Get Up Stand UP

ICTU estimate 150,000 march at 8 different locations in Ireland as part of its campaign for a better fairer way out of this crisis.

Tackle the Jobs' Crisis

Almost 450,000 out of work and Government has no plan to tackle the crisis. All they've come up with so far is €54 billion for top bankers and cuts for low and middle income earners.

But in least eight other European countries governments have intervened to support and protect jobs threatened by the crisis. In Germany, for example, an additional 1.4 million people have been kept at work as a result of one such initiative. International commentators have noted that where such schemes exist, the recession is less severe and jobless rates are being kept down.
In terms of employment creation, Congress has long advocated setting up a National Recovery Bond that could be used to fund badly needed social infrastructure - new schools, clinics and public transport. This would help prevent a complete 'wipeout' of our construction industry and stop depletion of the national skills' base.

Stop Cuts to Peoples Incomes

Cutting incomes in a recession is both unfair and economic folly. Lower and middle income earners - much less those on social welfare - played no role whatsoever in causing this crisis and cannot now be asked to 'pick up the tab'.

Equally, cutting incomes guarantees only one outcome: more jobs lost and more people dependent on social welfare. Jobs are being lost because spending in our economy is down - almost €8 billion over the last 12 months. And savings have also risen, as people worry about an unsure future. Even bodies such as the ESRI concede that taking money out of the economy will cause further 'deflation' and set back any potential recovery.

If there is less spending there will be more people out of work.That means less tax revenue and more people dependent on social welfare. What does Government do then, impose more cuts?

Protect Vital Services

With more people out of work - 200,000 since 2007 - there is increased pressure on public service provision.

To cut service provision now makes no sense and could, in the longer-term, fatally undermine vital services such as health and education. It is arguable that our health service has never recovered from the corrosive effect of the savage cuts imposed in 1980s, when hundreds of beds were taken out of the system. It is likely that if cuts of that order were to be imposed again, it could simply collapse our vital services.

Equally, it is understood virtually everywhere around the globe that in times of recession you invest in people and in future growth through investment in upskilling programmes and further education.

Safeguard Peoples' Homes

Last year, 138 people had their homes repossessed. But the Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan SC, predicts that 2010 will see an "avalanche" of claims before the courts.

Already, an estimated 14,000 homeowners are behind in their mortgage repayments and the ESRI estimates that could rise to 35,000 in the coming months. Government has applied a great deal of ingenuity and €54 billion in resources to ensure that banks undermined by the 'property bubble' do not go under. It has done nothing for homeowners faced with the same problem. In the US, authorities recognise the injustice and social chaos that would result from wholesale evictions and have moved to help homeowners. Equally, it is pointless repossessing homes only to board them up and let them become derelict.

In Ireland, the shaping of the NAMA legislation provides the perfect opportunity to put in place proper and appropriate measures to protect homeowners from eviction, including a moratorium on evictions of at least three years and the writing down of loans which cannot be repaid or were recklessly given.

Make the Wealthy Pay their Fair Share

In April, the Finance Minister announced that the December budget would address a deficit of €4 billion - through a combination of spending cuts and tax rises.

In the intervening months, the Minister's story has changed dramatically. He now says that the deficit will have to be made up from cuts alone, the argument being that there is no wealth left in the country and people at the top already pay enough tax. This is untrue.

Until 1999, a rate of 48 percent applied to those on higher incomes. Its abolition was opposed by Congress and is one of the reasons the state now faces a severe revenue shortfall. If, as the current Finance Minister insists "we are in wartime conditions: we have to raise whatever money we can raise now," then there can be no argument against the introduction of a third, higher tax rate, for those on higher incomes.

Equally, it is estimated that those central to the property bubble - landowners and developers - made profits of almost €45 billion: some €34 billion for the latter, with landowners amassing at least €11 billion. Not all of that money has been lost on the stockmarket. And that massive figure does not take into account the massive profits made elsewhere in the economy, during the boom years. If resources are in such short supply that Government is being 'forced' to contemplate social welfare cuts, it is incumbent on them uncover the true extent of wealth in Irish society and tax it appropriately.