Mandate members urged to participate in Jobs Not Debt demonstrations on Saturday, 9 February 2013
Tuesday 15 January 2013On Saturday, 9 February next, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will be hosting a series of demonstrations across the country to call for urgent action to tackle our growing unemployment crisis and the €64 billion debt burden which is crippling the country. Mandate’s General Secretary, John Douglas, has pledged the union’s full support for the Jobs Not Debt demonstrations – which will involve community and voluntary organisations and a wide range of civil society groups – and is urging as many Mandate members as possible to participate in one of the many demonstrations which will be taking place on that day.
John Douglas said that it is now five years since the people of Ireland were promised by the last Government that there would be long term gain from the short term pain imposed by cuts and tax increases.
“Since then these austerity policies have inflicted a great deal of misery but resulted in precious little progress. In fact, these policies – as predicted – are having a devastating impact on the Irish domestic economy which has shrunk by over 25% in the last three years. Tens of thousands of workers, in sectors such as retail, have paid the price for these policies with their jobs, their income and their homes.
“To continue with these policies is madness and risks turning the domestic economy into an economic waste land. More tax increases on low to average paid workers and more spending cuts will only make things worse. Meantime, the unemployment and immigration problem in Ireland is at crisis level. The Government need to invest in a stimulus package in the domestic economy, remove the unsustainable €64 billion banking debt from the State’s books and deal with the problem of personal debt particularly mortgage indebtedness. Only then will we see growth in consumer confidence and job creation.”
John Douglas said that a deal to restructure the crippling €64 billion burden of banking debt is absolutely critical to progress otherwise, we will have to seek another “bailout” – a scenario which needs to be avoided at all costs.
“The citizens of Ireland must seize the opportunity presented by the country’s presidency of the EU over the next six months to demonstrate to those at the top of the European institutions that there is massive public support here for the restructuring of this crippling banking debt. The Jobs Not Debt demonstrations give all of us the perfect platform to do just that and that is why it is vitally important that as many Mandate members as possible – along with their families and friends – should take part in them,” John Douglas concluded.
