
political groups and communities
behind workers who are standing
up for their right to earn a decent
wage.
“The last 13 weeks have been
both the hardest and the most inspiring of my working life,” said
SIPTU Greyhound Shop Steward
Jesse Hughes. “The workers have
stood up to a bullying employer.
This was only possible due to the
support we received from the trade
union movement and ordinary
workers from across Ireland and
beyond”.
“Many ordinary people told me
how enraged they were that any
company would demand workers
accept wage cuts of up to 35% and,
when they refused, employ strikebreakers to carry out their work.
People were particularly angered
because the company had a licence
to collect household waste for
Dublin City Council”.
Support for the workers came in
many forms. It included large donations from unions to the workers’
support fund, including two of
€10,000, local activists protesting
against strike-breakers in communities throughout Dublin, and
elected representatives from Labour,
Sinn Féin and other left parties
visiting the picket line.
Solidarity in action
SIPTU Organiser Stephen Lewis
said: “This dispute has shown
workers’ solidarity in action. These
men were faced with their wages
being slashed without agreement
and when they refused their jobs
being taken over by strikebreakers.
Many people realised this fight was
one that had to be won if workers
across Ireland were not to be faced
with a massive acceleration in the
race to the bottom in terms of
workers’ wages and conditions”.
He added: “I’m proud to say people from many groups and unions
stood shoulder to shoulder with
these men when it was most
needed.”
Political support for the workers
was evident from the TDs and
many councillors who attended
SIPTU information meetings to discuss the dispute in communities
across Dublin.
At these events the impact the
strike was having on the workers’
families was also discussed. Among
those who addressed the meetings
was Michelle Corbally, the wife of
a locked-out Greyhound worker.
“The dispute is having a terrible
impact on families. We need a solution to it but we also realise that
the Buckley brothers cannot be allowed to succeed”, she said.
“My husband Gary and his colleagues turned up for work one day
Breakthrough
A breakthrough in the dispute finally came on Tuesday 9th September. That day nine workers and a
councillor faced possible imprisonment due to the management of
Greyhound seeking to enforce an
injunction against them for blocking trucks at the company’s Crag
Avenue depot. Dramatically, during
a lunchtime adjournment of the
men’s case in the High Court, the
company finally agreed to enter
into “meaningful negotiations”
with the union. An earlier inadequate proposal that emerged from
discussions at the Labour Relations
Commission was rejected by the
strikers.
SIPTU Organiser Henry O’Shea
said: “Even on that day the dispute
was brought to a new low by management bussing in Greyhound
workers who had not been locked
out to stand outside the High Court
shouting at the supporters of the
men who were facing imprisonment. It was a very unfortunate situation but one to which the lockedout workers’ supporters responded
with dignity and restraint.”
Liberty
Justice for Greyhound Workers Campaign
TIMELINE
Greyhound
Lockout
SEPTEMBER 2014
7
Christy Moore and Don Baker play benefit gig for workers
JUNE
17th – More than 70 workers locked out
at the Greyhound depot in west Dublin.
Agency workers hired by the company
immediately take over their jobs.
JULY
1st - SIPTU's legal team is successful in
having the High Court overturn a
company injunction that sought to
prevent the dispute being called a
Lockout.
15th – Greyhound workers and
supporters start leafleting homes
across Dublin. South Dublin County
Council passes a motion supporting
the workers.
17th – Workers protest outside
Insource recruitment on Dawson
Street, Dublin, to highlight the
company’s role in recruiting
strikebreakers
Musicians Christy Moore, Seamie O’Dowd, Don Baker and Eric Fleming
performed a concert in support of the workers in Liberty Hall on Saturday, 16th
August. The concert saw Greyhound Shop Stewards, Jesse Hughes (second
right) and Thomas Cummins (right) join Seamie O’Dowd (left) and Christy Moore
(second left) on stage for a rendition of the union ballad Connolly Was There.
Photos: Dan O’Neill
7th – The workers and hundreds of
their supporters march to Dublin City
Hall. Dublin City Council passes
motions supporting the workers.
Hundreds turn out at community information meetings across Dublin
Photo: Dan O’Neill
22nd – Locked-out Greyhound worker
James Burke is hospitalised after he is
struck by a vehicle leaving the
Greyhound depot. It is the third time a
worker has been injured in such
circumstances in this Greyhound
dispute.
24th – Cork Young Workers’ Network
holds a solidarity protest in support of
the Greyhound workers in Cork City.
AUGUST
6th – British trade union activist Anne
Scargill visits the Greyhound picket line
Several hundred people along with local
elected representatives attended public
meetings across Dublin where they
heard workers and their partners
describe the impact of the dispute on
families. Economists and industrial
relations experts outlined the wider
impact of the ‘race to the bottom’ in
workers’ wages and conditions. Meetings
were held in East Wall (20th August, left),
Cabra (27th August), Stoneybatter (2nd
September), Coolock (3rd September,
right) and Ballymun (4th September)
Financial support from unions in Ireland and Britain
9th - Dublin supporters on Hill 16 in
Croke Park fly flags in support of the
workers
Photo: Dan O’Neill
17th – Folk singer Christy Moore, blues
musician Don Baker and Eric Fleming
play a gig in support of the workers in
a packed Liberty Hall theatre.
20th – Greyhound workers and their
partners address a community
meeting in East Wall. It is the first of
five similar meetings in communities
across Dublin.
SEPTEMBER
1st – Workers and hundreds of supporters march to Dublin City Hall. Workers
receive a standing ovation from councillors who pass motions in support of
them.
2nd – The workers vote to attend full
talks at the LRC.
9th – Nine workers appear in court
faced with imprisonment for protesting
outside the Greyhound depot. The case
is adjourned as company and union
representatives enter “intensive
negotiations” on a settlement.
The workers received support from unions and union activists across Ireland and Britain.
Among the unions to make substantial cash contributions to the workers support fund were
the CPSU (General Secretary Eoin Ronayne pictured above), TEEU, Unite, Mandate, Impact and
the Durham Miners Association. Other contributions were received from the CWU, PSEU, UCATT,
IFUT, TUI, Young Workers Network, Sinn Féin, Labour Youth, Belfast and District Trades Council,
Dublin Council of Trade Unions, MRCI and Workers Solidarity Movement.
Dubs fans fly the
flag at Croke Park.
Photo: Ronan Burtenshaw
City Council supports workers
Left:
international
solidarity
from
delegates at
the
International
Transport
Federation
Congress in
Bulgaria.
More than 500 people marched through Dublin on
1st September in support of the locked-out
Greyhound workers. The colourful march began at
Liberty Hall and concluded with a rally outside City
Hall at 6pm, before the first meeting of Dublin City
Council after its summer break. At the meeting,
Greyhound workers in the public gallery received a
standing ovation from councillors. Several motions
in support of the workers were passed and
councillors also expressed grave concerns about the
operation of domestic waste services in Dublin.
Photo: Photocall
26th – The Labour Relations
Commission (LRC) invites Greyhound
management and workers to
exploratory talks.
8
Liberty
Builders’ Strike 1964
SEPTEMBER 2014
50 years on... recalling the Building Strike of 1964
‘We got it for everybody’
By Fergus Whelan
O
N Monday, 1st September in Dublin
there was a gathering of older building
workers and the children of
long-dead building workers
to commemorate the sacrifices and the solidarity of the
men who a half century ago
in 1964 established the 40hour week – not just for
themselves but for every organised worker in Ireland.
The nine-week strike ended in a
total victory for the men who also
won a decent legally-enforceable
rate of pay and a pension scheme.
Labour historian Charlie Callan,
a painter decorator who took part
in the strike, claimed its success
was “the most significant achievement of the Irish
trade union movement (not to say
Labour movement) of
the 20th century.”
With the sponsorship of the Painters’
craft group, Charlie has
produced an attractive
pamphlet filled with interesting facts, analysis
and images not just
from ’64 but from the
long struggle for the
eight-hour day which
began in America and Europe in the 1870s.
Photographs of the
protest marches provoked
great interest as we looked
for long-dead relatives,
friends and comrades.
This pamphlet should be read
and treasured by every trade union
activist or indeed anyone who
wishes to learn how the lives of ordinary people can be improved
through solidarity and collective
action. A second edition is a must.
Former Labour Party minister
Barry Desmond, who was an ICTU
official in 1964, gave a vivid account of how the strike – initiated
by a small number of craft unions
with little organisation and without a ballot – caught the imagination
of
building
workers
nationally.
The strike on a local claim (a 40hour week in Dublin) ended with
a national agreement, a national
pension scheme and a National
Joint Industrial Council.
Kevin Duffy, Chairman of the
Pictured from right to left
behind bandsmen: Larry
Hudson (GS-UHSPDTUI and
Secretary Central Strike
Committee), Shay Ronan
(INPDTU Strike Committee),
unidentified, Gerry Wall
(GS-ISWCM), Peter McGrath
(GS-INUW and Chairman
Central Strike Committee);
with hat, Paddy Brown
(AGIBSLTUI Strike Committee),
with arm-band Frank
O’Connor (GS-BWTU),
unidentified, John Mulhall
(GS-INPDTU)
From Painters in Union –
The INPDTU and its Forerunners
by Charles Callan (Dublin 2008)
Picture: The Irish Times
Extract, right, from a minute
taken at an INPDTU meeting
in August 1964. INPDTU
banner, inset left
Labour Court and an apprentice
bricklayer in 1964, recalled how in
the aftermath of the dispute, working tradesmen became much more
influential in union affairs and
that craft chauvinism gave way to
a great era of inter-union solidarity
and progress.
Historian Jack Gannon, then a
plumber who took part in the dispute, was reading an English newspaper in Paris in August 1964 when
he learned that 20,000 construction workers were on strike in
Dublin. He was on the next plane
back to take his place on the strike
committee where he put in a 12hour day for the rest of the strike.
As director of communications
for the protest march, he upset the
sensibilities of the old-fashioned
craftsmen by calling on women to
take part. Jack’s slogan was: “Fellahs bring your gals, gals bring your
fellahs”. Bricklayer Richard O’Flaherty, who was an apprentice during the strike, said that many of
the key figures in the dispute had
been interned together in the
1940s.
These republican socialists knew
how to fight and understood the
necessity of workers standing up
for themselves. He said that the
current situation in the industry calls for similar levels of determination and courage.
“If we are afraid to go to jail,
then we cannot win the coming
battle.”
Painter Paddy Coughlan, another
veteran of the ‘64 dispute, recalled
how many of rank-and-file cut
their teeth on the campaign to
elect Jack Murphy as a TD for the
unemployed in the 1950s. They
Liberty
Builders’ Strike 1964
SEPTEMBER 2014
9
It was a victory for all working people
By Scott Millar
I
T WAS an introduction to
the realities of industrial
struggle for Charles
Callan, then a 17-year-old
apprentice painter, when he
joined the picket line on Tuesday, 18th August, 1964.
“The strike began on the Tuesday
after the builders’ holidays which
were the first two weeks of August.
However, because these also included the August bank holiday
there was one day off extra, so it
wasn’t on the Monday but the Tuesday that the action started.
“The call for a strike to ensure a
40-hour week had been a long time
coming. Many of the older men still
remembered with bitterness the defeat that building workers suffered
‘Determination
of workers to
achieve their core
demands
quickly became
apparent...’
INPDTU
members
Dennis
Bennett and
Jim Byrne
in the six-month strike of 1937 and
were reluctant to take action. My
union, the Irish National Painters
and Decorators Trade Union (INPDTU – now part of SIPTU), was key
to developing a sense of militancy
among building workers, and making the strike a reality.”
Charles recalls the dispute did
not involve much hardship for his
family. “I was paid about 30
shillings strike pay which was
around half of my normal pay. My
father was also in the trade but
worked for the local authority so
was not on strike. So my family was
not too badly affected.
“Other people were more badly
affected, in particular the general
workers. Most of these men were
not organised in a union and were
left without work when the sites
closed. It was these men and their
families who suffered the most.”
According to Charles, it was the
solidarity shown by workers, as
more trade unions joined the strike
which broke the employers’ resolve.
“The simple determination of the
workers to achieve their core demands quickly became apparent,
not only to the employers but also
the leadership of the Irish Congress
of Trade Unions. There was also a
Photo: Tommy Clancy
big demonstration of trade unionists in support of the workers. In
late September, 15,000 people attended a march from St Stephens
Green to Parnell Square where a
mass meeting was held.
“However, for the builders’
providers affiliated with the Federated Union of Employers the lesson
was harder to learn. These businesses locked out workers in
builders’ suppliers. These workers
did not get to return to work until
a month after the strike ended.”
Charles recalls that it was the INPDTU which also brought the dispute to a conclusion. “In the
Painters’ Union, the members were
The feeling of victory among the
men was immense. We had won a
victory not only for ourselves but
for all working people.”
“The impact of the strike was like
throwing a stone into a pond; the
ripples found their way around the
world of work in Ireland. A generation of trade union leaders and
other major figures emerged from
those who took part in the strike.
For me, the strike was an inspirational introduction to trade unionism, it illustrated to me what a well
resourced and well planned campaign by workers could obtain.”
Charles, who is a former president of the Irish Labour History Society, believes important events in
Irish social history are often overlooked. “The problem is that in Ireland we tend to regard only history
that confirms our existing prejudices as important and discount
anything else.
