Category Archives: Latest News

Any New Assembly Will Still Need Major Reform

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Health, education, transport, jobs, social policy, social care and the cost of living were all in turmoil before the Assembly was collapsed  – and they will remain in crisis if, pending a resolution of the Protocol problems, a new Executive is formed.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have failed to deliver on the expectations evident at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement – not by mis-management, but by design.

Between them they have carved out and consolidated two sectarian power blocs.

There are many, including the supporters of both parties, who will not want to hear that. However, the evidence continues to stack up.

How else can the deliberate side-lining of integrated education and integrated housing be explained? Why is it that we have more walls dividing the community today than we had twenty five years ago? Why are the election strategies of both parties based on tribal confrontation? Why have cultural identity, tribal symbols and community background been given precedence over jobs, health and social progress?

The answer to all those questions is ‘because that’s how you build and maintain a sectarian power base’, and that is the strategy that Sinn Fein and the DUP continue to pursue.

The Good Friday Agreement was the only show in town at the time, but it was, and remains, fundamentally flawed because of the manner in which it structured the Assembly, and institutionalised sectarianism. Sinn Fein and the DUP have been exploiting that ever since.

If issues around the Protocol are resolved and the Assembly and the Executive restart, only major reform of the way it works will offer any chance of progress and the opportunity to pursue class politics.

The Assembly’s structures are no longer fit for purpose. Sinn Fein and the DUP have made sure of that. The starting point for effective devolved government has to be

Getting rid of the sectarian and inoperable structures that the two main parties, in particular, continue to use, abuse and hide behind.

A move from mandatory to voluntary coalition,

Abolition of the Community Designation requirements

Reform of the Petition of Concern to ensure that it can never again be used to veto social or equality legislation.

Then, and perhaps only then, can the sectarian power blocs be exposed and challenged and the Sinn Fein / DUP stranglehold begin to be loosened.

Of course, refusing to vote for them would work too!

Brick Walls, Sectarianism and Citizenship

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Political, social and economic life here has come to an almost complete stop.

Twenty-five years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and its overwhelming endorsement by the vast majority of people on this island we are left facing a brick wall with little, if any, prospect of progress.

The Agreement offered new hope and optimism, but the vicious and deadly battles between British and Irish nationalism, played out on our streets for thirty years, is now being replicated in Stormont and the Assembly, characterised by the all too familiar debasements of negativity, tribal confrontation and, sectarianism.

Perhaps now is the time to review our relationships and seek a way out of the political cul-de-sac we have been forced down by Sinn Fein and the DUP.

More than fifty years ago thousands of people in Northern Ireland took to the streets campaigning for a better, more equitable, society. Their demands were not devalued by issues of cultural identity, community background or tribal loyalties.

Relationships

Perhaps now is the time to review our relationships and seek a way out of the political cul-de-sac we have been forced down by Sinn Fein and the DUP.

If there is no way through the wall then we must go around it. Not as Catholics, or Protestants, not as unionists or nationalists. Not as British, Irish, Northern Irish or any other origin. Those of us who believe that better is possible and who refuse to sit and wallow in the sectarian status quo need a basis, a platform, on which to progress and to move society forward.

The concept of socialist citizenship, based on class politics, working class unity and solidarity, would help to re-define our relationships and responsibilities to each other and to the institutions of government through clear and guaranteed relationships underpinned by a Bill of Rights.

Tribal positions

Of course, there will be those who will not want to avail of such an opportunity. There will be those who will actively oppose it in an attempt to tie the rest of us into their tribal positions. But the choice is there for those of us who want to explore the possibilities offered on the other side of the political brick wall that we have been facing for the last twenty-five years. Citizenship offers a way forward.

Unless we re-calibrate our relationships and understanding of each other we, and our children, will be facing this same brick wall in twenty-five and fifty-years time.

The Sinn Fein / DUP strategy has been to manipulate and manage sectarianism, rather than seeking to eradicate it. The failure to tackle sectarianism therefore has nullified much of the good intent contained within the God Friday Agreement.

