Yes vote will result in serious cuts to benefits and new taxes – Kelly

Cllr Anthony Kelly has again called on the people of County Wexford to vote no in the upcoming fiscal compact treaty referendum saying that a yes vote will result in serious cuts to benefits and the introduction of new taxes. Speaking at a public meeting about the treaty in Ballycullane last week Cllr Kelly called on the government and Fianna Fail, the main proponents of the yes side, to explain clearly just how the state can be ran without apocalyptic cuts to the fabric of our society in the event of a yes vote on May 31st.

“The yes side have been constantly asking people campaigning for a no vote where we will get the money to fund the state if the people vote no,” Cllr Kelly said. “It is the yes side, Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail who should be explaining to us just where they will get the money to fund the state in the event of a yes vote and the implementation of this draconian treaty in Ireland. If this treaty is ratified, Ireland is going to have the pay the piper and once again, as it was with the bank bailout, it will be the ordinary citizens who will end up footing the bill. Where will the money come from when these citizens have already been cut to the bone?”

“The answer is as clear as it is terrifying. They will get the money by cutting social welfare, old age pension, disability and other benefits, by introducing new stealth taxes like the household charge and the septic tank tax and by rising existing tariffs. They will get the money by increasing the taxation of low paid workers and by further cutting vital services in health and education. I would invite any member of the yes side to prove that this will not be the case and to tell me where they will get the money to pay the massive charges that come with this treaty such as the estimated €6 billion that will have to be paid on top of the €8.8 billion already being cut from our economy over the next three years to get us down to a 0.5% structural deficit in 2015.”

“A yes vote on the 31st of May will have unimaginable consequences for this state. Over seven hundred thousand people are living below the poverty line in Ireland today. This treaty will increase this number. It will increase the amount of unemployed and people emigrating every year. It is the polar opposite of what we need right now which is stimulus and job creation. People need to be aware of what this treaty represents and how it will affect them and they need to be ready to get out and vote on May 31st.”

No vote is best option – Mythen

Speaking ahead of a public meeting on the fiscal compact treaty in the Ballagh Community Centre this Thursday (17th), Cllr Johnny Mythen has described a no vote in the upcoming referendum as the best option, saying that a yes vote would plunge the state into permanent austerity denying us an opportunity to join the growing pro stimulus movement across Europe.

“It’s now quite clear that a no vote in the fiscal compact referendum is the best option for Ireland,” Cllr Mythen said, “What we saw in the recent elections in France, Greece, Britain and Germany was the wholesale rejection of austerity by European electorates and the first visible indication that there is a growing pro stimulus, anti austerity movement rising across the EU. The referendum on the 31st of May offers Ireland the opportunity to join this movement’s call for jobs and investment ahead of cuts and unfair taxes. A yes vote plunges the nation into permanent austerity.”

“Once again we have seen the Irish Austerity Troika, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour, and the vested interests who run those parties pushing hard for a yes vote. Yes to stability, growth and jobs they say. When have we heard that before? Are we not still waiting for the jobs that were promised in the Lisbon Treaty? This treaty is not about jobs, it’s about fiscal governance. If anything the ratification of this treaty will lead to further jobs losses and cuts in earnings to those still lucky enough to be working full time.”

“Sinn Féin is calling on the Irish people to play it safe and reject this treaty. We will still get funding. Anyone who says that we won’t is either mistaken or deliberately misleading voters. There is no indication that we will be denied future funding if we vote no. Ask yourself this, why would we need a second bail out if the first one was so successful? If the first bail out is working then why are 440,000 people still unemployed? Why are 50,000 people emigrating every year? Why are over 700,000 people living below the poverty line? If this is success then it begs the question; just how much more success can we survive as a people?”

Yes vote will cost us dearly – O’ Connell

The Wexford Sinn Féin spokesperson on the Fiscal Compact Treaty has said that a yes vote will cost the Irish state and people dearly. Speaking at a public meeting on the treaty in Ballycullane last week, Oisin O’ Connell said a yes vote would be extremely costly while a no vote could open the door to something better for Ireland and Europe.

“This treaty will cost Ireland dearly if ratified,” Mr O’ Connell said, “We already know that the changes to our structural deficit limits will cost the state an extra €6 billion on top of the €8.8 billion in cuts that this government has lined up over the next three years to comply with the troika agreement. We also know that we face possible fines of 0.1% GDP in the event that we breach the rules set in this treaty. 0.1% of GDP in 2011 was 160 million. We know that the changes to the debt to GDP ratio that come into law under this treaty in 2018 will cost the state more money. The ESM - which doesn't exist yet, and may not in it's proposed form - requires us to pledge up to 11 Billion to it. We would be required to put in over 1.3 Billion up front in any case. Clearly this is more money than this state could ever afford to pay so the question must be asked of the Yes campaign; where exactly are we going to get the money to fund the state in the event of a yes vote?”