“In Labour history there is a tendency to think everything has to revolve around Larkin and Connolly.
This is not the way it should be and
has led to many major industrial
struggles such as the lockout of
1896, the Lockout of 1931 and the
1937 strike not getting the attention they deserve.”
ITGWU’s under-reported role Public
Meeting
Public Meeting
GENERAL workers represented by the ITGWU and
WUI played an important, if
under-reported role, in the
1964 Building Workers
Strike.
were taunted as Communists by
right-wing groups sponsored by the
Catholic Church.
Another 1964 striker, plumber
Mick Brennan pointed out that the
Supreme Court had done much to
undermine the achievements of
the men of ’64. He warned that the
health trust, the benevolent fund
as well as the pension and sick-pay
schemes were all now in danger.
William O’Brien gave a colourful
and vivid account of how the flying
pickets operated in ‘64.
Packie Early (who recently featured as the gunman who challenges an evicting landlord in the
Ken Loach movie Jimmy’s Hall) led
a squad which operated out of the
Embankment pub owned by the
one-time bricklayer and lifelong
communist, Mick McCarthy.
One visit from the squad was
usually sufficient to make an employer sign up for the 40-hour
week. A second visit often involved
a loss of productivity as the work of
the scabs would be demolished.
Charles Callan: ‘feeling of
victory was immense’
very clear that this dispute had to
be won. In September, it was decided that we should also call out
our members in the public service.
As other union members would not
have crossed our picket lines, this
would have more or less closed the
city down.
“It was beginning to dawn on the
employers that ‘these fellas aren’t
going to give up’. By October, the
INPDTU had spent £11,300, the
union still had £18,000 in the bank
and the employers knew it was prepared to spend this in support of
the strike; the workers’ enthusiasm
never dimmed.
“In the end the workers got all we
wanted. This included a 40-hour
week, a five-day week, a pension
scheme, sick pay and death in benefit. Even though the strike was just
in Dublin, the settlement affected
all organised workers throughout
the country. The strike also resulted
in the establishment of a Joint Industrial Council and an industrial
joint agreement which was the start
of the Registered Employment
Agreement system.
“The 40-hour week was to be
phased in but, in practice, when we
returned to work on the 19th October it was introduced immediately.
These workers included men
termed as ‘unskilled’ or ‘semiskilled’ and as such not accepted
into the traditional ‘craft unions’
which dominated the building industry.
Among those men who were
classified as general workers were
those skilled in new techniques
that were only becoming specialised in the construction industry in the 1960s.
These included hodmen, scaffolders, machine men, concrete
mixers, excavator operators, fixers
etc. More than 300 ITGWU members also worked in builders’
providers.
Records show that 700 ITGWU
members received full strike pay
during the dispute. However, it is
estimated that this may have been
less than half of the full number
of ITGWU members involved.
In addition, 100 WUI members
received full strike pay, probably
less than half the numbers involved.
The strike provoked a new impetus within the ITGWU to organise general workers in the
construction industry. Over the
next decade thousands were
brought into the union through
Branch No.5.
Former SIPTU construction sector organiser, Eric Fleming, told
Liberty: “The strike was perhaps
the most important victory of the
trade union movement in the last
century. It also played a key role
in the history of the ITGWU in
that it made it more serious about
oganising the construction sector.
“The union took the view that
the industry needed to be organised from a social view with
moves to end decasualisation, improvements in health and safety
and training.”
The victory in the dispute also
came about due to the support the
striking workers received from
militant supporters including
members of the Irish Workers’
Party, as the Communist Party was
then known.
Several of these men were former members of the IRA and took
militant action to defend strikers’
interests where necessary.
Fleming added: “The use of flying pickets to ensure all building
sites were closed during the dispute was also a key factor in its
success.”
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10
Liberty
Budget 2015
SEPTEMBER 2014
Saying farewell to austerity?
By
Vic Duggan
W
RITING in these
pages 18 months
ago, I put forward
the then-heretical
proposition that austerity
could have been declared over
at last October’s budget if the
Government upped their
adjustment by just €400m.
Painful? Yes. Electorally toxic?
Possibly, but that boat had already
sailed.
My argument was this: the only
hard and fast fiscal target on which
everyone was agreed – and was
stipulated by EU rules – was to
bring the deficit below 3% of GDP
by 2015.
With the economy larger than
expected, and with the deal secured by government on the Anglo
promissory notes, the Irish Fiscal
In 2010, the previous government
had pencilled in a
€2bn adjustment
for the last austerity
budget in 2015,
and Fine GaelLabour didn’t
see reason to
quibble with this
back-of-a-beermat
calculation...
Advisory Council estimated that a
total adjustment of €3.5bn over
two years would be sufficient to
achieve the 3% target.
I argued that making the full adjustment in last year’s budget
would have allowed the Government to call an end to austerity before this summer’s elections and
to let economic growth do the rest.
Had the Government taken this
course of action, we may well have
had to make no further adjustment
in this year’s budget.
Back in 2010, the previous government had pencilled in a €2bn
adjustment for the last austerity
budget in 2015, and the Fine GaelLabour Government didn’t see reason to quibble with this
back-of-a-beermat
calculation
when they took office a few
months later.
What is clear now, of course, is
that we will not have anything like
a €2bn adjustment in October’s
budget. It will likely consist of
some way south of €1bn in new
measures… perhaps even in the
€400m range.
While every tax hike and spending cut hurts, in macroeconomic
terms €100m here or there is not
of huge significance, but the yearto-year difference between a
€3.1bn and a €400m adjustment
is huge.
This could ‘add’ upwards of 1%
to economic growth in 2015, allowing momentum to build through
2016 on the back of the first genuinely neutral, post-austerity
budget. Every €100m is a big deal,
however, if you’re the one swinging the axe… or the one with your
head on the block.
Over the course of the year, and
particularly since their electoral
drubbing in May, government Ministers have been queuing up to call
for a smaller axe – or a scalpel! –
and even for a reprieve for some of
the poor unfortunate victims.
Loose lips have given rise to
great expectations, and while we
can expect relief to be the overwhelming post-budget feeling,
there will no doubt be a fair wind
of disappointment. In terms of
putting euros in our pockets, the
2015 budget is likely to be short on
hard cash and long on warm words
about future budgets.
In particular, we have heard a lot
about possible income tax cuts.
But, in the current context, every
cent in tax cuts is a cent less spent
– or even a spending cut – elsewhere.
Typically, public spending financed by income taxes is progressive given that the more you earn,
the more you contribute, and the
less you have, the more you depend on public services and welfare payments.
It follows then that financing income tax cuts by cutting spending
elsewhere will likely result in
more inequality.
The ESRI has done quite some
research on the distributional impact of the sequence of austerity
budgets since the crisis hit in
2008.
By and large, the four budgets of
the previous government were
progressive, but the current
regime has hit a hat-trick of regressive budgets, taking more from
those who have less.
As the budget approaches, one
has to trust that the new leadership at the helm of the Labour
Party can succeed where their
predecessors have failed and convince Fine Gael to sign up to a
budget that, at the very least, doesn’t make Ireland a more unequal
place to live.
Liberty View
By JACK O’CONNOR
SIPTU General President
Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
LibertyView
Budget 2015 –
The Case for a Water Tax Credit
There have been extensive calls
for tax cuts in the run in to
Budget 2015. These are not all
as progressive as they may
seem. The call for reducing the
top 41% rate is a blatant call
for tax cuts for the rich which
would be subsidised by the
great majority (86%) of income
earners who would get nothing.
This is because less than 14%
of taxpayers contribute at the
top rate and those paid most
would benefit most.
Either of these approaches would be grossly
inequitable and unfair.
Cutting the Universal Social
Charge (USC) would be fairer
in that all earners would
benefit to some degree,
A more novel approach would be the introduction
of a refundable Water Tax Credit. Under the proposed scheme, people would get a tax credit of
an amount of money equivalent to the cost of the
average water requirement of a household. Those
on social welfare would also receive an equivalent amount. This could be introduced in such a
manner as to offset the total cost of every person’s normal household and domestic needs for
less than €350 million per annum. It would respect the principle of the provision of an adequate supply of water to meet normal needs
universally free at the point of use. It would preserve the incentive for water conservation because it would not extend to subsidising
non-essential activities such as filling swimming
pools, watering gardens, washing cars or just
plain waste.
Alternatively, the call for tax cuts for the rich is
often slickly camouflaged by focusing on the
plight of the “squeezed middle” and demanding
expansion of the standard rate band. This would
not be quite so perverse but it would still mean
only 14% of tax payers would benefit although in
this formula those in the upper middle bracket,
as distinct from those at the very top, would benefit most. Again, it would be subsidised by the
majority, 86% of earners who would get nothing.
Cutting the Universal Social Charge (USC) would
be fairer in that all earners would benefit to
some degree, but those dependent on social
welfare would get nothing. It would be fairer still
if the cost of providing the reduction were to be
partially offset by increasing the rate of the USC
for those on incomes in excess of €100,000 per
annum.
Under the proposed scheme,
people would get a tax credit
of an amount of money
equivalent to the cost of the
average water requirement of
a household.
There is no such thing as a free supply of treated
water. The debate is only about which way it is
paid for. The trade union movement has always
subscribed to the principle of universal provision
of essential public goods free at the point of use
and funded by general taxation. We have never
argued that non-essential activities should be
provided in this way because this would mean
those at the top of the income spectrum being
subsidised by the tax contributions of the majority of citizens.
Any tax reductions in Budget 2015 must not be
funded through further cuts in public expenditure
under any circumstances. Indeed, there is an
unanswerable case for increasing spending in key
Our public health, education
and social services are key to
the quality of life and the
standard of living of the vast
majority of people.
areas such as the health service which is now
clearly undergoing an unprecedented funding
crisis. Our public health, education and social
services are key to the quality of life and the
standard of living of the vast majority of people.
The only room for tax reductions is through the
resources generated by the resumption of economic growth and applying the benefits of the
early rollover of the repayment of IMF loans at
more favourable rates of interest as has just
been agreed with the Eurozone institutions.
11
12
Liberty
Budget 2015
SEPTEMBER 2014
Budget can boost jobs and
wages – and create housing
By Daragh
McCarthy
T
HE economy has rebounded strongly in
2014, with employment,
consumer
spending and exports performing well. The Nevin Economic
Research Institute’s (NERI)
analysis suggests a small additional adjustment to government finances is needed in
Budget 2015 to ensure Ireland’s
public finances are firmly
placed on a sustainable path.
The adjustment required should
be in the region of €800 million,
achieved mainly through increases
in government revenue. Budget
2015 should include a modest increase in spending on social supports targeted at the most
vulnerable communities and an ambitious capital investment programme.
The current economic climate
The economy has performed well
over 2014. A recovery in output now
appears to be taking hold, with the
most recent CSO estimates showing
GDP grew by 2.7% on a seasonally
adjusted basis in the first quarter of
2014 and grew by 4.1% compared to
the first quarter of 2013.
Data from retail sales suggests a
recovery in consumer spending is
taking place. In volume terms, total
retail sales were up 8.6% in July on
the previous year. This represented
the ninth consecutive month of positive growth, giving reason for optimism. The KBC Ireland/ESRI
Consumer Sentiment index increased to 89.4 in July and is now at
its strongest level since January
2007. The volume of exports in the
first quarter of 2014 was up 7.4%
compared to the previous year,
while imports were up 5.9%.
The Government deficit has fallen
considerably over the past 12
months. Public expenditure decreased from €72.87 billion to
€70.80 billion, while government
revenue increased from €58.96 billion to €60.79 billion in 2013. An
Exchequer deficit of €6.33 billion
was recorded for end August 2014.
This compares with a deficit of
€7.32 billion for the same period
last year, and the tax take for end
August is better than previously expected to the tune of €1.31 billion.
Capital investment as a percentage of GDP is at an historic low in
Ireland. The most recent CSO data
indicates that the volume of investment declined by 2.4% in 2013. Low
levels of investment constrain the
economy’s potential and are a clear
threat to a sustained recovery.
What does improved economic
performance mean for Budget 2015?
The benefits of improved economic
performance are yet to materialise
in many households around the
country. Wages have been falling
since 2009, while taxes and public
charges have risen and many social
payments have been cut. Budget
2015 should start the process of
restoring living standards across the
country to pre-crisis levels; however, this will take time. Government finances remain tightly
constrained, and there is no scope
for Budget 2015 to be a giveaway
budget.
Improvements will primarily be
seen by sustaining the recovery in
the labour market that began in
An ambitious programme to build
social and affordable housing would
simultaneously start to address the need for
more housing units and would provide a
short-term boost in output and employment
in the sector
2013. The employment rate for people aged 15-64 increased from 60.2%
to 61.3% in the year to the second
quarter of 2014. During this time,
total employment increased by
31,600 (+1.7%) with the number of
full-time jobs in the economy rising
by 2.4% over the same period*.
Budget 2015 will have an important role to play in continuing this
recovery, as the latest figures suggest the pace of job creation in the
economy is starting to slow down.
Seasonally adjusted employment increased by just 1,200 (+0.1%) in the
first quarter of 2014 and by 4,300
(+0.2%) in the last three months.
The Government initially planned
an additional €2 billion consolidation. In light of improved economic
conditions and the better than expected tax take this now seems excessive. Taking this much out of the
economy risks derailing economic
growth and exacerbating the slowdown in job creation. Instead,
Budget 2015 should involve a substantially smaller adjustment and
look for ways to increase spending
on public capital investment.