Tackling sectarianism

We cannot afford to do nothing and hope that time alone will resolve this issue. Unless, and until, the issue of sectarianism is comprehensively tackled, we will never realise the vision of a new society which leaves behind the out-dated attitudes and prejudices which have been the cause of so much misery and despair.

Those of us who oppose sectarianism must organise as strongly and as stubbornly as those who promote and profit from it. The concept of socialist citizenship gives us that commonality and base camp from which to progress

Socialist citizenship is not a silver bullet. It is not a quick fix panacea.

However, it could form the basis for a constructive, respectful and forward looking society, as an alternative to backward, parochial ethnocentricity. Neither Sinn Fein nor the DUP can hold out that hope

Take Ferry Service Into Public Ownership

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The collapse of the firm running the Rathlin Ferry Service proves, once again, that this, and other local ferry routes, should be  classed as public utilities and taken into public ownership.

To leave an essential service like this to the vagaries of the private sector is an outrage and today we have seen the consequences – islanders left isolated, supplies disrupted and travel to and from the island suspended.

The Rathlin Ferry service can and should be provided directly by the Department of Infrastructure in association with the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. Then and only then will a service be guaranteed for islanders, tourists and traders.

An Emergency, but No Accident

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Our health and social care systems are under severe pressure.

We see the evidence for this in the overcrowded A&E departments, patients lying on trollies in hospital corridors, ambulances unable to respond to emergencies and an acute shortage of community care packages to support people in their own homes.

We can see it in the overworked and underpaid staff trying desperately to provide quality and lifesaving services. We see it in the ever-lengthening waiting lists, in the targets that are missed month after month, in the chronic shortages of GPs and in the underfunded, but high demand, and outrageously neglected, services like mental health.

Everyone seems agreed that the NHS and its staff are on the brink, but there is far less agreement about why this is the case.

Underfunding

For the past two decades, at least, NHS staff and services have been severely and deliberately underfunded. This is not an economic issue, it’s a political decision.

From its inception in the late 1940’s the NHS has been targeted and undermined by those who wish to profit from a private medical insurance model. They have played a long game, but must now feel that they are perilously close to their objective. Not only are services and staff overstretched and under resourced, but the private healthcare lobby is in the process of securing its greatest victory yet.

It has convinced large numbers of people, many of them young people, that the days of publicly funded, free at the point of delivery health and social care are over and that the NHS, a great thing while it lasted, is now in terminal decline. 

It is now the received wisdom, and a repetitious media message, that the NHS has had its day and that a new, and profitable, model of care is required.  

Two Tier

We are very, very, close to a two-tier health and care system. Private, profitable, care for those who can afford it and an underfunded, under resourced second-class system for everyone else.

The deliberate erosion of our health and care system is part of a larger agenda which seeks to abolish concepts of community, solidarity, citizenship and collective responsibility.

Private healthcare, private insurance companies, investors and profiteers are waiting in the wings, emboldened by the crisis and the culture that they have been cultivating for years.

‘No Society’

The underfunding, under resourcing and privatisation of the NHS is an example of the right-wing agenda which says that everyone is an individual and should only look after themselves – a mantra articulated by Margaret Thatcher in 1987 when she claimed “…there is no such thing as society”. The out-workings of this doctrine are also clearly on view in calls for an end to welfare benefits and the withdrawal of the right to strike.  

The deliberate erosion of our health and care system is part of a larger agenda which seeks to abolish concepts of community, solidarity, citizenship and collective responsibility.

Principle

Can we afford a fully funded, fully resourced NHS? Of course we can. Is the principle of a national health and social care service worth defending? Of course it is.

The NHS’s founding father, Nye Bevan, was well aware of the intentions of the private profiteers and the lengths to which they would go when he said “…there will always be a cradle to the grave Health Service free at the point of use, as long as people are willing to fight for it”

We owe it to the generations of front-line workers and support staff who have developed and delivered one of the best healthcare services in the world to defend it against those who would sell it off to the highest bidder.

For now, a concerted effort will keep the NHS afloat, but only in a socialist society can it be guaranteed to achieve its full potential.

