Ag obair chun Éire níos cothroime a chruthú
Keeping politics out of the Oireachtas Page 4
Cuts to lone parents must be reversed Page 3
A fair recovery is possible!
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n the run up to the last election both Labour and Fine Gael promised a new politics, a new economy, an end to cronyism and an end to auction politics.
Yet despite its huge majority and promises of a “democratic revolution” Fine Gael and Labour failed to deliver change and instead implemented their predecessors’ economic deal with the Troika, burst the pay ceiling for ministerial advisors and followed the Fianna Fáil handbook in the way they appointed people to state boards. They implemented regressive budgets and introduced taxation measures
such as the imposition of the water and household taxes. They targeted the most vulnerable through punitive cuts to a range of benefits and rights of workers, particularly the low paid, were further diminished. The people who have been made to pay for greed and mismanagement by bankers, speculators and the establishment have been ordinary citizens most of whom have yet to benefit from the creeping recovery.
Conversely, as the first shoots of recovery take root, the government has decided to implement tax cuts for the wealthy - it is the privileged, gilded section of Irish society who is at the head of the queue when it comes to exiting recession. This is not the way it has to be and Sinn Féin believes a fair recovery is possible but this will not be delivered by the political parties that have failed the people in government.
In the coming months Sinn Féin will lay out policies that provide the basis of a fair recovery, where the priority is: creating quality employment; a decent wage; access to first class public services; fair taxation; with an end to water and household charges. As we approach the centenary of the Easter Rising, Sinn Féin is the only party able to deliver a fair recovery, and build a truly national republic as promised at the GPO in 1916.
Conflict of interest at heart of Clerys sell-off - Gerry Adams
In the aftermath of the sudden closure of Clerys Department Store, Teachta Gerry Adams challenged the government during Leaders’ Questions to address what he described as the “sharp practices” that underpinned the sale of the iconic Dublin store.
The Louth TD called on the Taoiseach to support a SF provision on the Companies Act 2014 which would amend legislation to outlaw such practices. “The liquidation of Clerys,” Teachta Adams said, “is just the latest example of how a golden circle of insiders manipulates the
system for their own narrow self interests and financial gain. “Clerys was placed into liquidation before its property assets were sold off which is allowable under Company Law that was introduced by Fine Gael and Labour.
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Ó Clochartaigh working to secure voting rights for Irish Diaspora
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revor Ó Clochartaigh was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2011 and has recently been appointed party spokesperson on the Diaspora; he is also responsible for Gaeilge and the Gaeltacht, Rural Development, the West, and the Arts.
Trevor is a member of the Oireachtas Committee for Public Service Oversight and Petitions (PSOP) and also sits on the Oireachtas Gaeilge Committee. In Leinster House Trevor is actively in-
volved in political efforts to address the plight of the
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