NERI’s proposals for Budget 2015
The NERI outlined its strategy for
Budget 2015 at the start of the summer. We recommended a threepronged strategy along the
following lines:
• A net budgetary adjustment of
€800 million, composed mainly of
increases in Government revenue.
We identify revenue measures that
are mutually supportive of growth
and equity objectives. These measures include reforms to tax expenditures and Capital Acquisitions Tax
as well as the introduction of a Net
Wealth Tax.
• A modest increase in social
spending as part of a social emergency fund targeted at the most vulnerable
individuals
and
communities. Part of this fund
would be reserved for spending on
social housing.
• An ‘off-book’ investment package that restores public investment
in the Republic to the EU average in
2015. The investment package can
be funded through the Ireland
Strategic Investment Fund. Crucially
this off-book stimulus would not increase the Government’s borrowing
requirement.
Capital investment is a priority.
Properly targeted, it would boost job
growth over the coming years and
enhance the potential of the economy to growth over the long run.
Given the current crisis in social
housing, with roughly 89,000 on the
waiting list, there is a need for the
Government to invest in an ambitious programme to build social and
affordable housing units. Investment in this area would simultaneously start to address the need for
more housing units and would provide a short-term boost in output
and employment in the sector.
Drawing funds from private and
public sources, a plan to build
25,000 additional units over five
years is achievable.
Fiscal policy is more than just
deficit reduction. Budget 2015
should aim to support the recent recovery in economic output and job
creation by increasing Ireland’s extremely low level of public capital
investment. The Government finances remain in a fragile state and
if funding for core public services is
to be maintained there is no scope
for tax cuts. This approach to Budget
2015 lays the foundations for restoring wages and living standards to
pre-crisis levels over the coming
years.
*Data refers to Full Time Equivalent Employment (FTE)
Daragh McCarthy is research and administration officer at the NERI
Liberty
Comment
SEPTEMBER 2014
13
Ideas for a New Republic
munity or wherever they can get a
group together to explore their
hopes for a new Republic and how
such hopes could be made real.
The Call for Ideas could help
kick-start these conversations. A
report from each conversation
could then be sent to the Claiming
Our Future working group for this
initiative. The ideas would be gathered and organised in a way to enable people to find a shared
ambition for the future republic.
A large-scale deliberation event
would be organised to allow as
By
Niall Crowley
W
E ARE nearly a
hundred
years
into this one and
it’s not going so
well. Inequality, poverty, unemployment, emigration, environmental
destruction,
climate change and political
alienation are all doing nicely
in our current Republic.
What better time to be imagining it, demanding it and creating it
than in the build-up to the centenary commemorations for 1916?
We do need to claim our future just
as those who wrote the Proclamation sought to claim theirs.
“We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of
Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible…We hereby
proclaim the Republic as a Sovereign Independent State...The Republic guarantees religious and
civil liberty, equal rights and equal
opportunities to all its citizens,
and declares its resolve to pursue
the happiness and prosperity of
the whole nation and of all its
parts, cherishing all the children of
the nation equally…”
Much of this aspiration still
holds valid. The implementation
did not match the ambition of the
aspiration.
Claiming Our Future is developing a Call for Ideas as the first step
in creating a Declaration for a New
Republic.
This sets out our aspiration for a
society based on equality, environmental sustainability, participation, accountability and solidarity.
These are the values that we
identified as uniting a wide spectrum of civil society when Claiming Our Future was founded. They
are the values that should shape
the new Republic.
These values could underpin a
society where decent work was a
reality, where democracy was
rooted in people participating in
decisions that impact on them,
and where public services were
well-funded, high quality and accessible.
This would be a society where
income adequacy and income
equality were a reality, where civil
‘Much of this
aspiration
[in the1916
Proclamation] still
holds valid...
implementation did
not match the ambition of the aspiration’
society was vibrant and challenging, and where the challenge of climate change and environmental
sustainability were centre-stage in
any development strategy. This
would be a society of equality between women and men, of diversity celebrated as a resource, and
of equality for all groups in society.
That is what Claiming Our Future thinks as of now. But the
whole idea of creating a Declaration for a New Republic is to build
widespread participation in its development.
Are these the shared aspirations
for the new Republic? What is
missing? Even more complex, what
are the key changes that are required for these aspirations to become reality?
What new priorities, policies,
programmes or institutions would
be most important in enabling
these aspirations to be realised?
There is a lot of talking to be
done to answer these questions
and to develop a blueprint for a
new republic that is transformative
and that could mobilise the support needed for change to happen.
Once the Call for Ideas is published, Claiming Our Future is
inviting people to organise conversations at work, in their union, at
union conferences, in their com-
‘We want to
mobilise a demand
for their implementation and to build a
voice for this
new Republic
that cannot be
ignored’
much participation as possible in
defining this final draft of a Declaration for a New Republic.
Then the call for ideas becomes
a call for action. Claiming Our Future wants to implement actions to
inform people of the proposals in
the Declaration and to convince
them of its importance. We want
to mobilise a demand for their implementation and to build a voice
for this new Republic that cannot
be ignored.
We hope you might want to be
part of this. You could join the
working group. You could organise
a conversation. You could get others to do this.
Get in touch with Nina Sachau,
Claiming Our Future’s coordinator,
to find out more or to get involved
– [email protected]
14
Liberty
Scottish Referendum
SEPTEMBER 2014
By Michael
Halpenny
IT IS said by some that King
George III of England is remembered for two things –
losing the American colonies
and going mad.
Whatever about the latter tragic
condition, David Cameron must be
insomniac as he contemplates his
own historical footprint in the runup to the Scottish Referendum on
Thursday 18th September, with latest polls saying it is too close to call.
The turnout is anticipated to be
very high among the 4.3 million
electorate. It will require just a simple majority to either maintain
Scotland in the UK or sunder three
centuries of a sometimes difficult
and oppressive political union, dating back to 1707.
However, despite that long relationship, its ruling class hitched to
Britain's colonial and imperial ambitions, Scotland has nevertheless
managed to forge and maintain an
identity of its own.
In more recent times, and particularly since the re-convening of the
Scottish Parliament in 1997 and the
formation of the Scottish government, it has, through NHS Scotland,
provided its 5.3 million citizens
with arguably better health and social services than in the rest of the
UK. Up to recently, third-level students flocked there from England
and Ireland to study at Scottish universities. Its popular culture is distinctive and with a global reach and
while traditional industries have
declined, newer industries such as
financial services loom large. And
then there's North Sea oil. An estimated 24 billion barrels of the stuff
to be extracted over the next 30-40
years.
Thatcher’s legacy
While it is correct that growing support for the SNP brought it in from
the margins in the post-war years,
seeing them take seats even in
Labour heartlands, it was the
Thatcher years that marked the
greatest alienation for ordinary
Scottish people. Savage cuts, the
collapse of shipbuilding and steel in
the wake of Britain's post-war decline, the assault on the mining industry and its communities – all
contributed to that rift.
What some say put the tin hat on
Scotland:
all changed,
changed utterly
it all was the infamous Poll Tax,
forced on a reluctant Scotland a
year before England, where it was
then revoked after mass opposition.
But despite similar opposition in
Scotland there was no such reprieve
and the message for those north of
the border was loud and clear: England is different.
The Referendum question is
straightforward – Yes or No to Scottish independence. The brutality of
opposed by David Cameron. The
SNP's scorn at its zombie-like resurrection is palpable.
Political histrionics aside, clear
(and not so clear) issues remain to
be faced by both sides.
On the economic front, both the
SNP and the Better Together "No"
campaign claim allegiance to the
pound sterling, with no clinching
argument either way. An independent Scotland would raise its own
Clyde, though in other areas any
new Scottish armed forces would
no doubt maintain a close relationship with their cross-border counterparts. On foreign affairs,
Salmond is as insistent on an independent Scotland's right to maintain EU membership as he is on his
nation's entitlement to the pound.
However, the outgoing EU President, Manuel Barosso poured an ice
bucket on that one as he made for
that choice was dictated by the
British government and it is well to
remember that when considering
the last-minute panicked offer of
greater devolved powers by the
three Westminster parties. Such an
option, styled "Devo Max" (a type of
Home Rule) was originally sought to
be included on the ballot paper by
SNP leader Alex Salmond but flatly
revenue while increased devolved
powers on the latest Tory model
would allow up to 40% of budget to
be raised by the Scottish parliament.
the exit door.
The Yes campaign's greatest asset
is the redoubtable Salmond, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader,
bolstered by his equally formidable
deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Behind them is an array of support
from across the spectrum, supplemented by celebrity advocates such
as the Proclaimers, actor Brian Cox
Nuclear base
On defence, an independent Scotland would off-load the existing nuclear naval base at Faslane on the
and the nation's pre-eminent historian Tom Devine.
Lining out for the No side are all
three Westminster parties. Behind
them are the serried ranks of the
political, financial and economic establishment at home and in Europe,
many forecasting ruin and "chassis",
together with outright threats from
some institutions to decamp from
Scotland in the event of a Yes result.
Some of these interventions are
considered and articulate. Some
others have all the characteristics of
celebrities singing for their supper
(or their knighthoods). Others are
regarded as Downing Street “dirty
tricks”.
Spain and Ireland
Much has been made of the consequences of a Yes vote not only for
Scots but for the UK itself, forced to
redefine not only its external but its
internal relationships. Some EU
member states such as Spain are
concerned that a victory for the Yes
side could boost the campaign for
Catalan independence.
Closer to home, there is, to put it
mildly, a nervousness among northern Unionists at the possible
breakup of the union. For David
Cameron and his Tory party, the
loss of Scotland would be a massive
blow to prestige and history.
For the Labour Party, however,
some argue that the loss of the 40
Scottish MPs they return to Westminster (out of a total of 59 Scottish
seats) could pose an existential
threat, predicting that Labour
would never be able to form a majority in the UK again. Others, such
as the Guardian's George Monbiot
say this analysis is exaggerated.
In the wider labour movement
there are divided views, with the
Scottish TUC (STUC) refusing to recommend a vote either way, seeing
merits in arguments from both
sides. They have planted their flag
firmly in the ground of the "Just
Scotland" report published on the
10th of September and which focuses on the necessity to tackle issues such as workplace rights,
pensions and defence of the NHS
regardless of the outcome.
Either way, things will never be
the same again. One could justifiably argue that it's a no-lose situation for the SNP. If they win, the
Scottish people will be independent. If the No side win, Scotland will
still get a form of Home Rule which
the sovereign UK government rejected with such casual abandon a
mere 24 months ago.
EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SCHEME
MEMBERS IN FUR
FURTHER
THER EDUC
EDUCATION
ATION
The scheme will offer up to ten awards each year.
SECOND-LEVEL
SECOND -LEVEL AWARDS
AWARDS FOR MEMBERS AND FOR MEMBERS’ CHILDREN
Up to thirty awards will be made each year to second-level students to cover the
senior cycle (the two years up to the Leaving Certificate).
GAEL
GAELT
TACHT AWARDS
AWARDS FOR MEMBERS’ CHILDREN
AW
GAELTACHT
Up to twenty-five awards will be made each year for the children
of members to cover the cost of their participation (accommodation
and tuition fees) in a Gaeltacht course under the scheme operated
jointly by SIPTU and Gael Linn.
EIIPPT
FOR REC IIO
E
T
A
D
G
N
AT ONS
CLOSIIN
D APPLIICC
E
T
E
L
P
M
201144
O F CO
TEMBER, 2015
/ 15)
30TH SEP DS 2014
4
1
R
A
W
A
(FOR
A member, applying on his/her
own behalf or on behalf of
his/her child/children, must
have at least one year’s
membership of the Union
and be in benefit when both
the application and the
payments are made.
Liberty
Palestine Special
SEPTEMBER 2014
15
Ruined buildings, ruined lives – Gaza after the
recent bombardment. Photo: Oxfam (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
By
Dr Claudia
Saba
T
HE ceasefire in Gaza in
August came with an
announcement by the
Palestinian Authority
that it had a new plan to end Israel's occupation. After 50 days
of horrific bombing, Palestinians couldn't help but feel hopeful at this proclamation. They
wanted to believe that the
enormous loss of life, the thousands maimed, the 108,000
made homeless, would be honoured with a determined plan
to finally liberate Palestine.
The much-touted plan was revealed and presented to the US on
3rd September in Washington DC.
Its contents: a schedule for full Israeli withdrawal from the West
Bank and Gaza within three years.
Negotiations would take place, Israel would halt settlement construction and release political
prisoners that it had reneged on releasing in a previous agreement.
But the most important part of
the plan would be the withdrawal
of Israeli troops from Palestinian
areas and the defining of borders
between Israel and the long-
Latest landgrab by Israel
wrecks Palestinian hopes
As the US rejects a Palestinian Authority plan to end Israeli
occupation, Israel has embarked on a new landgrab.
Nothing has changed.
awaited state of Palestine. The PLO
said it would seek a UN Security
Council resolution setting a threeyear deadline to make sure the plan
is implemented.
The dream plan has been
quashed before it's had a chance to
get off the ground. The US has already dismissed it and will veto
any UN resolution aimed at implementing it. As if that's not depressing enough, days before the
announcement of the plan, and
fresh from the murder of 523 children, Israel shamelessly announced the theft of 980 acres (1.5
square miles) of Palestinian land
south of Bethlehem, and a further
500 acres in the Hebron.
