Our candidate Colm Stephens and Unite Trade Union and People Before Profit activist Brid Smith (Ballyfermot) spoke on the huge opportunity for People Before Profit to build a real movement for change in our area.

Speaking after the protest People Before Profit candidate in the North Inner City Colm Stephens said “If Cllr. O Riordain had bothered to turn up he would have seen that we actively encouraged people to go into the clinic and make their views known.”

“Nobody, not even Mr. Brady who left the clinic before the scheduled start time and went canvassing for the local election, made a complaint to us at the time or since! We also explained to the staff of the Larkin Centre that we were not protesting at them. They informed us that they had no problem with the picket.”

Instead of providing real leadership and voicing ordinary people’s concerns at the budget cuts, new levies and taxes, Mr. O Riordain is rushing to help out Fianna Fáil.

“The voters that I and other People Before Profit candidates are meeting on the doorsteps are extremely angry at the disastrous Budget and they are telling us that we are right to be protesting at the cuts in social welfare, education and health services while the Government is preparing to bail out the banks yet again.”

Mr. O Riordain’s outburst raises the question whether the Labour Party is trying to align itself with Fianna Fáil to do a deal after the elections. The People Before Profit Alliance will continue to protest alongside the local community in the North Inner City and across the city against the budget cuts implemented by this government.

These problems have developed since the lucrative contract was awarded to Greyhound Recycling which took over from Oxigen at the beginning of the year. Numerous collections have been missed, green bags have not been delivered, incorrect collection dates have been posted on the website and collection calendars have not been distributed.

Colm Stephens, People Before Profit Alliance candidate in the North Inner City in the upcoming local elections says that he continues to be “been inundated with complaints from residents who are frustrated that they cannot recycle their green waste in the normal way. Without the green bags, for example, they cannot leave their waste for collection as Greyhound won’t collect recycling in black bags.” He himself has been promised green bags from Greyhound on two or three occasions but they never materialised. “People are now forced to put recyclable materials into the ordinary bins that go to land-fill” he added.

“Despite assurances from the company that collection problems were a thing of the past, again residents in areas such as Phibsboro and around the North Circular Road were left without a green bin collection this morning as a result of a error in the calendars produced by the company. These problems are a direct result of the introduction of a privatised service after the imposition of bin charges and the cuts to funding of local government. The Council is trying to do the job on the cheap and ordinary people are paying the price with a second class service.”

Colm Stephens says why he supports the Residents of St Michael’s Estate

from Paula Geraghty on Vimeo.

Colm Stephens (People Before Profit) joins family & supporters of Maura Harrington outside Mountjoy Prison

There has been an ongoing protest outside the jail for the past week or so. Please send a cards, letters, messages of support to :
Maura Harringon,
Dochas Centre,
Mountjoy Gaol,
North Circular Road,
Dublin 7,
Ireland.

www.shelltosea.com

For more photographs of recent protest at Mountjoy prison click here

The People Before Profit Alliance has condemned the package of cuts announced by the government. Spokesperson Richard Boyd Barrett said “This package is an assault on public sector workers, parents of young children and the poor in the developing world. None of these groups created the economic crisis. The government has said a lot about the need to ensure that the burden of recovery is spread across society yet those who created the crisis: bankers, speculators and property developers, have got off scott free. There was also talk about broadening the tax base yet the government’s package will ensure that even the lowest paid public sector workers pay more. This is unjust.
Workers are angry that the people who caused the economic mess have escaped unscathed, some of them underwritten by money taken out of the pockets of ordinary taxpayers.
Its time the trade unions gave voice to this anger by launching a vigorous campaign against the government’s package and to support measures to make the rich pay”.
The People Before Profit Alliance is calling for a package of measures to broaden the tax base and ensure those who benefited most from the Celtic Tiger pay for the mess they created.
Central elements of this package are:
• A wealth levy of 2% on all assets other than the family home
• Increases in capital gains and corporation tax
• The closing off of tax loopholes including those for property developers
• Higher tax rates for top earners

Contact:
Eddie Conlon 087 6775468
Richard Boyd Barrett 087 6329511

Madam, – Amid news of Gaza, Anglo Irish and Obama, it has been easy to overlook the demise of the Green Party as any sort of a force on environmental issues.

I refer to the recent announcement by first, Dublin Bus and then, Bus Éireann that they are cutting services, withdrawing buses from our streets and roads and laying off workers. Coupled with the announcement in 2008 that the Metro North line is going to be downgraded so that it will carry a form of underground tram rather than real trains (heavy rail) it is now clear that the Greens’ policies on public transport are in tatters.

What other country is reducing public transport in this time and taking steps that encourage more and more commuters to take to their cars and avoid an already underdeveloped and underfunded public transport system? As we all know, Ireland lags far behind other countries in provision of public transport and the resultant increase in car usage is a major cause of the growth in production of greenhouse gases. While the Greens might talk endlessly about doing something about that, they have proved in Government that it was just all hot air. – Yours, etc,

COLM STEPHENS (People Before Profit Alliance, Dublin Central Constituency)
St Patrick’s Terrace,
Dublin 3.

For more images click below…

Councillor Joan Collins (People Before Profit) marches in solidarity with Gaza in Dublin 

Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit & Irish Anti War Movement) addresses the protest

Colm Stephens (People Before Profit, Dublin Central) 

Christy Moore & actor Stephen Rea in support of Gaza

More Images…

Christy Moore, Stephen Rea, Robert Ballagh

Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit & IAWM), Ducan Stewart

Solidarity with Gaza: Christy Moore, Stephen Rea, Robert Ballagh, Richard Boyd Barrett, Duncan Stewart