A FAIR AND JUST SOLUTION TO IRELAND’S CRISIS STILL POSSIBLE BUT MASS PROTESTS NEEDED URGENTLY
In a statement, the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) has said that the arrival today of IMF/EU officials and imminent intervention of these bodies into the running of the Irish economy, would make a bad situation worse and accelerate Ireland further down a disastrous path of neo-liberal ‘shock therapy.’
PBPA said that the ‘free’ market economic doctrines championed by the IMF/EU were precisely those that had been pursued by the Irish government over the last ten years and were the same as those that had wrecked the international economy.
PBPA said that more intense doses of the same doctrine would cause intense suffering for ordinary Irish people and further undermine the possibility of genuine economic recovery.
PBPA said the Irish government had sacrificed Irish democracy and economic well-being on an altar of ‘free’ market profit and greed.
PBPA said there was now an urgent need to mobilise Irish civil society onto the streets to drive the government out of office and stand up to the ‘vultures and bullies’ of the IMF and EU.
Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance said: “Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan are now on the brink of sacrificing the last semblance of Irish democracy and economic well-being to the vultures and bullies of the EU/IMF and the international markets.
Their pathetic pretence that they are resisting an IMF/EU takeover is a sick joke. Everything Fianna Fail has done over the 15 years and particularly over the last two years has propelled us towards this moment.
Any illusion that the EU/IMF has a solution to the economic crisis is badly misplaced. These bodies are the champions of the ‘free’ market madness that was embraced by so enthusiastically by the Irish government over the last decade and a half, and which got us into the dire situation we now face.
As they have done everywhere else, the IMF will seek to intensify economic ‘shock therapy’ – inflicting even more suffering on the vulnerable and the least well-off in our society. Without fail, the IMF and EU promote the same de-regulation, privatisation, low taxes on wealth and destruction of public services that were pursued so enthusiastically by Fianna Fail over recent years. We have now reached the endgame and the only difference is that even the pretence that we live in democracy will be removed.
However, it is vital that the Irish public are not paralysed with the fear and resignation which these ‘shock and awe’ tactics are designed to instil. A just and fair solution to the economic mess created by Fianna Fail corruption and ‘free’ market fundamentalism is still possible. We need to get Irish people out on the streets to drive this government out of office and to stand up to the bullies of the EU/IMF.
We must insist on the option that neither the government or the EU/IMF would even contemplate – ending the bailout of private banks and taxing the enormous wealth that still exists in the hands of the Irish elite. We must demand direct investment in the jobs, industry and infrastructure that could actually turn our economy and society around. In the run-up to the budget, we will be working flat out to mobilise the public on the streets behind that sort of programme.”
For more info/confirmation contact Richard Boyd Barrett 086-7814520