irish austerity referendum, adams says no, no no

Gerry Adams: Vote No in Irish Referendum


Speaking at an Easter commemoration in Cork on April 8, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams evoked the spirit of the Proclamation of 1916 declaring Irish independence, to mobilize a no vote against the European Union's Permanent Austerity Treaty.


"After one year of Fine Gael and Labor in government, it is obvious that the austerity policies of this and the last Fianna Fáil-led government are not working. 


That is one good reason for opposing the Austerity Treaty in the May referendum. This Treaty would entrench austerity policies in the constitution. That's not the vision of 1916. It is the complete opposite of the Proclamation. It would mean another significant reduction of our sovereignty and a handover of the democratic rightsof Irish people to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels, Strasbourg, and Frankfurt."


While the referendum on the austerity treaty is to be held on May 31, there is no referendum for passing the disastrous European Stability Mechanism which would be a massive giveaway to the banks. The government will try to ram that through parliament either before the referendum or after.


"Fine Gael and Labour, backed by Fianna Fáil, want us to hand our future over to them!" Adams added. That's not in the interests of the Irish people. The Austerity Treaty must be opposed. I would appeal to the 50% of citizens who refused to pay the Household Charge and the many others who were coerced and bullied into paying it to make a stand against the government's austerity policies by voting 'No' in the referendum.

Speaking today from Leinster House Sinn Féin on April 11, Sen. David Cullinane denounced the government's payout of no less than 1.5 billion euros to bondholders of Allied Irish Bank.


Today AIB will pay 1.5 billion euros of taxpayers' money to unnamed, unguaranteed, unsecured bondholders. To date AIB has cost the state 20.7billion. It also recently announced potential redundancies running into thousands.


At a time when the government is saying that it doesn't have enough money to put teachers in our schools, doctors in our hospitals, or to invest in job creation, today's payment is simply scandalous. Once again we see Fine Gael and Labor pump billions into banks and bondholders, while imposing extra charges and cuts on low- and middle-income families.