Israel used the kidnapping of
three Jewish youths in this area to
justify its 50-day assault on Gaza
and the killing of more than 2,100
people, but many suspect its real
motivation was to make the unity
Palestinian government – only recently agreed between Fatah and
Hamas – unworkable.
Nothing has changed. Israel is
continuing to steal land and the US
and EU are continuing their business dealings with the apartheid
state, while the Palestinian Authority is as helpless as ever. If another
round of negotiations is agreed, Israel will engage with it only to
waste time while it expands its
colonies deeper into the West Bank.
On 3rd September, the same day
PLO representatives presented their
plan to a rejectionist US Secretary
of State, the Palestinian ambassador
to Ireland made an extraordinary
revelation in a sitting of the Foreign
Affairs committee in Dublin. When
asked to what he attributed the failure of the last round of talks,
Ahmad Abdelrazek said Israel had
"rejected the presence of any third
party" in the negotiating room.
Under the guise of insisting on
speaking to the Palestinians directly, Israel’s negotiating team had
prevented the participation of a sec-
Christy Moore
benefit concert for the children of Gaza
Vicar Street, Dublin
Sunday 12th October
Tickets at €40 are available from Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.ie
The proceeds of the concert will go directly to the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
retariat. "The Israelis refused to
allow the Quartet to participate in
the negotiations", Abdelrazek said.
"What we do not understand is why
the Quartet accepted".
The confusion created by the absence of witnesses to the negotiations was used by Israel to run rings
around the Palestinian negotiating
team. Israel, in hundreds of negotiating hours with the Palestinians in
2013 and 2014, had refused even to
discuss or present a map of where
its expected borders with the Palestinian state would be.
How to get out of this deadlock?
Palestinian society is placing all
hope in the Boycott Divestment
and Sanctions movement (BDS).
This is a campaign that calls on consumers, businesses and governments worldwide to boycott, divest
and sanction occupation – complicit companies and institutions.
In Ireland, that would mean pressuring companies such as CRH to
stop doing business in Israel and
asking the Irish Government to quit
purchasing military equipment
from Israel. Consumers can boycott
produce that originates from Israel.
BDS is the only strategy that can
pressure Israel, in real terms, to end
its devastating criminal occupation.
Claudia Saba is a Palestinian academic
and a member of the Ireland Palestine
Solidarity Campaign.
16
Liberty
Palestine
SEPTEMBER 2014
Section of ‘Apartheid Wall’ snaking around
outskirts of JerusalemPICTURE: Peter Mulligan(CC BY 2.0)
Collective punishment
Israel operates a military policy
of collective punishment called the
‘Dahiya doctrine’, after the area in
Lebanon where it was first used by
Israeli forces in 2006.
Simply put, the doctrine sees
massive force being used against
the civilian population in order to
exert political pressure on enemy
forces.
Not only does this fit the classic
definition of “terrorism”, it is also
classed as a war crime by Article 33
of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
which stipulates: “No persons may
be punished for an offence he or
she has not personally committed.
Collective penalties and likewise all
measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited... Reprisals
against persons and their property
are prohibited.”
Settlements and annexations
The first Israeli settlements were
built in late 1967, immediately following the military occupation of
the Palestinian territories.
Today more than half a million
Jewish-Israelis live in such settlements. As Article 49 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention states that it is
illegal for an occupying power to
“deport or transfer parts of its own
civilian population into the territory it occupies”, all such settlements are thus war crimes.
In 1980, Israel formally annexed
East Jerusalem as Israel’s "complete and united" capital. UN Security Council Resolution 478
declares the annexation “a violation of international law” which is
“null and void and must be rescinded.” UNSC Resolution 497
similarly states that Israel’s annex-
ISRAEL FLOUTS
INTERNATIONAL LAW — AGAIN
Human rights campaigners and Palestine solidarity activists
frequently mention violations of international law and the
commission of war crimes by the state of Israel.
Kevin Squires looks at some of these offences in detail
ation of the Syrian Golan Heights
in also illegal.
The wall
In 2002, Israel began building
710km barrier consisting of 8m
high concrete walls, military
watchtowers and barbed-wire
fences on Palestinian land.
Israel claims its purpose it to
prevent Palestinians from crossing
into Israel, but its route winds
deep within the West Bank – only
15% of its route follows the Green
Line border – leading it to be
dubbed the ‘land grab’ or
‘Apartheid’ wall.
In 2004, the International Court
of Justice (The World Court) issued
an Advisory Opinion regarding the
legality of the wall, stating that the
wall “and its associated régime, are
contrary to international law” and
called for reparations for those affected by its construction.
Right of return for refugees
Between 1947 and 1949, JewishIsraeli military forces ethnically
cleansed at least 750,000 Palestinians from what became the state of
Israel, representing some 85% of
the indigenous Palestinian population.
In 1967, Israel forced around
300,000 people (around half of
them already refugees from 1948)
from their homeland. Today,
refugees and their descendants
number, at a conservative estimate, around five million people.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention states that “forcible
transfers, as well as deportations
of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of
the Occupying Power or to that of
any other country, occupied or not,
are prohibited, regardless of their
motive.”
Under Article 147 of the 1949
Geneva Convention IV, “unlawful
deportation or transfer… of a protected person” constitutes a grave
breach of the Convention.
For six decades Israel has refused
Palestinian refugees their Right of
Return; UN General Assembly
(UNGA) Resolution 194 states that
Palestinian “refugees wishing to
return to their homes and live at
peace with their neighbours
should be permitted to do so at the
earliest practicable date.”
This resolution has been reaffirmed many times over by UNGA.
Opponents of Palestinian rights
claim 194 is irrelevant as UNGA
resolutions are non-binding.
However, Israel’s accession to
the UN was predicated upon its acceptance. Furthermore, the resolution is merely an acknowledgement
of the specific applicability of the
right of return to Palestinian
refugees which, according to the
Cambridge Journal of International
& Comparative Law can be found
in eight branches of international
law: inter-State nationality law, law
of State succession, human rights
law, humanitarian law, law of State
responsibility, refugee law, UN law,
and natural/customary law.
The Siege of Gaza
Since 2007, the 1.8 million people in the Gaza Strip have existed
under a regime of land, sea and air
closure, known as the Siege, or
Blockade, of Gaza.
This siege has kept Gaza on the
brink of a humanitarian disaster
for the past seven years, a policy
described by an Israeli official as
being to "put the Palestinians on a
diet, but not to make them die of
hunger.”
There is broad consensus among
human rights organisations such
as Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, the International
Committee of the Red Cross as
well as UN offices such as the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and
United Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) that this siege is
illegal. UNOCHA called it “collective punishment, a violation of international humanitarian law,”
while outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has stated that it “is illegal and
should be lifted.”
UN Resolutions
Israel is currently in breach of, or
has been the subject of, over 30 UN
Security Council resolutions directed at it for violations which it
has never taken action to remedy.
Kevin Squires is National Coordinator of
the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
– www.ipsc.ie
Liberty
e Special
SEPTEMBER 2014
Peace talks are ‘cover for
Israeli expansion agenda’
Gazan children search
the ruins of their home
last month. Picture: Shareef
Gaza running out of
water due to blockade
AFTER two weeks with no water
following Israel's 50-day offensive, Abu Osama took matters
into his own hands, and like
hundreds of others, sank a well
beside his Gaza home.
"Water supplied by the municipality had not been arriving for
more than two weeks and there
were 50 of us in the house, including many children, so I decided to
sink a well" the 45-year-old said.
Water shortages are nothing
new for Palestinians in the
densely populated Gaza Strip, and
more people have been digging
their own wells since 2006. Israel
imposed a blockade on the territory that year. Since then "more
than 10,000 wells have been dug",
said Monzer Shoblak, a Gaza water
authority official.
During the Israeli assault, water
pipes were also hit in the only
power station serving the Gaza
Strip, home to 1.8 million people.
Sarhan (CCby-NC-ND2.0)
I
T HAS been reported in
the Palestinian and Israeli
media that Israel will not
now send negotiators to
Cairo to take part in the follow-up talks over easing the
siege of Gaza.
These talks were supposed to be
an essential part of the ceasefire
agreement that brought the sixweek Israeli onslaught to an end.
Palestinian analyst Diana Buttu, a
former advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has stated that
this is because "Israel has no incentive, whatsoever, to resume discussions over Gaza.
“Israel is under no international
pressure to open Gaza. Rather, it has
been allowed to maintain a sevenyear blockade, denying Palestinians
freedom of movement and the ability to import and export goods, and
denying Palestinians access to their
fishing rights without any reaction
from the international community.
“Israel has reneged on previous
promises to open a seaport and airport in Gaza and to open the crossing points. Yet, it has done so with
impunity. Given that no people can
be expected to sit idly by while
being denied their freedom, caged
in an open-air prison, and targeted
by repeated military attacks, sadly it
will only be a matter of time before
yet another war in Gaza breaks out.
“This is why Palestinians have
been urgently pressing for the international community's involvement,
and highlights the necessity of a
comprehensive approach to address
Israel's military occupation and denial of Palestinian rights and freedoms," she continued.
When asked about PLO Chairman
and Palestinian Authority (PA) Pres-
ident Mahmoud Abbas’ recent announcement of a diplomatic initiative giving Israel three years to end
its occupation and allow the creation of a Palestinian state based on
the 1967 borders, or else the PA will
go to the International Criminal
Court, Ms Buttu was dismissive. She
said: "This plan does not differ in
any way from previous failed plans
put forward by Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas is one of the architects of the
Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations
process known as Oslo.
Diana Buttu: world must
act over Israeli agression
Salaam Shalom (CC BY 2.0)
“As such, he appears to have only
one plan – negotiations – and despite the indisputable fact that this
process has failed to bring Palestinians any closer to their freedom after
more than two decades, he continues to insist on returning to this
same strategy.
“Israel has no interest in reaching
a fair and lasting peace agreement
with the Palestinians, but does have
an interest in resuming negotiations. Under the cover of ‘peace
talks’, Israel can continue to build
and expand its illegal settlements
on stolen Palestinian land, and it
can continue to maintain a brutal
military occupation while at the
same time reaping the benefits of
increased trade and normalised international relations.
"Therefore, Abbas needs to
change course and pursue a different strategy. Instead of demanding
more negotiations, he should push
the international community to isolate and ostracise Israel for its continued
military
occupation,
colonisation, and other violations of
international law.
“This should take the form of advocating for sanctions and boycotts
against Israel, and pushing for Israel’s isolation from the international arena. At the same time, he
should mobilise large-scale popular
resistance on the ground in Palestine, something he has failed utterly
to do up until now.
"Israel cannot claim to favour a
negotiated settlement or to support
the two-state solution while also expropriating Palestinian land, demolishing Palestinian homes and
building settlements.
“While Israeli actions like settlement building are blatantly illegal,
the international community has
failed to hold Israeli leaders accountable or to censure Israel in any
way, apart from the occasional
toothless verbal condemnation.”
Ms Buttu added: “Another three
years of negotiations will only serve
to provide Israel with yet more time
to build more settlements and make
even further demands that Palestinians concede more of their territory to accommodate Israel's
criminal behaviour.”
Diana Buttu was taking part in an ‘Expert
Q&A’ with the Institute for Middle East Understanding (www. imeu.org).
17
A girl in Gaza drinks
at an Oxfam water
station. Iyad Al Baba/Oxfam
The fighting aggravated already
chronic water shortages, said
Rebhi al-Sheikh, deputy head of
water authority. "The only reserve
available to us is the coastal
aquifer we share with Egypt and
Israel made up of 55 million cubic
metres."
But this is far from sufficient,
because for "Gaza alone you need
190 million cubic metres every
year".
Reconstruction to cost €6bn
THE reconstruction of the Gaza
Strip, devastated during Israel’s
recent 50-day assault, will cost
€6 billion, according to the
Palestinian Economic Council
for Development and Reconstruction, which said it would
take "five years if Israel removed
its blockade over Gaza entirely".
Since 2006 Gaza has been subject to a blockade that, among
other things, prevents the entry of
construction materials. As well as
costing the lives of more than
2,150 Gazans, the conflict destroyed thousands of homes, severely damaged the enclave's sole
power plant and razed dozens of
factories.
But the roughly 2 million
tonnes of debris estimated to
have resulted from the destruction of buildings could also be
used to expand the territory into
the sea, according to the report.
‘Extreme medicines shortage’
AROUND 27% of medicine in
the Gaza Strip has run out, while
48% of all medical disposables
have been exhausted, a Palestinian Health Ministry official has
said.
"Gaza hospitals are suffering an
extreme shortage of basic medicines and medical disposables,"
Deputy Health Minister Youssef
Abul-Riesh said.
He called on Israel to implement the terms of the ceasefire
deal to allow the entry of badlyneeded medical supplies into
Gaza.
He added that Israel's recent onslaught on the Gaza Strip had
worsened the already bad health
conditions in the Palestinian territory.
He said Israel's recent offensive
had left 2,152 Gazans dead, injured 11,231, while Israel also had
targeted 12 hospitals and 24 medical centres.