New Year Message: ‘Working People Desire a Society Free from Misery, Exploitation and Oppression’

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In his New Year’s Statement Workers Party President, Cllr, Ted Tynan has highlighted exploitation, inequality and injustice, environmental degradation and imperialist war as the key global issues of the past year and the cost-of-living crisis the lack of secure affordable housing, timely access to appropriate healthcare, childcare and support for children with additional educational needs as the standout issues at home.

In both States we are plagued by poverty, a housing crisis and economies based on precarious, part-time employment, low wages, zero hours contracts and eroded workers’ rights, the Party President said.

On international issues, Cllr. Tynan re-iterated the Workers Party assertion that the working class of Ukraine and Russia are paying the price for the competition between imperialist blocs, and once again called for an end to the war.

He also spelt out our continuing opposition to the Israeli dispossession and disempowerment of the Palestinian people and to the brutality of the Iranian government.

He further pledged the Party’s continuing support for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States.

“Today, across the world, working people desire a society free from misery, exploitation and oppression – a society where the means of production is owned by the workers and the wealth of society is the common property of society as a whole”. he said.

Our socialist principles, our internationalism and our vision for the future, will guide and determine all of our positions in our daily struggles. We look to the future with confidence! Cllr Tynan concluded.

see-the-new-year-statement-in-full-here

The £600 Energy Payment Scheme

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Most of the details of the £600 Energy Payment Scheme, and how it will work, have been announced, finally.

The Details:

  • The electricity supplier you are with on with on 2 January will be responsible for distributing the £600 energy support payment.
  • There is no precise date for receipt of the payment, yet, but they could begin by the second week in January, providing the scheme goes according to plan.
  • The scheme will end on the 30 of June 2023.
  • The £600 is being made available to help with energy bills but can be used as people see fit.

How you will get the £600

Direct debit electricity customers will have the £600 payment paid directly into their bank accounts.

People paying quarterly or using a pre-payment meter will receive a voucher in the post. The voucher can be redeemed for cash or paid into a bank account.

The voucher will be valid until until 31 March.

This means that vouchers must be cashed by then unless they are lost or damaged, in which case replacements will be issued up to 31 March with a final expiry date of 30 June.

For further information, advice and support on the Cost of Living and the Energy Payment Scheme follow the links below:

NI Direct Website: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/winter-fuel-payment

Cold Weather Payments: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/news/cold-weather-payments-triggered-parts-northern-ireland-temperatures-drop

Advice NI: https://www.adviceni.net/

Age NI: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northern-ireland/

SVP – Society of St. Vincent de Paul: https://www.svp.ie/northern-ireland/

Salvation Army: Debt Advice and Assistance: https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/budget-and-debt-advice

For the full, detailed Energy Payment document click the link: ebss-ni-direction

Striking Workers not to Blame

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With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refusing point blank to even discuss nurses’ pay claims and the Department of Health’s Permanent Secretary claiming ‘catastrophic consequences’ if there are more days of industrial action there are concerted efforts to blame nurses and other workers for the rise in inflation the cost of living crisis and the difficulties faced by the NHS.

Nurses aren’t responsible for unsafe staffing levels, nor are workers’ wages responsible for inflation. The absence of an Executive is Stormont isn’t helping but the NHS has been in serious trouble for years from decades of underfunding, cut backs, privatisation and, quite frankly, poor workforce planning and mis management at Departmental level.

As well as nursing staff, ambulance workers, customs and immigration staff, bus drivers and postal workers are all taking industrial action this month. They have been forced to take to the picket lines in defence of jobs, public services and pay and conditions.

Working people cannot and must not be demonised and scapegoated for the failings of a capitalist system which rewards the wealthy by exploiting and penalising those who produce the wealth, deliver the services and keep our society functioning.

This is a struggle working people cannot afford to lose.

18 letters to Northern Ireland MPs

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As speculation mounts that the Tory government is planning to introduce yet more restrictive anti-trade union legislation, including withdrawing the right of workers to take industrial action, it seems clear that an all-out assault on workers’ rights is in the offing.

In times of rampant income inequality, falling pay, precarious and exploitative working practices, job insecurity and continuing attacks on trade unions, it is all the more important that workers’ rights are protected.

The right to strike is a fundamental democratic right that must be protected and defended.

