Press Statement: Paul Murphy MEP (Socialist Party) 30 June 2011
MEP condemns "terrorist-style" sabotage of Irish ship to Gaza that
threatened lives of Irish citizens and others

Participant in Irish Ship to Gaza:

·         Condemns "terrorist-style" sabotage of Irish ship to Gaza
that threatened lives of Irish citizens and others
·         If Israeli state does not condemn the attack, ambassador
should be expelled from Ireland
·         "Sabotage will not deter me" - Paul Murphy will still
participate in Freedom Flotilla II aboard the Italian boat

"The revelation that terrorist-style sabotage of the MV Saoirse caused
serious damage to the ship and threatened the loss of life is
extremely serious. The evidence pointing towards the Israeli state
being guilty is overwhelming. It cannot be a coincidence that two of
the boats destined to sail to Gaza have now been sabotaged in the same
way, with their propeller shafts damaged.

"These attacks match with the Israeli government rhetoric that they
would do everything they could to prevent the flotilla from sailing.
Those, like Hillary Clinton, who gave an implicit green light to
Israeli Defence Forces aggression against the flotilla share
responsibility for this sabotage. The sabotage has not only caused
tens of thousands of euros of damage to these ships, but also
threatened the lives of all the participants aboard. The damage, to
the boats propeler shaft would have gradually resulted in the
propeller coming up through the bottom of the boat, causing a flood in
the engine room thereby causing the boat to sink. An international
independent investigation should be launched to fully investigate the
sabotage of the ships.

"I demand a statement of condemnation of these terror attacks from the
Israeli state. If such a statement is not forthcoming, I call on the
Irish government to expel the Israeli ambassador from Ireland.

"Although I am very disappointed at not being able to sail on the MV
Saoirse due to the damage to the ship, this sabotage will not deter me
from sailing to Gaza to protest at the continuing siege and virtual
imprisonment of the 1.6 million Palestinians living there. I will be
participating in the Italian boat as part of the Flotilla and will be
setting sail in a few days.

“It was a pleasure campaigning alongside the other participants on the
MV Saoirse, all of whom made big sacrifices to try to break the
blockade to Gaza. The organisers and crew in particular put in a
herculean effort to prepare our ship and team and I am very thankful
to them. I am deeply disappointed for those that will not be able to
travel to Gaza due to this terrorism. However, I am hoping to bring
their messages of solidarity to the Palestinian people.”

ENDS

Press statement, June 29 – immediate release. United Left Alliance -
Sale of repossessed home withdrawn.

Estate agents Lowe & Associates have withdrawn from sale today the
repossessed home of Robert Marsh at 130 Comeragh Rd, Drimnagh. The
house was withdrawn on instruction from Start Mortgages, the sub-prime
lender that repossessed it.

Commenting on today’s events, Joan Collins TD said:

This is a victory for Robert Marsh and anybody else who has had their
home repossessed. We publicly called upon Investec, which owns Start
Mortgages, and on Lowe’s estate agents to stop the sale of Robert’s
home. After several protests at their offices, the sale has been
withdrawn.

We will now monitor all of the estate agents to ensure Robert’s home
is not put up for sale elsewhere. We are calling for all repossession
sales to be stopped as part of a general resolution to the unfolding
mortgage crisis. We urge anybody with mortgage difficulties to come to
the meeting next Sunday in the Red Cow hotel from 1 til 4 to get
advice, to discuss ideas to deal with the mortgage crisis, and to
campaign to stop repossessions.

If people in difficulty work together we can stop repossessions.
Lenders are less likely to repossess if they can’t sell your home. So
‘Buyer be wary – seller beware’ is the message we are sending out
today.

Ends.

"JobBridge is a new National Internship Scheme that will provide work experience placements for interns for a 6 or 9 month period. " http://jobbridge.ie/

"The Work Placement Programme is a Government supported programme that brings employers and the unemployed together for a work experience placement for a maximum duration of nine months." http://www.fas.ie/en/WPP/

And the difference is?