Gaza unemployment hits 55%
ECONOMIC losses from Israel's
onslaught on the Gaza Strip
have upped the unemployment
level to 55%. During the offensive, 30,000 Gazans lost their
jobs at over 500 shops, factories
and company offices destroyed
by relentless Israeli bombardments, according to a statement
issued by the workers’ union.
The union said the war had exacerbated Gaza's unemployment
crisis, which stems originally
from the blockade that has left
170,000 people out of work.
"These 200,000 unemployed
Gazans support some 900,000
people [in Gaza]," the union asserted.
The offensive finally ended
with the announcement on August 26th of an open-ended ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
18
Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
Palestine Special
How does boycotting Israeli goods help?
T
By Mags O’Brien
HE dictionary definition of boycott is to
withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organisation or person) as a punishment or protest. Captain
Boycott was a landlord in Ireland targeted by the
Land League in the 1880s, so the term originated
here but is now recognised worldwide as a powerful, peaceful weapon of change.
Irish trade unions were very active in the South African
boycott campaign. Nelson Mandela praised the women
of Mandate who refused to handle South African fruit in
Dunnes Stores, and said the boycott played a significant
role in the defeat of apartheid.
What is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
movement?
The BDS movement is a global, rights-based movement
led by the BDS National Committee which is the largest
civil society coalition among Palestinians. It includes representatives of all political parties, trade unions, women’s
groups, NGO networks and refugee advocacy groups in
Palestine and across the globe. The main slogans of the
BDS movement are: Freedom, Justice and Equality.
How would a boycott of Israeli goods help the people of
Palestine?
Israeli agricultural exports are significant, and much of
their produce is grown within settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. They also make use of the
water from Palestinian land, while denying adequate resources to Palestinians. A report called ‘Who Profits?’ focused on this and found that the Paris Protocol (an annex
to the Oslo Accords) allows Israeli companies to market
and export Palestinian products, which are virtually
barred from being exported independently. These products are sometimes labelled as produce of Israel and exported around the world with little profit to the
Palestinian growers.
Dates constitute one of the largest agricultural exports
from Israel but most of the Israeli exported dates are
grown in the occupied Jordan Valley. Many settlement
goods are also misleadingly labelled as “Made in Israel".
Palestinian produce
All commerce in Gaza is subject to severe restrictions,
controlled either directly by the Israeli occupation, or indirectly by the Egyptian military, which enforces the Israeli blockade. The amount of export trade permitted is
miniscule compared to pre-2007 levels, which has a devastating impact on the Palestinian economy and on employment. In Gaza, for instance, flowers and strawberries
grow well, but virtually none of these are grown because
restrictions and crossing closures make a mockery of efforts to export perishable crops. In the West Bank many
olive trees have been cut down to make way for settlements and the illegal partition wall has cut Palestinians
off from their land and crops. So Palestinians are denied
the chance to earn a living while Israel prospers.
So we are calling for a boycott of Israeli goods. Check
labels in your supermarket and if you see Israeli goods,
ask the manager to remove them from the shelves. Beware of stalls in shopping centres selling Dead Sea products, as labels are misleading.
The barcode on Israeli products starts with the numbers 7 29 but often products are packed elsewhere, so
check the origin.
Most Irish people felt helpless at the loss of innocent
lives in Gaza, so the BDS movement is a practical way to
help end the siege of Gaza and the denial of human rights
to the Palestinian people.
Liberty
International
SEPTEMBER 2014
19
An exultant Estela de
Carlotto holds a press
conference to announce
her long search is over
Joy as Plaza de Mayo leader’s
missing grandson is traced
By Frank Connolly
I
N ONE of the most remarkable and moving
stories of recent months,
Estela de Carlotto, who
heads the Argentinian human
rights organisation ‘Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo’,
has traced her missing grandson.
The baby boy had been taken
from his mother – Estela’s daughter Laura – soon after his birth in
prison. Laura was executed by the
military dictatorship in 1978.
Between 1976 and 1983, about
500 newborns were taken from
left-wing detainees.
The infants were then handed
over to military families to be
raised under the “western and
Christian values” the regime
claimed to defend. Others were
given up for adoption to unsuspecting couples.
Ignacio Hurban was identified as
the son of Laura Carlotto through
DNA testing organised by the
‘Grandmothers’ earlier this year.
Carlotto's daughter had named
her son Guido before she was executed by the military, according to
surviving witnesses at the La
Cacha death camp where she was
held.
Until now, he has lived under
the name Ignacio Hurban as the
son of Clemente and Juana María
Mothers of the Disappeared
young hands in hand
on grass and clay
where old ones walk
to seek their young return
in misery and hope
that fades as painted
scarves engraved on what recalls
the day of freedom’s cry
May twenty-five, eighteen and ten
to search for loved ones boy or girl
the child that you have made
to hide your fear and draw your strength
from others disappeared
and trust a mother’s heart
and soul can wring a new born sigh
from iron and steel and water deep
where all our shadows lie
the ghosts of Argentine still scream
their mothers cannot sleep
as soldiers secrets cannot hide
the wounds they will not heal
of those they threw from clouds above
into Atlantic seas
Plaza de Mayo grandmothers with their
trademark scarves on a protest in 2010
FC
Photo: Edith Schreurs
Hurban, two retired farm workers
in Olavarría, a city in the province
of Buenos Aires. “We know they
are farm people,” said Carlotto
soon after she discovered her
grandson through DNA testing. “So
they must have raised him on the
farm. Maybe they had no idea.”
Ignacio Hurban has raised a family of his own and teaches music in
Olavarría. He has had a distinguished career as a fusion musician, mixing classical, jazz and
Argentinian folk music styles in
his work. He has worked as a session musician for some of Ar-
gentina’s folk music stars, and
once with British avant garde saxophonist George Haslam.
On March 24th this year, Hurban
posted a song entitled Para la
Memoria (To Memory), referring to
Argentina’s years of dictatorship,
on his Bandcamp page, illustrated
with an artistic interpretation of
the handkerchief worn by the
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
“Neither the doors nor the
wounds of years gone by have
closed,” state the lyrics.
He was identified after he presented himself voluntarily at the
DNA bank the Grandmothers had
set up with the blood samples of
all the group’s members.
He was born on June 26th, 1978
at the military hospital in Buenos
Aires. His mother, Laura Carlotto,
was 23 years old and two months
pregnant when she was kidnapped
by the military in November 1977
and taken to La Cacha in the city of
La Plata in Buenos Aires province.
The news of his discovery was
also joyfully received by his 91year-old paternal grandmother,
Hortensia Montoya.
“I can't wait to meet him, to have
him near, to hug him, to know that
he is my grandchild.”
According to some reports, her
son Oscar Montoya, Hurban’s biological father, was tortured and
murdered in front of Laura Carlotto at the La Cacha death camp.
Oscar Montoya was also a musician, and had a group called
Nosotros y Ustedes (We and You)
in his hometown of Cañadón Sec
in the southern province of Santa
Cruz, where a music theatre was
named after him a few years ago.
20 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
Future of the Left in Ireland
Liberty has invited contributions to a new series of debates on the ‘Future
of the Left in Ireland’. The first contributors are SIPTU General President,
Jack O’Connor and Sinn Féin Councillor in west Belfast and SIPTU Organiser,
Jim McVeigh.
Challenges for the Left
By Jack
O’Connor
O
VER the last two
elections upwards
of 40% of the electorate, twice as
many as previously, opted for
“left” platforms. This raises
the exciting possibility of a
left-of-centre Government.
However, the scale of the challenge should not be underestimated. Even on the basis of the
latest polls, the parties of the centre-right would still easily command an absolute majority of seats
in the Oireachtas.
Moreover, if the turnout in the
next general election replicates
that of 2011, there will be 14 votes
cast for every 10 in the locals. All
the polls show the “don’t knows”
running in the order of 30%. These
are the people who will tip the balance.
The next election will not be a
plebiscite on austerity, but rather a
search for solutions. If the Left is
to seriously contest to win, it must
offer a sustainable economic and
social strategy, in the context of
globalisation, also taking account
of the debt reduction rule of the
Fiscal Treaty.
The vitriolically superficial character of our public exchanges
should end at once. Labour people
should acknowledge that, despite
legitimate criticisms, the current
leadership of Sinn Féin has returned its party to the Left Republican course which reflects the
outlook of the Democratic Programme of 1919, the 1916 Proclamation and the egalitarian values
which extend back through the Fenians and Wolfe Tone to the
French Revolution.
Moreover, we should also acknowledge the success of that approach in the Peace Process which
now offers the realistic possibility
of the reunification of Ireland
through consent.
Sinn Féin and people on the
non-sectarian Left should acknowledge that, far from selling out and
notwithstanding equally legitimate
criticisms, Labour in Government
has prevented public spending
cuts which would have extended
to between a further €1.5bn to
€2bn.
This would have entailed slashing the basic rates of social welfare
and outsourcing of public provision on an industrial scale, resulting in the “Greyhoundisation” of
thousands of jobs.
They should also acknowledge
Labour’s role in improving collective bargaining rights and in defending the legal infrastructure
which protects the pay and terms
of employment of more than
‘Labour in
Government
prevented public
spending cuts which
would have extended
to between a further
€1.5bn to €2bn. This
Fiscal Treaty either, given the danger that such a route could become
a one-way ticket to the Stone Age.
However, they could shift the
tax/cuts burden by €1bn to
€1.5bn incrementally, from those
least able to those most able to
shoulder it, in the manner outlined by the Nevin Institute. This
would allow for the abolition of
both the property tax and the
water charges, which undoubtedly
would be popular but hardly progressive.
Deployment of these new resources on building a decent
meet their basic household needs.
However, the real challenge for
the Left is on the generation of
wealth as distinct from the distribution of it.
We must counter the inevitable
cuts, public asset divestment and
tax competition approach of the
Centre Right with a New Economic
Policy, constructed around public
enterprise, strategic investment
and skills development.
This in turn should be complemented by a sophisticated electoral alliance that is not simply
about Labour and others on the
Left serving as transfer fodder for
Dublin Trades Council and Community Protest Groups took part in a march
and meeting in Dublin city centre to demonstrate opposition to the
Governments austerity policies in October 2013. Photo: Photocall Ireland
200,000 lower-paid workers as well
as preventing the wholesale divestiture of public assets at bargain
basement prices.
All of us should also recognise
the critically important role of
“Left Independents” in pursuit of
democratic accountability and in
defending communities. However,
they in turn should accept that the
attainment of a left-of-centre government would offer the prospect
of much greater progress towards a
prosperous, egalitarian society.
Realistically, a government of the
Left would not unilaterally “burn
the bondholders” or repudiate the
would have entailed
slashing social
welfare rates,
outsourcing of public
provision as well as
the Greyhoundisation
of thousands
of jobs’
health service, universally available to all, free at the point of use,
ending the housing crisis, improving education and public provision
otherwise, or making gradual
progress on all three simultaneously would be far better. That
would actually constitute a real
egalitarian agenda.
Of course, some steps could be
taken to rebalance the property tax
further, thus rendering it fairer,
and to introduce a system of water
credits to ensure that everyone
had an adequate free supply to
Sinn Féin, but which is designed to
maximise seat gain to offer the
electorate the prospect of a cohesive, stable alternative government.
At the end of the day the real
battle between Right and Left is as
it always was – low tax, private affluence and public squalor on the
one hand versus social solidarity,
through sustainable public provision, underpinned by fair taxation,
high productivity and a prosperous
economy on the other.
Jack O’Connor is the General President
of SIPTU. This article was first published
in An Phoblacht in August 2014.
Liberty
Future of the Left in Ireland
SEPTEMBER 2014
21
Forging a radical movement for change
By Jim
McVeigh
A
T THE Sinn Féin Ard
Fheis earlier this
year, Gerry Adams
suggested it was time
for those on the broad Left in
Ireland to unite in a democratic movement that would
deliver real change for the
working people of this island, North and South.
In an address in Dublin earlier
this year our General President,
Jack O'Connor, also appealed for
those on the Left to set aside
“...past divisions and build a pragmatic and generous unity in the
trade union movement and on the
Left...”
It would be fair to say that since
James Connolly’s untimely death
and the emergence of the counterrevolution following the Treaty,
the two great movements on this
island, the national democratic
movement and the Labour movement, parted company.
Despite one brief attempt to
unite them in the Republican Congress in the 30s, they have remained alienated from one
another ever since, to the detriment of both and – more importantly – the working people we
continue to struggle for.
There are many reasons why this
has remained the case, too many to
explore here but it is my belief that
many of the fundamental reasons
for that original divergence have
disappeared and the gap between
organised labour and the national
democratic movement is rapidly
narrowing.
The armed struggle is over and
Sinn Féin is once more on the rise
but this time led by a left leadership.
Many of our key trade unions,
including our own union SIPTU,
are led by men and women imbued by Connolly’s belief that the
cause of labour was and remains
the cause of Ireland and vice versa.
For the first time since the Rising, there is perhaps a convergence
of progressive politics and person-
ality, so often absent since then.
The Labour Party has lost its way,
led into a right-wing government
by a leadership lacking in
courage,vision and ambition.
Jack O’Connor is right when he
says that there should be no point
of principle involved when a party
of the Left considers whether to
enter a coalition with parties of the
Right. But he is wrong to claim that
what Labour may have prevented
in coalition, can justify their continued participation in this rightwing government. This is a failure
of vision and ambition.