Workers only ever go on strike as an absolute last resort. Strikes happen where workers feel strongly that they are still being unfairly treated and not listened to – strongly enough to go without pay while on strike.

The Workers Party has written to each of Northern Ireland’s eighteen MPs, including Sinn Fein MPs who do not take their seats, asking them to declare whether they would vote against any anti-worker legislation if it comes before the Westminster Parliament.

Every major improvement in workers’ pay, conditions and safety has had to be secured through industrial action.

The 5-day week, equal pay, the minimum wage, increases in holiday entitlements, parental leave and improvements in health and safety at work have all been secured though organised labour and industrial action.

We will publish the responses and record any non-responses in the coming weeks.

‘Tis the Season: domestic abuse at Christmas and New Year

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Incidents of domestic abuse increase sharply at this time of year. Between Christmas Day and Boxing Day last year the PSNI received 245 domestic abuse calls. Between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day a further 275 incidents were recorded.

Year on year, there are around 30,000 recorded incidents of domestic abuse and on average a woman in an abusive relationship is murdered here every other month.

Yet Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK without a specific strategy to protect women and girls from violence. While several pieces of uncoordinated legislation have been introduced in recent years and initiatives such as ‘Ask for Angela’ ‘have been adopted, there is still no overall strategy to protect women and girls from violence.

Recent arrests operations of suspects wanted on bench warrants in connection with
domestic abuse and for breaches of protective orders, are not enough. The
system is failing women.

Legislation alone, vital as it is, will not be enough to overcome a culture which sees women and girls as objects and commodities and tolerates misogyny and prejudicial gender-based attitudes.

Nor will it be overcome for as long as we are subject to an economic and social system which has an intrinsic self interest in sustaining and perpetuating gender discrimination in its pursuit of profits, lower wages and working-class division.

Violence against women and girls takes many forms, including domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, child, early and forced marriage, trafficking, and increasingly online through cyber bullying.

There is never a time of year when domestic abuse should ever be tolerated. If you or someone you know is suffering abuse or violence, help and support is available.

Follow the link for Contact Numbers, Help and Advice

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‘Invest in Young People’

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Youth Services across Belfast are facing budget cuts so severe that many projects, schemes and life changing initiatives will no longer be available. #youthwork

The Education Authority which provides financial help for youth clubs is planning cuts in excess of 30% to its funding of local youth clubs and schemes which support young people across the city.y representative Patrick Crossan has condemned the proposed cuts as “damaging, detrimental and dangerous.”

He has also criticised the Education Authority and the Department of Education for their lack of consultation and discussion on the matter and for the way in which youth clubs and other services were informed of their intentions.

Patrick Crossan

“I am aware that in the case of one youth club in the Lower Falls area, they expect to see their funding from the Education Authority slashed by over 30% next year,” Patrick said.

“The harsh reality is that jobs will be lost, staff to young people ratios will be reduced meaning that many services will no longer be available”.

“Many people will be unaware of the tremendous and life changing work provided by local youth clubs. Youth workers, and the services they provide, help to reduce crime in local areas, engage young people in training and educational opportunities, help steer young people away from drugs and other addictions, provide a safe and nurturing environment and even assist in increasing the number of young people from socially disadvantaged areas going on to university and other third level courses”, Patrick said.

“These are vital, community based, support services for our young people – and, given the counselling and support role of local youth services, in many cases they can also be literally lifesaving”. Patrick added.

Senior Youth Worker, Stephen Hughes, discussing the proposed cuts with the Workers Party’s Joanne Lowry

“Vital programmes delivered between local youth clubs which have been successful in reducing violence at interface areas will now also be at risk”. Patrick pointed out.

On behalf of the Workers Party, I have contacted the Chief Executive of the Education Authority asking that her Board meets in emergency session to re-appraise the funding proposals, engage with local youth services and to urgently impress upon the Department of Education the need for the full funding of youth services”.

“At a time of crisis in the cost of living, increasing social deprivation, growing alienation amongst young people and a serious escalation in the incidence of teenage mental health problems, we need to invest, and invest significantly in young people, the services and support that they need and the organisations and groups that help to provide it,” Patrick concluded.