Sabotage, as it aims at the quantity, is a very old thing, called by the Scotch "ca canny." All intelligent workers have tried it at some time or other when they have been compelled to work too hard and too long. The Scotch dockers had a strike in 1889 and their strike was lost, but when they went back to work they sent a circular to every docker in Scotland and in this circular they embodied their conclusions, their experience from the bitter defeat. It was to this effect, "The employers like the scabs, they have always praised their work, they have said how much superior they were to us, they have paid them twice as much as they have ever paid us; now let us go back to the docks determined that since those are the kind of workers they like and that is the kind of work they endorse we will do the same thing. We will let the kegs of wine go over the docks as the scabs did. We will have great boxes of fragile articles drop in the midst of the pier as the scabs did. We will do the work just as clumsily, as slowly, as destructively, as the scabs did. And we will see how long our employers can stand that kind of work." It was very few months until through this system of sabotage they had won everything they had fought for and not been able to win through the strike. This was the first open announcement of sabotage in an English-speaking country.

http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/bisbee/docs/128.html

Dáil Éireann notes:

 

1) That the Duffy/Walsh Report to the Minister for Enterprise, Employment and Innovation  concludes inter alia : “We have concluded that lowering the basic JLC rates to the level of the minimum wage rate is unlikely to have a substantial effect on employment.” and “ we conclude that it is not accurate to suggest that the body of primary employment rights legislation currently in force adequately covers matters dealt with by EROs and REAs.”

2) That According to the OECD, Ireland suffers from some of the highest levels of low pay. Over 21% of full time employees are low paid, compared to a Eurozone average of 14.7% and  EU Commission data shows that labour costs (include wages and employers’ contributions) in the Food & Accommodation sector in Ireland are 6% below the EU-15 average.

3) That very many people covered by JLC/EROs and REAs are vulnerable people such as immigrants and young people and those working in small employments not amenable to trade unionisation

4) That the majority of workers covered by the JLC/EROs and REAs system are women and that any reduction in remuneration in this sector will widen the gender income gap contrary to national and EU policy

5) That due to the serious and disproportionate reduction in male employment, female workers form a higher proportion of primary bread winners and that reduction in female earnings would have a major impact on household and child poverty contrary to national and EU policy.

6)That reduction in the remuneration of already lowly paid employees will result in a reduction in revenue to the state through PAYE and VAT and will lead to an increase in claims for Family Income Supplement payments.

7)That any reduction in remuneration to employees covered by JLCs and REAs will transfer income from the lowly paid to employers and/or  investors including some large multi-national companies

8) That any reduction in remuneration to affected employees who spend their entire income in Ireland will reduce demand in the economy and accelerate the elimination of jobs caused by the policies of the previous government and the support by the current government for the measures contained in Budget 2011

9)That it is this reduction in demand in the economy that is destroying jobs not JLC/ERO rates.

10) That any provision for  derogation from JLC/ ERO and REA rates of remuneration in individual employments is likely to lead to a collapse of the system as a whole and the reduction of already low wages generally, further reduction in demand and increased job elimination in the economy as a whole.

 

Dáil Éireann deplores any proposal of Minister Bruton to enact any of the following measures:

 

• Reduction of JLC and/or REA rates
• Reduction or abolition of extra pay for working unsocial hours such as on Sunday.
• Allow employers to claim ‘ an inability to pay’.
• Reduction in overtime rates.
• Removal of protection for young workers under 18.
• Removal of annual increases for years of service
• Removal of recognition of craft grades
• Reduction of the number of Employment Regulation Orders and end coverage of working conditions such as sick pay.
• Allowing employers not to keep proper employment records, which would make it easier to evade the law.

 

Dail Eireann calls on the government as a whole to abandon these measures and believes that if Labour Party deputies in particular vote against this motion they will be in breach of the principle of solidarity with the lower paid and the best traditions of Larkin and Connolly