Kevin McCorry, Cllr Anthony Kelly and Oisin O' Connell at the public meeting
on the Austerity Treaty in Ballycullane on the 7th of May

“It will cost us to vote yes, but if we vote no we at least maintain the status quo and we will still be entitled to outside funding. We will still be full members of the EU with the all the rights that come with membership. We can still use the EFSF. Even the IMF has said there is no conditionality to further funding, as regards the referendum. The ECB is actually mandated to help member states like ourselves who have been shunned from the sovereign bond markets back to the bond markets as quick as possible. And this is even before we touch on the 20 Billion a year we are paying to service the bank promissory notes - almost equivalent to our deficit. This is mass socialisation of the cost of private financial gambles - unsustainable debts which are crippling us in the bond markets in the first place. A no vote to the austerity treaty is not simply a no to something; a no opens the door to a real possibility of something better, not just for Ireland but right across Europe.”

“Remember that there are many people across the EU who wish that they had the opportunity that we do so with this referendum so please use your vote on the day. Not voting in this referendum is effectively a yes vote. People have a clear choice; vote no or accept the terms of this treaty in full.”

Mr O’ Connell also rubbished government suggestions that their austerity plans were actually working.

“Let’s look at the governments so called success story so far; The Financial Times referred to Ireland as a poster boy for austerity. That’s the phrase that’s being used about us outside this country. Walk down the streets of your local town and look at the number of empty shop windows, look at the number of shops that no longer exist, look at the number of businesses that have gone under. Consider that about two and half thousand people emigrated from Wexford last year. Each one of those people emigrating is in effect a vote of no confidence in austerity. Each of those shop windows that used to house a business once but now doesn’t is a vote of no confidence in this austerity regime. Ask yourself if it’s been this successful so far, then how much more success can we actually survive?”

Household Tax Protestors call for a No vote to Treaty on Wexford Quays

“We won’t be scare-mongered into voting yes to a treaty that institutionalises austerity.” That was the message being sent out by protestors against the household tax during a belated May Day Rally on Wexford's Quays last Saturday.  Cllr Anthony Kelly, Enniscorthy Cllr Jackser Owens, local musician Daithi Kavanagh and Ferns based fire-fighter Dominic Gaughan were among the speakers at the event.

“Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour took a political decision,” Dominic Gaughan said, “They decided that the banks were too big to fail and that citizens were too small to matter. We need a new government in this country. A government that will always remember that banks can sometimes fail but the citizens will never ever be too small to matter.”

Cllr Anthony Kelly urged the protestors to campaign against the austerity treaty as vigorously as they had against the household tax, as the two issues are unavoidably linked. Cllr Kelly stressed that the ratification of the fiscal compact treaty would lead to the introduction of more unfair taxes like the household charge and massive rises in existing taxes.

“The EU Fiscal Compact Treaty, or the Austerity Treaty as it should be known, seeks to permanently institutionalise austerity in this state,” Cllr Kelly said, “It sets out to make the cuts and taxes that have caused such misery and stagnation legally binding and an integral part of our constitution. It sets out to tie the hands of future governments and future generations of Irish men and women, leaving them to live their whole lives under the dark clouds of permanent austerity. It fair to say if this treaty gets through, we ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Earlier in the day Wexford Sinn Féin held a protest outside the constituency office of Brendan Howlin TD, which is housed in the SIPTU building in Coolcots. Cllr Anthony Kelly criticised both Minister Howlin’s Labour party and SIPTU for supporting the Fiscal Compact Treaty which will so obviously hurt their collective memberships and ordinary people across the state.

Kehoe must explain failure to declare rental interest from D4 property

A Wexford Sinn Féin Councillor has called on Deputy Paul Kehoe to explain the allegations that he did not declare rent income from a property he owns in Dublin when disclosing his interests to the Dail last January. Cllr Anthony Kelly has said that it is morally ambiguous of Deputy Kehoe to condemn people who cannot afford to pay their household charge while it has been alleged that all the time he has deliberately hidden rental property earnings from the Irish taxpayer.


“It seems that Deputy Paul Kehoe mislead the Dail by not declaring his interests on a property which he had purchased from Minister Phil Hogan in 2010 and had then rented out,” Cllr Kelly said. “Deputy Kehoe did not declare this property in his 2011 interests as he was legally obliged to do. Each January all TDs must disclose their interests under Dáil rules for all or part of the previous year. Failure to disclose an interest is an offence that can attract a maximum penalty of three years in jail or a €25,000 fine.”