These are strategic decisions for
‘There are many
things that divide us,
old enmities, old
battles, indeed old
hurts but we must
set these aside.
While critical of one
another, we must
So far the judgment of the electorate in the North has been that
we are delivering for them, albeit
at a frustratingly slow pace. The
same cannot be said of the Labour
Party in the 26 Counties.
The mistake that the leadership
of the Labour Party has made is
that it has settled for far too little
in exchange for its participation in
government in the 26 Counties.
Many decent trade unionists
within the Labour Party are now
trying desperately to salvage at
least one significant gain before it
leaves office – union recognition
and the right to collective bargain-
Workers from Shankill Road attend
1934 Bodenstown commemoration
any political party and, of course,
these involve difficult judgement
calls. Sinn Féin is in government in
the North with another right-wing
party, the DUP.
But we did so to advance the
peace process on the island, in the
wider interest and to deliver for
the people we represent. I would
suggest that this is a cause which
warranted strategic compromise
on our part, while still requiring
Sinn Féin to make a huge political
effort to successfully defend and
promote the social and economic
rights of all our citizens, Catholic,
Protestant and dissenter.
avoid too harsh
words but rather
recognise our
common purposes
and considerable
ground that unites
us’
ing. While this would unquestionably be of great help to workers
and to trade unionists, the reality
is that, if secured, it is likely to be
the only significant gain made by
organised Labour during this disastrous term in government.
It is now time for the Labour
Party to withdraw from the government and return to its core values.
It is now time for the Republican
movement and the Labour movement to reunite around a new programme, a much more ambitious
one.
A programme clearly inspired by
Connolly, Markievicz, Mellows,
and O'Donnell, a programme that
can deliver fundamental gains for
the working people of this island.
It's time for a new programme! A
programme that will unite the
broad left, that includes the parties
of the Left, trade unions of the
Left, non-aligned individuals and
progressive grassroots organisations across the island.
A programme shaped by what
unites us, not divides us. A programme shaped by Sinn Féin, the
Labour Party, and by the trade
unions, in the first instance. A programme that is neither utopian nor
timid.
SIPTU is uniquely positioned between these great democratic
movements. It is uniquely positioned to encourage and facilitate
such a dialogue. To encourage an
open and genuine dialogue between the Labour Party and Sinn
Féin in particular, to promote the
idea of not just left unity but of a
new radical and democratic movement for change.
There are many things that divide us, old enmities, old battles,
indeed old hurts but we must set
these aside. While critical of one
another, we must avoid too harsh
words but rather recognise our
common purposes and the considerable ground that unites us.
It will be difficult for many on
the Left in both parties to contemplate a future together, as partners
and comrades in a common endeavour. Post-election, however,
there is a real need for a fundamental reassessment of where we
go from here.
Just as tentative steps are being
taken to unite trade unionists, so
should the first step be taken to
unite the broad Left. It’s time for a
new Republican Congress and a
new radical programme, one capable of uniting and harnessing the
full potential of the broad Left in
Ireland and delivering fundamental advances for working people.
SIPTU could and should play a
leadership role in encouraging
such an initiative.
Jim McVeigh is a Sinn Féin councillor
for the Lower Falls and a SIPTU organiser
22 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
International
Colombian campaigner Obando released
HUMAN rights group Justice for
Colombia has welcomed the release from prison of rights campaigner Liliany Obando.
Her release on 20th August follows her jailing earlier in the
month and came after she went on
hunger strike for six days.
Liliany was first imprisoned
from August 2008 to March 2012,
after being accused of having links
with the FARC guerrilla movement.
She was detained for 43 months
without being convicted before she
was sentenced to 70 months under
house arrest.
Since then, Liliany has complied
fully with the terms of this sentence and there were no legal
grounds for her being arrested
again.
Despite this, Liliany was imprisoned once more on 5th August.
A Justice for Colombia source
said: “Liliany was arrested at
home, where she was supposed to
be, but she was treated like a fugitive by soldiers who photographed
and humiliated her.
“This was a traumatic ordeal
which brought back painful memories of being torn from her young
children without prior warning or
explanation.”
The source continued: “As a
mother of young children, Liliany
knows that she is entitled to house
arrest rather than prison.
“She went on hunger strike for
six days to protest about being ar-
rested again but was not provided
with any medical attention by authorities during this time.”
Justice for Colombia has claimed
that Liliany is the victim of a political vendetta and that she is being
targeted because of her political activism.
A group of MPs, trade unionists,
and lawyers from both Britain and
Ireland on a JFC delegation met
with Liliany only days before her
arrest.
At the time, they called for an
end to the harassment being directed against her and called for
justice for thousands of political
prisoners in Colombia’s jails.
Liliany Obando:
back at home
The Dublin Dock Workers
Preservation Society
Multi-denominational
Service of Remembrance for all
Deceased Dublin Dock workers
20th September, Church of St. Patrick, Ringsend
People are invited to congregate at Ringsend College at 7.45 p.m. and walk to
the church of St. Patrick in a candle lit procession led by a lone piper.
8.00 - 8.15 p.m. there will be music and then the
multi-denominational service will begin.
Invest In All Our Futures!
SUPPORTING QUALITY CAMPAIGN
Protect Quality Jobs in Ireland by Promoting Quality Services and Products Manufactured In Ireland
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Liberty
Reviews
SEPTEMBER 2014
23
A tale of two soldiers
THE 1916 DIARIES Of An Irish Rebel
And A British Soldier
(Mercier Press) 2014
THE 1916 Diaries by Mick O’Farrell is the latest in a steady stream
of new publications on aspects of
the Easter Week story.
This work comprises two diaries – one by Seosamh de Brun,
an Irish Volunteer; the other by a
British NCO involved in the fighting in Dublin.
What makes the work unique,
certainly in the case of de Brun, is
that it is the only known contem-
poraneous diary of a volunteer active during the Rising.
The author, a young man in his
twenties and a volunteer in “B”
Company, 2nd Battalion of the
Dublin Brigade, was also an enthusiastic Gaelic Leaguer and active trade unionist in the
Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners and who was on
strike shortly before the Rising.
His diary, presented both in
photostatic copy and transcript,
shows an ordinary young man in
extraordinary times, swimming
against the tide of consensus.
His account, and in particular
his description of the Jacob’s gar-
rison of which he was a member,
bursts with humanity and he
notes with ease some of the
names and events which have
New book on Limerick’s
role in Spanish Civil War
A NEW book about Irish
members of the International Brigades who
fought in the Spanish
Civil War has been
launched in Dublin.
Fighting For Republican
Spain, 1936-38: Frank Ryan
and the Volunteers from
Limerick in the International Brigades, written
and published by Viennabased historian Barry
McLoughlin, was lanched
at the Irish Labour History
Society in Beggars Bush on Monday 8th
September.
Although the book focuses mostly on
the stories of the Limerick International
Brigade Volunteers, it also uses Russian
files to paint a general picture of the
Brigades, their leaders, foot-soldiers and
the politics in the units.
The book also includes biographical data on 230
Irish members of the International Brigades.
The book reviews Irish
politics in the 1930s, the
persecution of the left and
the reasons why Frank
Ryan led a contingent to
Spain in December 1936.
It also examines the tension between Irish and
British leaders in Spain
and analyses the major
battles of 1937. In two chapters, the imprisonment of Frank Ryan in Spain and
his role in German exile are scrutinised.
The book is on sale in paperback and
e-book at www.lulu.com and in paperback at O’Mahony’s bookshops in Ennis,
Limerick and Tralee.
since become iconic.
Here you will find no equivocation. De Brun and his comrades,
male and female, were out for
nothing less than an independent
Irish Republic.
If the young volunteer was a
man on a mission, his opposite
number, Company Sergeant
Major Samuel Henry Lomas of the
2/6th Battalion of The Sherwood
Foresters was a man with a job.
That job was to stop the rebels.
Entrained from base camp near
Watford in England, his transcript
record sees him involved in some
of the heaviest fighting in Dublin
and later in the more grisly role of
NCO in charge of the firing party
at the execution of Tom Clarke,
Thomas McDonagh and Padraig
Pearse, who he records as
whistling to his death.
Though a professional soldier
with a style of writing to match,
he is not devoid of humanity and
notes of the three executed leaders: “…three brave men who met
their death so bravely…”
It is such work as this latest by
Mick O’Farrell, who has added so
much to popular knowledge of
1916, that puts flesh on the bones
of bigger, thematic contributions,
to render a greater understanding
of the Rising.
Michael Halpenny
SIP TU
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Mexican labour mission at the James Connolly statue
A labour mission from the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, led by Secretary of Labour,
Hector Morales Rivera (centre), met with SIPTU President Jack O’Connor, before
posing for photos at the James Connolly memorial statue opposite Liberty Hall on
Wednesday 27th August.
*UNDERWRITING CRITERIA : Owner occupied dwelling house in Co. Dublin. Buildings € 210,0 0 0, contents €35,0 0 0, smoke
detectors, standard burglar alarm, NSAI approved installer and gas central heating and 4 years Claims fre e. Price include s a
€ 25 SIPTU discount. Proper t y is of standard construction with no f lat roof or timber frame. House is in an area free from
f looding and subsidence and built af ter 1930. Subject to under writing criteria, terms and conditions. O f fer is only available to
new and existing customers tak ing out a new home insurance policy through JLT Ireland. €199 premium is inclusive of a € 20
administration charge. Home Insurance is under writ ten by Zurich Insurance plc. Cover to commence bet ween 01/ 01/ 2014 and
31/12 / 2014 inclusive.
Zurich Insurance plc is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited trading as JLT Ireland,
JLT Financial Ser vice s, GIS Ireland, Charit y Insurance, Teacher wise, Childcare Insurance, JLT O nline, JLT Trade Credit
Insurance, JLT Spor t is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
JLT2014- 019
24 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
Comment
Stand by the welfare state
By
Peter Bunting
T
HE NORTHERN IRELAND Executive is in
crisis again. The
already tense air
around Stormont is thickening with recriminations
between the Unionist and the
Republican/Nationalist
parties with the First Minister
Peter Robinson calling for a
return to St Andrews, the golf
course in Scotland where the
historic deal between the
parties was sealed in 2006.
We are being sent back to the
drawing board, but unlike earlier
crises, the source of the conflict is
nothing to do with flags, emblems
or history. The split is over
whether Northern Ireland should
agree to implement the radical
changes to the Welfare and Benefits system which the Tories in
Westminster have forced through
in England, Scotland and Wales.
This could be contributing to the
larger than expected Yes vote in the
Scottish Independence referendum.
For some, this is deeply ironic.
Sinn Féin defending the great
achievements of the British Labour
and Liberal governments of the
1920s and 1940s which brought
into being a comprehensive Welfare State. A comprehensive system for which socialists in the
Republic of Ireland have long
called and which was never
achieved, even in the years of
plenty.
The Tory government in West-
minster is now turning the screw
by introducing a system of fines.
Every NI government department
is facing increasing cuts, which are
being blamed on the intransigence
of Sinn Féin and the SDLP for refusing to back welfare reform.
The DUP’s new-found enthusiasm for welfare reform is contrary
to the stance they took in October
2010 when they, along with the
other two devolved administrations, issued a Joint Declaration including the following paragraph:
‘The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the spending plans
outlined in the June Emergency
Budget represent the deepest and
most sustained cuts to public services since at least the end of the
Second World War. We all believe
these cuts are too fast and too
deep, consistent with views expressed at the recent Finance Ministers Quadrilateral.’
The trade union movement in
Northern Ireland has been consistent in its opposition to Westminster-imposed austerity. Moreover
we have always opposed any social
or economic issue being sectarianised and are appalled at comments from some political parties
in the Republic of Ireland. Exploiting these issues to score some
cheap political points against Sinn
Féin is an insult to the most vulnerable in Northern Ireland who
will bear the brunt of these cuts.
I share the opinion of Brian
Feeney of the Irish News on Charlie Flanagan: ‘Dangerous meddling
in the North’s politics is unbecoming to a Minister for Foreign Affairs
given his role in safeguarding the
Good Friday Agreement. It’s a step
too far for him to adopt the DUP
position on welfare cuts, the intricacies of which he knows nothing
‘Resisting injustices
and defending the defenceless is the tough
decision and one the
trade union movement
has never shirked from’
Land fit for heroes: soldiers and
civilians join VE-Day celebrations
in Trafalgar Square, London
Photo: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives
about. One point is certain however. These cuts will be radically altered after the next election.
Already the Lib Dems have scuppered the Bedroom Tax. The DUP
(and Charlie Flanagan) are supporting a programme which will never
materialise.
Northern Ireland, like many
parts of Europe, has begun a series
of commemorations to remember
the sacrifice made by the generations who fought in the First and
Second World Wars. Mindful of the
suffering endured by those men
and women, we would be failing
their memory if we neglected the
peaceful legacies of those wars.
When they returned from the
front, they built the welfare state.
It assumed that citizens had rights
to basic social goods, such as
health, education, housing and a
living income for those who were
unemployed or who could not
work.
All of those entitlements were
fought for – the rich and the elites
always opposed their introduction
and they are now trying to roll
back those entitlements. At the
same time, today’s elites are stand-
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Sunday
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ing at memorials to the fallen and
pledging to remember their sacrifice, while defiling their legacy. It
is a dishonest disgrace.
