SWP and Dun Laoghaire baths

dublin | environment | other press

Saturday July 16, 2005 17:31

by SouthSide People

“They had SWP banners all over the place. A lot of people felt uncomfortable with it.”

Seafront split shock Print E-mail
05 Jul 2005
THE massive public campaign against the proposal to build an eight-storey development on Dun Laoghaire seafront has taken a new twist with campaigners now protesting against each other.A spat between members of the Save Our Seafront group resulted in a contingent walking out of a recent meeting and setting up their own group, Conserve Dun Laoghaire.

The break-away group claim SOS has been “hi-jacked” by the Socialist Workers’ Party.
The new group, chaired by Tanya Touwen with well-known seafront campaigner Paul Barnes as secretary, is anxious to disassociate itself from the multi-party SOS group because of SWP’s high-profile involvement.
SOS was founded by local SWP representative, Richard Boyd Barrett. However, Mr Barnes and his new group have not objected to other political parties’ involvement in SOS, including the Green Party whose presence has been evident at public marches.
The schism occurred at a recent meeting when Mr Boyd Barrett allegedly brought a large contingent of SWP members onto the platform.
“Richard Boyd Barret brought in about 14 of his party members to the last meeting who hadn’t helped out in the campaign at all; they want to take over our campaign for their own ends,” claimed a Conserve Dun Laoghaire member who was one of the first to walk out.
“They had SWP banners all over the place. A lot of people felt uncomfortable with it.”
Conserve Dun Laoghaire’s secretary, Paul Barnes, told Southside People he had been involved in various campaigns to preserve the seafront long before Mr Boyd Barrett and the SWP “hijacked the campaign”.

http://www.southsidepeople.ie/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=1195