“Had Deputy Kehoe been using the property as a residence as he claimed at the time, then he would not have been required to register it. However as he was renting the property and earning income from it, it now appears that he has broken the strict rules set in place for registering interests.”

“In recent months Deputy Kehoe has been the government’s terrier in County Wexford, nipping at the ankles of those unfortunates who cannot afford to pay the household tax. He has gone on record as saying those who do not register to pay the controversial charge are breaking the law. How ironic that the same deputy may have been breaking the law himself while he was delivering this sermon.”

“I am calling on Deputy Paul Kehoe to clarify these allegations to the people of County Wexford. It’s clear that he must explain these serious accusations promptly but I feel he also now owes the sixty percent of Wexford homeowners who have not registered to pay the household charge, and who the Fine Gael deputy labelled criminals, an unreserved apology.”

Sinn Féin honours Bobby Sands on Wexford Quay front

A black flag vigil was held in honour of Bobby Sands in Wexford town today. A substantial crowd took part in the vigil on the 31st anniversary of Bobby Sands death on hunger strike.

Bobby Sands was the leader of the 1981 republican hunger strike in the Maze prison which was a response to the removal of special category status for republican prisoners. Sands and subsequently nine of his comrades died in an attempt to stop the British policy of criminalising republican POWs.

Today’s vigil saw a large turnout of young Wexford people, many of whom have recently been inspired to join the growing ranks of Sinn Féin in the county through the poetry of Bobby Sands.

While in prison, Sands wrote the following;

It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants' eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing 'cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is 'the undauntable thought', my friend,
That thought that says 'I'm right! '

Bridgetown says No to Austerity Treaty

A public meeting to highlight arguments and alternatives to the fiscal compact treaty was held in Bridgetowns AOH hall this evening. Local Sinn Féin Cllr Anthony Kelly, Oisin O’ Connell and Kevin McCorry from the Peoples Movement laid out the reasons they believe the Irish people should reject this treaty in the referendum on the 31at of May.

Cllr Anthony Kelly said that the first week of full campaigning had seen the yes side issuing bully boy threats and scare tactics in an attempt to frighten people into supporting a bad Treaty.

“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour are arguing that a no vote will result in the state being denied access to emergency funding in the future,” Cllr Kelly said. “Sinn Féin has shown that this argument is false. Nobody should be in any doubt; if Ireland needs further emergency funding the European Union will provide that finance.”

Cllr Kelly insisted it was the government who needs to explain where they would get the money to fund the state in the event of a yes vote to this treaty.

“According to the Department of Finance the structural deficit in 2015 will be 3.5%. The gap between this figure and the new 0.5% rule is approximately €6 billion. The Government has a responsibility to explain to people where they will get this money from. Is it their intention to further increase the tax burden on low and middle income families? Is it their intention to cut even more funding from front line education, health and community services?”

A calendar of public meetings on the Austerity Treaty in County Wexford has now been released and is as follows:

Monday 7th May: Ballycullane
Tintern GAA Complex, 8pm
Speakers; Cllr Anthony Kelly, Kevin McCorry & Oisin O’ Connell

Thursday 10th May: Ferns
TBA
Speakers; Fionntan O’ Suillebhan, others TBA

Tuesday 15th May: Gorey
Loc Garman Arms, 8pm
Speakers; Fionntan O’ Suillebhan, others TBA

Thursday 17th May: The Ballagh
Ballagh Community Centre
Speakers; TBA

Tuesday 22th May: New Ross
The Parish Pump, Rosbercon
Speakers: TBA

Thursday 24th May: Enniscorthy
Venue: TBA
Speakers; TBA

Monday 28th May: Wexford town
TBA
Speakers; TBA

Organisers say more meetings are to be added to this schedule and have reminded people that they can join the campaign and organise a meeting in their own area by simply texting JOIN to 086-2397192.

Kehoe must come clean about Treaty – Mythen

An Enniscorthy Sinn Féin councillor has called on Deputy Paul Kehoe to come clean about the terms of the fiscal compact treaty and the truth about funding available to us in the event of a no vote. Cllr Johnny Mythen said that Deputy Kehoe had a responsibility as Fine Gaels senior representative in County Wexford to set the publics minds at ease after his colleague Minister Michael Noonan made ‘threatening comments’ regarding next year’s budget being dramatically tougher in the event of a no vote.

Cllr Mythen said;

“Comments made by senior members of Fine Gael, in particular Finance Minister Michael Noonan, have been highly reckless and the very definition of scare mongering. It seems after the household tax controversy Fine Gael are now intent on bullying through even the most decisive issue. Twenty thousand Wexford people are unemployed and people across the county are living in economically dire straits. These comments are a clinical attempt to scare these most vulnerable of citizens into submission.”