Our political masters tell us welfare reform is about making the
hard choice and taking tough decisions. Ask yourself where is the
nobility in withdrawing benefits
from the severely disabled? Standing up for the Welfare State is the
hard choice. Resisting injustices
and defending the defenceless is
the tough decision, and one the
trade union movement has never
shirked from.
The reforms as they exist in
Great Britain have been an unmitigated disaster, and wasteful of tax
payer resources. They will inflict a
multitude of pain, with no gain for
the exchequer. What an appalling
legacy, in contrast to the brave generations who built a land fit for heroes in the aftermath of those wars
we now commemorate.
As for those political parties who
plan to run for election based on
their achievements of misery and
impoverishment by tearing up the
welfare state – we will remember
them.
Peter Bunting is Assistant General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions
and the
Tradition Club
of Dublin
A
ARTISTS
RTISTS TO
TO INCLUDE:
INCLUDE:
The Voice Squad
Maighréad & Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill
John Kelly Group
Sean Keane
Kevin Conneff
Peter Browne
Paul McGrattan
John & Pip Murphy
Tony MacMahon
& other special guests
Proceeds to St. Francis Hospice
Blanchardstown
Liberty
Know Your Rights
SEPTEMBER 2014
25
Workplace Relations Bill 2014
The prudent approach is best
sue a costly civil claim through the
Courts, according to the Bill.
The question has to be asked as
to why the facility of enforcement
which currently lies within the
Employment Equality Acts for such
mediated settlements, has not
been adopted. This would allow
the director, the worker or the
trade union to pursue enforcement
to the District Court in the same
manner as the decision the adjudicator or the Labour Court would be
enforced.
Likewise, the question of representation at hearings should not
be at the discretion of the adjudi-
By Tom
O’Driscoll
T
HERE is a broad consensus among workers and employers
that the employment
rights framework in the Republic is not fit for purpose.
The expanding body of employment legislation needs commensurate user-friendly, efficient and
timely mechanisms for the proper
vindication of employment rights.
The worker also has the added
charge facing him/her of picking
over the entrails of 35 pieces of legislation, and nearly a hundred
pieces of statutory instruments, to
determine which of the five employment rights bodies might best
be suited for his/her claim.
The complexity, added to the
backlogs and delays, led to numerous situations where justice was
denied.
Predictably, it was only when the
employers’ bodies expressed concern at the spiralling legal costs associated with such complexity, did
reform became inevitable.
Minister Bruton rather naively
promised in July 2012 that legislation would be tabled by the end of
that year but we won’t be too critical with the late arrival in the autumn of 2014 of the Workplace
Relations Bill if it does what it says
on the tin, i.e. that workers would
receive a fast, efficient and uncomplicated route to a just resolution
of employment-related issues. The
launch date is set, rather optimistically, for January 2015.
The Bill as expected dissolves
the Equality Tribunal, Employment Appeals Tribunal and the
Labour Relations Commission but
replaces the functions of these
bodies within an all-encompassing
body called the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Collective disputes will not be
affected, except that the LRC will
become the WRC. The seismic
change will be the imposition of a
single-track referral route for all individual employment claims; initially to a single adjudicator and
onward by appeal to the Labour
Court. There is a considerable emphasis also on setting up an alternative dispute resolution channel
where mediated solutions will be
encouraged on this side of the fac-
tory gate. The Bill as proposed is
like the curate’s egg – good in
parts. Trade unionists need to be
mindful of some of the snares.
The Minister, quite prudently, is
not introducing fees at this stage
but there is a provision that allows
for such fees to be introduced by
statutory instrument in future.
We have to be mindful of the UK
experience where cost became
such a deterrence to
the taking of claims that seven
out of 10 potentially successful
cases that could have gone before
tribunals are not going ahead, according to research from Citizen’s
Advice in July 2014.
There is an overwhelming sense
of injustice in the UK, for example,
in the not uncommon situation
where a boss robs the worker of
‘The Bill as proposed
is like the curate’s egg
– good in parts.
Trade unionists need
to be mindful of some
of the snares’
his/her pay;
the worker has
to pay to get
justice. The capacity for a Minister to impose
fees in this jurisdiction must be
firmly resisted.
Mediated solutions are fine on
paper but when the employer reneges, the only course of action
available for the worker is to pur-
Richard Bruton: naive
promise over tabling of Bill
cator. One can only hope that the
provision allowing such discretion
was a genuine error that will be
rectified before the inevitable constitutional challenge.
The enforcement procedure is
changed to allow for decisions to
be enforced by the District Court –
previously such actions had to go
to the Circuit Court. There is a
lesser cost involved but such actions should be cost free. We are
dealing with workers who either
have been denied employment
rights or have lost their jobs, or
both – not exactly your typical
well-resourced litigants of the
Commercial Courts.
It is proposed that the Bill will
advance through the Dail and
Seanad during the autumn sessions with the intention of formally establishing the Workplace
Relations Commission by January
2015. Further prudent oversight is
advised.
26 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
Health
Life and loves of
Irish trench poet
FRIENDLY Fire, a new play
opening at the New Theatre
in Dublin later this month,
tells the story of Francis Ledwidge as a poet and lover and
charts the internal conflict he
struggled with before he took
the decision to go to war.
We learn about the two loves in
his life, Shivvie and Ellie, and of
his best friend Timmy as well as
Lord Dunsany who funded him as
a poet.
Ledwidge later returned that gesture by joining Dunsany’s regiment to fight in the First World
War.
Gerard Humphreys' play deals
with his work as a union organiser,
the conflict he faced at the outset
of hostilities, his return home and
finally his last battle.
Strongly built, with striking
brown eyes and a sensuous face,
Ledwidge was a keen poet writing
wherever he could – sometimes
even on gates or fence posts.
From the age of 14 his works
were published in his local newspaper, the Drogheda Independent,
reflecting his passion for the
Boyne Valley.
While working as a road labourer
he won the patronage of the
writer, Lord Dunsany, after he
wrote to him in 1912, enclosing
copybooks of his early work.
Dunsany, a man of letters already well known in Dublin and
London literary and dramatic circles, promoted Ledwidge in Dublin
and introduced him to W.B. Yeats
with whom he became acquainted.
Dunsany supported Ledwidge
with money and literary advice for
some years, providing him with access to a workspace in Dunsany
Castle's library where he met the
Irish writer Katharine Tynan, corresponding with her regularly.
Dunsany later prepared his first
collection of poetry Songs of the
Fields, which successfully appealed to the expectations of the
Irish Literary Revival and its social
taste for rural poetry.
Actor Ian Meehan takes on the
leading role in Friendly Fire, which
is directed by Anthony Fox.
Friendly Fire runs from 29th September to 11th October.
Francis Ledwidge. Farm Labourer. Poet. Soldier.
FrIEndly
FIRE
WRITTEN BY GERARD HUMPHREYS
Join the fight for Better
Healthcare, Better Jobs
Health Sector Organiser Kevin Figgis,
far right, talks over campaign plans
with the SIPTU Nurse and Midwife
Sector Committee
PLANS are in place for the
next phase of SIPTU’s campaign for Better Healthcare,
Better Jobs.
Over the last 18 months, SIPTU
health organisers, shop stewards
and members have been busy
building support for a memberled campaign that focuses on reversing the reckless rush to
privatise essential frontline public health services.
Better Healthcare, Better Jobs
will provide a platform for an inclusive discussion about how our
health service is funded and the
value Irish society puts on core
healthcare workers.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, told Liberty that
the Better Healthcare, Better Jobs
campaign was initially launched
as an open dialogue among SIPTU
members about deteriorating
working conditions within our
health services.
He said: “Since the economic
downturn, a tremendous pressure has been put on the shoulders of SIPTU members and the
services they provide in our hospitals and communities.
“Better Healthcare, Better Jobs
has been developed to defend our
public services and to take SIPTU
members out of the firing line.”
Having engaged with SIPTU
members across the country, Bell
pointed out that the Health Division was in the latter stages of developing a website to enable the
Better Healthcare, Better Jobs
agenda to be driven online.
The new SIPTU Health website
will give members up-to-date information on the Better Healthcare, Better Jobs campaign, and
will be fully integrated with the
latest social media platforms.
It will provide practical online
support as a “one stop shop” for
SIPTU members, shop stewards
and activists.
Speaking to Liberty, Health Sector Organiser Kevin Figgis said it
is clear SIPTU members are not
the cause of the problems in the
health service but the solution.
“SIPTU is determined to lead an
organised resistance against the
privatisation of our public health
service.
“The union will be demanding
that decent frontline healthcare
jobs are protected, the staff recruitment embargo is lifted and
that Government commitments
to employ direct labour in our
public services is honoured.”
SIPTU organises more than
45,000 frontline healthcare workers in the Republic of Ireland.
Minister for Health, Leo
Varadakar, visited Liberty
Hall on 7th August to have
direct discussions on issues
of concern to workers in
the health service.
29th September - 11th October 2014
Image by Robert Ballagh
DIRECTED BY ANTHONY FOX
CAST: Ian Meehan, Clodagh Mooney Duggan, Linda Teehan, Geraldine McAlinden, Anthony Kinahan
%15/%12, 01 670 3361, thenewtheatre.com, 7.30pm
From left to right: President SIPTU Health Division Padraig Peyton,
SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, Minister for Health, Leo
Varadakar, and SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell.
Photo: Jim Weldon.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “During our
meeting with the newly
appointed Minister all issues of
concern to our members and
service users were put on the
table. These included the removal of the staff recruitment
embargo, the resourcing of the
National Ambulance Service and
the professionalisation of the
Health Care Assistant grade”.
Reference was also made to
SIPTU’s concerns about the ineffectiveness of the Nurse Graduate Programme.
Liberty
Supporting Quality
SEPTEMBER 2014
Invest In All Our Futures!
SUPPORTING QUALITY CAMPAIGN
Protect Quality Jobs in Ireland by Promoting Quality Services and Products Manufactured In Ireland
www.supportingquality.ie
Like our campaign on Facebook and be entered into a draw to win a €100 voucher
Terms and conditions on our Facebook page
27
28 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
News
What welfare are you
entitled to on strike?
By Frank McDonnell
IN MY last article for Liberty (in
June) I highlighted a couple of
key entitlements citizens may
not be aware they are entitled to,
with respect to prescription
charges and qualified adult payments. Given the industrial climate of recent times, with
workers increasingly having to resort to strike action, it is important to highlight an entitlement
for which families of those engaged in an industrial dispute
may qualify.
Supplementary Allowance
When you are on strike the only
payment you are entitled to is strike
pay. However, if a worker is on official strike it is possible that his or
her spouse could qualify for a supplementary welfare allowance for
the period of the dispute. This allowance is means tested (very important to note this) and can be
applicable even where the spouse is
working for up to 30 hours a week.
In circumstances where the only
income coming in is the spouse’s
wages and strike pay, the spouse
may qualify for the supplementary
welfare allowance. Again the key
message is to ask, because the State
will surely not come looking for you
to tell you what you and your family
might be entitled to. It may also be
possible for the spouse of a worker
on strike to qualify for rent supplement or mortgage supplement for
the duration of a dispute.
Finally, if a large household expense comes in during the course of
an industrial dispute, a family could
also qualify for an exceptional needs
payment, and could apply to the
local Community Welfare Officer for
assistance in this regard.
Disablement Benefit
On an unrelated note, disablement
benefit is an occupational injury
scheme that few people seem to be
aware of. If you are unfortunate
enough to suffer an accident either
at work or travelling to or from
work, you may be entitled to this
benefit. It is not means-tested.
You must apply to the Department of Social Protection using
form OB21. The Department will
assess your claim and will send you
for an examination. The Departments’ medical advisers will determine whether you are entitled to
compensation, and if so, how
much.
Compensation can be in the form
of a once-off lump sum or alternatively a much smaller regular payment which would be for life. You
can also apply for this latter payment to be increased at a later stage
in life. This is in addition to any
other social welfare payment you
might have or be entitled to.
In order to qualify for this benefit,
the individual concerned must have
suffered a disablement. The degree
of disablement will be assessed by
the Department of Social Protection’s Medical Officer.
This benefit is also in place for
anyone unfortunate enough to suffer from an industrial disease, for
example dermatitis.
The form states that you must
take a claim within three months of
the accident. However, if three
months have passed, you should
still take advice and see whether a
claim may still be possible.
Finally, it is worth noting that this
benefit has no bearing on any personal injury claim that you might
have against your employer's insurance or against any other party.
For any queries on the above
article please call 01-8586335.
The Cost of Disability
An inclusion ireland conference
SIPTU and students
‘stronger together’
By Glenn Fitzpatrick
THERE was something very different about the Annual Congress of the Union of Students
in Ireland (USI) this year. The
signing of the USI-SIPTU Procedural Agreement in March was
not only significant in that it
will provide an extremely useful
outlet for students in the workplace to avail of proper advice
and support, it also marked a
long overdue investment on the
part of both student and worker
representatives in the USI motto,
‘Together We’re Stronger’.
It is not before time that we are
getting students active in campaigns around workers’ rights,
such as the push for collective bargaining, calling for an end to zerohour contracts and the right to a
living wage. On the flipside,
worker solidarity with ever-increasing student hardship is an incredible asset to have. Overall, a
closer alignment of workers and
students may be the only thing
that gives us a fighting chance of
really changing things for the better, a view wholly endorsed by
Jack O’Connor in front of more
than 200 delegates at the congress:
“This is the renewal of an agreement that we have had in place for
over 10 years. There is enormous
potential for co-operation between USI and SIPTU and the
wider trade union movement on
the great issues that affect students, workers and society.”
