Treaty does not protect ordinary citizens – Mythen

An Enniscorthy Sinn Féin rep has renewed his call for a no vote in the fiscal referendum at a public meeting in the Ballagh last Thursday night. Cllr Johnny Mythen told the meeting that the fiscal treaty does not protect the ordinary citizens of Ireland or Europe as our government and the yes side claims, but instead will place us all in the hands of ‘bankers and big corporate interests.’

“Austerity is not working,” Cllr Mythen said, “We already have had five austerity budgets and we are still borrowing to pay our debts. These austerity measures have taken the life blood out of our domestic economy, strangled the cash flow to small businesses and done away with our disposable incomes. They have increased unemployment to nearly half a million and have forced young people to emigrate to the disgraceful extent that today more Irish are leaving our shores per month than during the famine years.”

“To vote yes to this treaty means we will be signing up to a contract of permanent economic dominance that will see small nations fully controlled by non elected European Institutions directly influenced and dictated to by the banks and corporate interests. The treaty is dangerously concocted to allow the permanent erosion of our sovereignty and the permanent institutionalisation of austerity. This will mean more cuts to public services, more new taxes and existing tax hikes, the sale of our state assets and the infliction of a huge burden of debt on future generations.”

“This treaty will copper fasten austerity for the Irish people for years to come. It does not protect the destiny and future of ordinary citizens in this country or ordinary citizens across Europe. Instead it will place us all in the greedy hands of bankers and big corporate interests.”

10 Reasons why People should Vote No

1. This “Austerity Treaty” won’t work, and will deepen the recession across Europe and lead to further instability at home and abroad.

2. It’s designed to suit “core” EU members like Germany - not Ireland

3 It means even more austerity cuts in Ireland to meet German-imposed budgetary targets. These will increase to a massive 6 billion euro in 2015 with the focus on cuts and more cuts – not jobs or growth

4 It would result in a loss of political sovereignty i.e. control of Irish affairs would be taken out of our hands ( and democratically elected parliament) and handed to an unelected and unaccountable committee – the EU Commission.

5 The EU Court of Justice will be entitled to fine a member state who doesn’t impose the level of cuts to public spending as demanded by German leaders such as Angela Merkel.

6 This is a bankers treaty –the EU Commission asked that Irish people pay billions in toxic AIB private gambling debt which has beggared us as a people. We could use our VETO to get a better banking deal if we had leaders prepared to use it.

7 The treaty is binding and permanent. 20 years of cuts would be written into our constitution. Our children will still be paying for it!

8 They have conveniently forgotten to tell you that to enter the ESM fund we would have to pay a massive 11,000,000,000 Euro!

9 If you don’t know – better to vote NO. Don’t buy a pig in a poke!

10. The Yes side campaign has been based on scaremongering and false promises - just like in Nice and Lisbon referendums. Remember then…”Yes for jobs, recovery etc. etc.” – “fool me once…shame on you, fool me twice…”

Hierarchy Yes Campaigners will never face austerity – O’ Connell

One of the main spokespeople for the campaign against the fiscal compact treaty in County Wexford has said that powerful individuals and organisations who are advocating a yes vote will never face the extreme austerity that ratifying this treaty will bring. Sinn Féin Wexford Chairman Oisin O’ Connell criticised highly paid politicians and economists for endorsing a treaty that, if implemented, will have a detrimental effect on ordinary families across this state.


Speaking at a public meeting on the treaty in the Ballagh last night, Mr O’ Connell said;

“I know people are wondering why there are so many people at the top saying yes to this. We keep hearing of groups in positions of authority like Fine Gael, IBEC and the IFA coming out in support of this treaty. Why? Consider it a hierarchy. None of the people at the top of this hierarchy who are advocating a yes vote will ever face the austerity that they are telling the rest of us we have to deal with. They won’t face the dauntless prospects of unemployment, emigration or poverty; prospects which are faced by ordinary families across this state every day now.”

“For the people at the very top of this hierarchy the European Union is like the world’s biggest frequent flyer lounge. They get all the goodies, all the pampering and the good treatment. They get the pensions, the power and the privileges. When they leave their jobs or if they get voted out of office, they walk into Goldman Sachs or they become head of Coillte or something similar. The system rewards loyalty. Think about that when you’re in the polling booth on May 31st”

Austerity Treaty could drive Wexford people back into 1911 poverty – Kelly

Speaking at a public meeting against the Austerity Treaty in Rosslare Harbour last Wednesday night, Cllr Anthony Kelly said that in the centenary year of the 1911 Wexford lock out ordinary people were once again organising themselves against injustice and unfairness. The Wexford Sinn Féin rep warned that the austerity that would come with the ratification of the fiscal treaty on May 31st could drive the people of County Wexford back down to the poverty levels experienced by ordinary families in that period.

“Two weeks ago the people of Wexford commemorated the lock out of 1911 in the town,” Cllr Kelly said, “On that day groups such as the Labour party and SIPTU were among those who gathered to remember the struggle by working men and women against unfairness and injustice. It’s strange that those groups are now among the alliance that is attempting to scaremonger the Irish electorate into voting yes to a treaty that will institutionalise the policies of austerity; policies that impose unfairness and injustice upon families across this state.”

“One hundred years after the lock out people in this county are once again organising themselves against injustice and unfairness. The policies of austerity have failed. We have endured four years of savage cuts and new charges and we now have more people unemployed, more people immigrating and more people living in poverty in this state than when these policies were first introduced to save our economy. A yes vote will attach the austerity we have struggled under for the past few years to our constitution. Such an action would hurdle Ireland back into a period of indefinite poverty and political instability.”

“Sinn Féin are not blindly saying no to this treaty. We’re giving clear alternatives. If the EU wants to see Ireland emerge from this crisis then it is investment in the Irish people that we need not further austerity. Increasing the lending capacity of the European Investment Bank would allow member states like Ireland to roll out major projects in order to generate employment, increase competitiveness and improve the social and economic infrastructure. This would lead to both immediate and long term economic growth. Immediately the EIB could aid struggling member states to stimulate their economies and by doing so reduce their deficits without destroying their countries in the process. In the long term the EIB could act as a mechanism for recycling a portion of budget surpluses from core EU nations into the economies of periphery nations which would benefit people across the union.”

Trinity Professor calls for No vote at Gorey Meeting

A retired Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin was among the speakers at a public meeting for the No to Austerity Treaty Campaign in Gorey last Tuesday night. Professor Anthony Coughlan, who has been a leading for EU reform in this country for decades, said that the Irish people "are being conned into voting YES" by the government and Irish establishment.

Professor Coughlan also said that the government was not standing up for the interests of the Irish people. He also pointed out the absurdity of Ireland voting on a treaty text that will no doubt be changed at a later date due to the election of President Francois Hollande in France and political instability across the continent. Even the Germans have not yet ratified this treaty.

Other speakers at the well attended meeting in the Loc Garman Inn on Goreys Main Street were local teacher, historian and Sinn Féin activist Fionntan O’ Suilleabhan, Kevin McCorry from the Peoples Movement and Wexford Sinn Féin spokesperson on the treaty, Oisin O’ Connell.

Mr O’ Connell said;

“The private gambling losses that the Irish state has taken on are unsustainable. It’s increasingly unlikely that we’ll be even able to pay them back. So when people on the yes side ask, where are we going to get the money if we vote no, the question should be, where are we getting the money to service these unsustainable loans to cover these private banking losses that are a direct result of uncontrolled casino capitalism.”

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.”