“Recently our Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said that a no vote would result in a much harder budget next year. It is outrageous that a senior member of government would make such a clear effort to intimidate the Irish people into accepting a treaty that is now clearly set to be rejected. Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour party people who have made these kind of comments are in breach of their ethical responsibilities as elected representatives.”

“I’m calling on Deputy Paul Kehoe to address the concerns of the people of Enniscorthy and County Wexford over these scare tactics. As a minister of state he should clarify his party’s gross misconduct of using threatening innuendo's which have nothing what so ever to do with the Austerity Treaty. These statements are highly reckless and clearly of an intimidatory nature. Deputy Kehoe must come clean with his constituents and admit that a no vote does not end our chances of future funding from the EU, does not mean harder budgets and certainly does not mean that Ireland will be in a worse situation than if we were to ratify this treaty.”

Sinn Féin mark May Day with right to work protest

Sinn Féin marked International Workers Day last Tuesday (May Day) with a Right to Work demonstration in Wexford town. Speaking at the event Cllr Anthony Kelly said that it was the anti worker economic policies of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour that left our county in a situation where 20,000 Wexford people are unemployed and 4000 are emigrating every year.

“This is the new emigration generation,” Cllr Kelly said, “20,000 people are unemployed in County Wexford today. We are venting Wexford’s young people at the rate of 4000 a year. When Brendan Howlin talks about the importance of exports all I can think of is those people who are being forced to emigrate, and of the broken families that they are leaving behind. Victims of austerity.”

“In the weeks ahead the Irish Austerity Troika of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour will attempt to scare monger the electorate into voting yes to a treaty that offers only cuts and tax hikes in the years ahead. The Fiscal Compact, or Austerity Treaty to give it a more fitting title, will institutionalise the very economic policies that have failed so spectacularly under the current and last governments if ratified.”

“The politicians, economists and public personas who have admitted that the economic proposals in this treaty would be disastrous for Ireland but still campaign for a yes vote on the basis that it’s the best we can get are guilty of reckless indifference in the face of potential catastrophe. This treaty will attach the very economic policies that drove us into stagnation to our constitution. It will lead to permanent austerity and permanent poverty. Any so called expert who says that we must vote yes to something like this has lost the plot.”

“The politicians, economists and public personas who have admitted that the economic proposals in this treaty would be disastrous for Ireland but still campaign for a yes vote are guilty of turning a blind eye to the terrible effects of austerity on ordinary families. They say that without this treaty we will face economic ruin. Look around, we are already economically ruined.”

“The many sporting and cultural clubs around this town that cater for our young people have seen the full scale of emigration from this town. This treaty will attach to our constitution the very economic policies that have given birth to a new emigration generation. It will lead to permanent austerity and permanent poverty. Any so called expert who says that we must vote yes to something like this has lost the plot.”

The most important decision you’ll ever make – Kelly

Cllr Anthony Kelly has agreed with the assertion of government parties that how we vote in the fiscal compact referendum on the 31st of May might well be the most important political decision we ever make. Speaking as the Sinn Féin Austerity Treaty Road Show visited Enniscorthy and Gorey last Saturday (28th) Cllr Kelly said that voting no to the austerity treaty was voting yes to a credible chance of recovery.

Cllr Kelly said;

“Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour had colourful posters out during the Lisbon Treaty campaign a few years back depicting the hopeful message ‘yes to jobs and recovery’. Of course we never saw those jobs and it’s now obvious that the spin doctors of those parties lied to get the Lisbon Treaty ratified by the Irish people. I won’t go as far as to say that a no vote will lead to jobs and recovery but it will give us some hope of recovery. The alternative to a no vote is the final nail in the coffin for this nation.”

“If people are planning on voting yes to this treaty then they should be aware of what they are voting yes to. I would agree with government spokespeople who have described this referendum as the most important political decision we’ll ever make. If we accept this treaty we accept permanent austerity, permanent unemployment, permanent emigration and permanent poverty. We accept it with the strict stipulation that we will never be able to change it by any parliamentary majority.”

“I’m calling on the people of County Wexford to make themselves aware of what this treaty is truly about. Don’t rely on the opinions of people who told you a yes vote in the last referendum was a vote for jobs. Where are those jobs? They deceived you and they might just be prepared to do the same now. Inform yourself about this treaty. Our Austerity Treaty Road Show is moving across the county. If you have any questions about the treaty don’t be afraid to approach the staff running our mobile information centre. Don’t look back in years to come and wish you had learned more about a referendum that may well be the most important political decision you’ll ever have the opportunity to make.