In the aftermath of the bank
bailout, solidarity was still very
much a dirty word but workers and
students are now creating a platform to take the word back. Ahead
of Budget 2015, USI is calling on the
Government to maintain student
supports such as the Maintenance
Grant and the Back to Education Allowance. The cost for a family to
send a child to college continues to
sky-rocket, with the average cost
now about €13,000 a year. Comparing this to the average grant allocation of just over €3,000, any further
changes could see even more people priced out of an education and
a future.
USI welcomes any additional
support for its ‘Education Is’ campaign and is inviting every member of SIPTU to join in the
conversation and talk about what
education means to them. On 8th
October, we are holding a Rally for
Education. More information can
be found at www.usi.ie/EducationIs.
Glenn Fitzpatrick is Vice-President of USI.
THE CLÉ
LÉ CL
CLUB
LUB
UB
3rd Wednesday
3rd
Wednesday of the mon
month
th Liber
Liberty
ty Hall
Hall,, Dublin
The Clé Club opens its A
The
Autumn
utumn
programme
pr
ogramme on September
September 17th 2014
8.00 p.m.
p.m. tto
o 11.00 p
p.m.
.m.
Cois
Life
Cois Lif
e Bar,
Bar, Liberty
Liberty Hall
All welcome,
welcome, Subscription
Subscription €5
Doors
Doors open 7.45 p.m.
p.m.
Thursday, 25th September 2014
Hilton Hotel, kilmainham, dublin 8
09.30 to 16.00
The conference seeks to reopen the debate on how to address the costs associated with having a disability. speakers will highlight evidence of the direct, indirect
and opportunity costs of having a disability and how official measurements of poverty do not consider these costs. The benefits to the economy and society of
expenditure supports to households and person(s) with a disability will be explored.
OpEning AddrEss: Simon Harris, T.D., Minister of state at department of Finance. spEAkErs: Dr John Cullinan, J.E. Cairnes school of Business & Economics,
nUi galway; Dr Dorothy Watson, Associate research professor, Economic and social research institute; Ms Claudia Wood, Chief Executive, demos;
Mr Martin Naughton; Ms Ita Mangan, Chairperson, Advisory group on Tax and social Welfare; Mr Michael Taft, Unite the Union; Ms Eileen Daly
Conference fee and bookin: The fee for this conference is €40. Bookings via EventBrite: www.eventbrite.ie
A small number of places are reserved for persons on low incomes. Full programme on www.inclusionireland.ie
Liberty
Obituaries
SEPTEMBER 2014
29
OBITUARY Noel Harris
Union leader and civil rights activist
N
OEL HARRIS, who
died aged 77 on
27th August after a
long illness, spent
his adult life as an active trade
unionist and trade union official in Belfast, Dublin and London. In Belfast he was a
member of DATA, the draftsmens union, and then became
National Secretary of ASTMS
in Dublin. He was on the Executive of the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions for a period.
After leaving Ireland he became
head of the social and economic department of the World Federation
of Trade Unions in Prague. When
he and his partner Rhona moved to
London he became national organiser for years of the Cinematograph
Workers Union (ACTT). He was a
close friend of the late Ken Gill,
one of Britain's foremost labour
leaders in the 1970s and 1980s.
Noel Harris came to politics as a
young man through the Northern
Ireland Communist Party. Although
not of Catholic background, he was
active in the early and mid-1960s in
bringing the issue of anti-Catholic
discrimination to the fore through
his union DATA.
His union in turn raised the civil
In Dublin he was an active member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid
Movement, was its general secretary for a period and was a close
friend of the late Kader Asmal.
During his years in England Noel
became General Secretary of
CODIR, the Committee for Defence
of the Iranian People's Rights. This
was established in 1981 by a group
of British labour and trade union
activists in collaboration with Iranian democrats living in exile in the
UK.
It published a quarterly journal
Iran Today, which encouraged solidarity between the British and Iranian peoples. It worked closely with
the Stop the War Coalition at the
time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
and campaigned against foreign intervention in Iran.
Rhona and Noel moved back to
Northern Ireland a year ago, having
spent many years in London. He
said he wanted to return to his
roots.
Noel was a genial companion, a
determined campaigner for progressive causes, a person of wide
reading and culture and altogether
a splendid human being who will
be missed by all who knew him.
Noel is survived by his wife Rhona
and two sons Kevin and Brian.
In 1967 he was on
the founding
committee of the
Northern Ireland
Civil Rights
Association and
was one of those
who walked in the
first civil rights
marches
rights issues through the Belfast
Trades Council.
In January 1967 he was on the
founding committee of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
and was one of those who walked
in the first civil rights marches.
It was the coming together of
trade unionists of Protestant and
non-Catholic background with
Catholics of Republican background which led to the formation
of the NICRA and the wider Civil
Rights Movement which followed
from that, which in turn shattered
Ulster Unionist political hegemony
forever.
OBITUARY John Lynch (1969 - 2014)
Tragic loss of a generous and talented musician
JOHN Lynch, Associate Principal
Viola of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and member
of the Musicians’ Union of Ireland, died tragically with his
partner Kevin Devine on 29th
August while on holiday in
Crete.
John James Lynch was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 9th January
1969. He began learning the piano at
the age of six and, when he was 12,
entered the Victorian College of the
Arts School.
He was a founding member of the
Binneus String Quartet, winning the
Shostakovich String Quartet Competition in St Petersburg in 1987. In the
following year, he went on to study at
the Liszt Academy in Budapest and, in
1991, to the Freiburg Hochschule für
Musik in Germany.
As a member of the Binneus Quartet, he performed at festivals includ-
ing those at Spoletto, Bauff and Melbourne. John’s father was from Donegal, having emigrated to Australia in
1959. Forty years later, John came to
visit Ireland and worked for the first
time with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. In 2001 he was appointed Associate Principal Viola.
John was a great colleague in so
many ways – he was straightforward
in his dealings with people and his integrity was absolute. He was a fantastic violist with a truly distinctive
sound whose intuitive understanding
of music, combined with his technical
abilities, meant he was as unflappable
on the stage as he was elsewhere.
It is tempting to say simply that he
was ‘chilled-out’ and, in a way, he
was, but there was a great, absorbed
intelligence behind that calm exterior, always inwardly active.
Generous by nature, he saw the
whole picture and wasn’t one to
speak rashly. There was no egotism
with John. He taught at the Royal
Irish Academy of Music and he continued to perform chamber music. He
was always practising some tricky
passage or other during orchestra
lunch breaks! In 2007 he performed
with members of the Vienna Philharmonic and with the Callino and St. Petersburg Quartets.
He also gave the first performance
in Ireland of the Sonata for Viola and
Harp by Valeri Kikta at the opening
concert of the World Harp Congress in
Dublin.
John and Kevin had relatively recently moved into their new home in
Glasnevin. A house with a garden had
been something that they had wanted
for a long time, having lived in a flat
in Gardiner Street for several years.
John is survived by his three older
sisters who, as well as losing John and
Kevin, have lost both their father and
mother within the last year.
Francis Harte
Violist John died tragically
along with his partner Kevin
while on holiday in Greece
Photo: Priory Studios
30 Liberty
SEPTEMBER 2014
Sport
Donegal's Tony McCleneghan,
Stephen McBrearty, Ciaran Gillespie
and Stephen McMenamin celebrate
after the game
Photo: Donegal Democrat
Three Kingdoms strategy takes down Dubs
By Matt Treacy
B
EREFT of any other
meaningful response
to Dublin’s defeat by
Donegal, I resorted to
answering the many queries
with that old chestnut, “They
were out-thought and outfought.”
The phrase was coined by the
great military strategist of the
Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang, also
known as Kongming.
I doubt he would have allowed
Donegal so much space through
the middle nor left McFadden and
Murphy isolated one-on-one on
the edge of the square when
Dublin were five points up and
seemingly in cruise mode. Anyway,
that is enough of that. I will speak
of it no more.
Donegal now have the chance to
emulate the Dubs and win two of
the last three finals. Not many
would have given them a chance of
that at the start of the championship, so it is a tribute to Jim
McGuinness that he has restored
the seemingly demoralised and
tired team of 2013 to where they
are now.
In the final-Donegal face Kerry, a
team it is safe to say were regarded
as being in transition mode following the injury to the Gooch and the
Formidable strategist Zhuge
Liange would have applauded
Donegal’s tactical supremacy
Photo: Kanegan
retirements of Paul Galvin and
Tomás Ó Sé.
Their drawn and replayed semifinals against Mayo were the best
games of the football championship so far and the final will be
doing well to match it.
There is little history between
the two counties in championship.
They have only met once before at
senior level, in the 2012 quarterfinal which Donegal won, so the
latter have a 100% record, including beating the Kingdom in the
1997 under-21 final.
However, that will count for little come September 21st. I am not
even going to attempt to predict
the outcome.
If it is half as entertaining and
tense as the hurling final, then it
will be a classic. Of course, there
are conspiracy theorists convinced
that the draw was manufactured
by the ‘Grab All Association’. They
ought to stick to their bar stools
and soap opera.
It would indeed have taken a series of extraordinary events to
stage the ending of the drawn
game. Just one minute of extra
time was played but the only real
stoppage during the half was when
Richie Hogan, named Man of the
Match, went down with injury.
Barry Kelly clearly made the
right call and I imagine even his
devoted fans in Kilkenny were
happy enough to take the result
once Hawkeye ruled that ‘Bubbles’
O’Dwyer’s massive free from inside the Tipp half had gone maybe
an inch wide.
It was without doubt the greatest final I have seen and like most
neutrals was delighted that we will
get to witness it all again, and that,
hopefully, it will be another epic as
was the replay between Cork and
Clare last year.
I doubt either team came away
feeling that they had left it behind
them. For sure, the Cats had
looked to be stretching away coming into the final quarter before
Tipp finished the stronger, but
their body language at the end indicated that they were happy, or
perhaps relieved, with the outcome.
Tipp’s tactic of short puck-outs,
so effective in the semi-final
against Cork, was mostly effectively countered by Kilkenny, but
in compensation the whole of
their forward line stepped up considerably and prevented Kilkenny
being able to concentrate on curbing Bonner and Callanan.
Lar in particular redeemed himself after his previous poor show-
ing and he was one of the key factors in Tipp hauling back the Cats’
four-point lead.
All to do again on the 27th.
There were a lot of complaints last
year about the final being held on
a Saturday evening, the reason
being that the women’s football
final takes place on Sunday 28th,
but the clamour seems less this
year than last.
‘I am not even
going to attempt
to predict the
outcome on
September 21st
but if it is half as
entertaining as the
hurling final, it will
be a classic’
No doubt that has a lot to do
with the fact that the Clare-Cork
re-match was such a thriller and
was added to by the lights coming
on in the second half.
I would be only guessing at the
outcome so I am not going to even
attempt to predict what might happen. Other than it is likely to be
another one that goes to the wire.
Liberty
Liberty Crossword
SEPTEMBER 2014
PRIZE DRAW
Liberty
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
6
to win two nights for two people
in one of Ireland’s Fair Hotels
ACROSS
DOWN
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
11
13
7
8
10
9
12
11
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
8
9
10
12
14
16
19
20
22
Seeing something as if it is real,
when it is not (13)
Houses soldiers (8)
Prima donna (4)
Cradlesong (7)
Afrikaners (5)
Small mythical creature (5)
Food decoration (7)
Not new (4)
To let happen (8)
Soccer, when played correctly (9,4)
15
17
18
21
Viking story (4)
Type of funeral tribute (6)
Keeps a drink cool (3,4)
Feeling of apprehension (5)
Kind of apartment (6)
Changers of belief (8)
Not cleaned (8)
Radioactive aftermath of a nuclear
explosion (7)
From the centre to perimeter (6)
Modern spiritual movement (3,3)
On the banks of the Seine (5)
Identify (4)
22
*Correctly fill in the crossword to reveal the
hidden word, contained by reading the letters
in the shaded squares from top to bottom.
with your name and address and you will
to be entered into a prize draw to win two nights
for two people in one of Ireland’s Fair Hotels.
Email the hidden word to
[email protected] or post to
Communications Dept., Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 along
The winner of the crossword quiz will be
published in the next edition of Liberty.
Tel: 01-8721155 or
email: [email protected]
Opening
Opening Hours:
Hours:
Thursday 7 p.m. - 8.15 p.m.
Saturday 9 30 a m 12.00 noon
Right Here,
Write Now
For
F
or more
more information
information
o
call:
TTom
om O’B
O’Brien,
Hall
rien, Liberty H
all
TTel:
el: ((01)
01) 858 6311
The Jim Larkin Credit Union is regulated by the
Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA)
Kennedy,
College
or JJean
ean K
ennedyy, SIPTU C
ollege
TTel:
el: ((01)
01) 858 6498
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If you are interested in joining
the Jim Larkin Credit Union
*Terms and conditions apply.
e
Jim Larkin
Credit Union
The winner of the crossword
competition in the July edition
was Barry Talbot, Westport,
Co Mayo
Answer: Palestine
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For a fu g on to:
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www.fa
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