The People before Profit candidate, Gino Kenny, is highlighting the plight of building workers in his constituency. ‘Huge numbers of people in Clondalkin and Lucan worked as building workers and found themselves without work’
‘In total, over one in eight workers in Ireland were building workers during the Celtic Tiger years. But now we are being thrown on the scrap heap or are being forced to emigrate to get work.
‘Many building workers who were forced to be self employed and have difficulty even getting social welfare.
‘Thousands of apprentices are also facing difficulty because they cannot finish their courses. Instead of constantly bailing out bankers, it is now time to bail out building workers.
Gino Kenny, the People Before Profit candidate for Dublin Mid West, is advancing a four point action plan to tackle the jobs crisis for building workers.
He is campaigning for:
- A public works programme to give jobs to building workers. When a country is in a recession, the government should embark on major infrastructure programmes. We should have a:
* National housing insulation strategy to cut energy costs.
* A water improvement programme to cut down on leaks.
* A school building programme to replace sub-standard schools.
A public works programme would bring money back to the state through the taxes workers pay. It would provide a stimulus for the wider economy. It would be an investment in our future.
In Japan, seven million unemployed workers have participated in public works programmes.
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Take control of the NAMA assets and complete the buildings. Ten top developers owe €1.5 billion each but they are transferring assets to their wives. We should take the uncompleted ghost estates into public ownership and employ building workers to develop social housing projects. This way we can also cut the rental income supplements bill which currently costs the state €500 million.
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Second chance education for building workers. Building is a precarious industry and workers deserve a chance to re-skill. Colleges and institutes of technology should provide proper access courses for those seeking to change their skills. An access programme provides an alternative to the Leaving Cert and could become another entry route for
mature students. The Back to Education allowance should be made fully available for those seeking this option.
- A proper training agency to hep apprentices complete their courses. Fas became a joke because it was used as a gravy train. Privatisation will only create an even bigger gravy train. We need a proper state training agency that helps young apprentices to complete their courses . This must also be integrated closely with the public works programme.
Gino Kenny claims that this programme can be fully funded – provide we change economic direction.
‘Ireland is still a wealthy country – but the problem is that we are paying off bankers, bondholders and NAMA developers. We need to stop these bail outs; take the natural resources off our coast into public ownership and tax the super-rich properly. It can be done, we need the political will and people power to make it happen.’ he says.
For Confirmation: