Workers' Party launch general election manifesto

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday May 10, 2002 23:29 by Joseph Mcgill - Workers' Party

Workers' Party launch general election manifesto

The Workers’ Party today (Tuesday) launched their general election manifesto at a Press Conference in Dublin. The party is
fielding eight candidates in seven constituencies in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Louth. The manifesto was launched today by
Workers’ Party President Seán Garland who said:- “Numerous economic studies have all pointed to significant growth in Ireland
over the past number of years. Since the 1990’s it is estimated that the economy has grown at around 10% per year making
Ireland one of the richest states in the European Union”. “All around us we can see the outward signs of this new economic
wealth. All the main political parties in this election tell us we should be proud of this economic growth. Should anyone criticise or
question this economic growth or ask who has benefited, it is almost to be seen as in some way unpatriotic”. “But there is another
picture of Ireland, one that all the main political parties, all of whom have been in government in the 1990’s want to hide. It is the
Ireland of the unemployed (over 150,000 of them on the live register), an Ireland with some of the highest levels of poverty in the
European Union, an Ireland where the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, an Ireland with a Health Service in crisis,
with a growing housing list and where mortgages are beyond the means of most people and above all else an Ireland deemed to
be the most corrupt in Europe”, said Mr. Garland. “We live in a very unequal, corrupt and increasingly undemocratic Ireland. An
Ireland where voters are increasingly alienated from the democratic process and where faith in politics and political life is seriously
eroded. And who can blame them? The almost daily outpouring of evidence from the numerous Tribunals and inquiries reveal a
litany of stories of financial “backhanders”. Political decisions are taken in return for massive financial rewards. There is criminality
in the planning process and the active cooperation of the banks and major financial institutions facilitates widespread tax evasion
and fraud”. “All of the major political parties who make up the cosy political consensus which exists in Ireland have participated in
and benefited from this state of affairs. The rich have many friends in political life. The people who have suffered socially and
economically, the working class, require a voice of their own”, said Mr. Garland. “The Workers’ Party aims to provide that
voice. The priority for any Workers’ Party TD in the next Dáil will be the interests of the working class. Only the Workers’ Party
can seriously challenge the conservative vested interests which ensure that workers and their families are subject to a daily grind to
exist and which tolerates a society where alongside extravagance and wealth exists poverty and social need” declared Seán
Garland.