10% to go in 2016 and then decimation beings in earnest

Just three weeks ago the National Transport Authority (NTA) officially started the tendering for 2016 of initially 10% of Dublin Bus routes and a further 10% of all Bus Eireann routes with most of the routes in Waterford City, and a number of Dublin commuter routes are to be privatised. In the original plan a number of Cork City routes were to go but these will probably happen later. This process has been the culmination of a relentless effort by Fine Gael (FG) in the present government and their predecessors and fellow Neo-Liberal ideologists, Fianna Fáil (FF) in the last government where they have consistently pushed for the break up of both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann so that it can be handed over to their friends in the private sector to run on a profit basis. The NTA is used as a sort of cloak of respectability to give the impression that they will actually be a regulator with teeth of which we know very few regulators have any teeth, with the banking regulator during the Celtic Tiger coming to mind, plus many other examples and the function of NTA is really for propaganda value to convince the middle class. However this whole scheme is about ideology and is NOT about competition but about privatisation.

Related Links: Prices rises are on the way for public transport users... | Joe Higgins TD seeks topical issue debate tomorrow in Dáil on Bus Eireann strike | Government to fund private bus companies! - Jobs, wages & services under threat | Rivermeade residents wage war to defend the 40B bus

Fair Hotels - www.fairhotels.ie

Fair Hotels is an initiative of hotel workers employed in Fair Hotels throughout Ireland and trade union representatives. Hotels listed on www.fairhotels.ie were invited to participate in the Fair Hotels campaign by their own staff and their staffs' representatives. Each of the hotels listed on www.fairhotels.ie has agreed to participate. Our objective is to support and promote quality employment in the hotel industry in Ireland.

Related Links:
Fair Hotels Website | Siptu Fair Hotels Iniative (from Cedar Lounge Revolution) | New Ethical Template for Quality Jobs (from Mandate.ie)

Who's Endorsing Fair Hotels:
IUF - Uniting Food, Farm and Hotel Workers World-Wide | Irish Congress of Trade Unions | Trade Union Congress | Fairtrade Mark Ireland | National Women's Council of Ireland | Consumers Association of Ireland | Lynch Hotels | Irish Federation of University Teachers | Migrant Rights Centre Ireland | Immigrant Council of Ireland | Community Platform | Sport Against Racism Ireland | Hotel Solutions

• Scientists accuse European Food Safety Authority of corruption and fraud
• Doctors invoke the Precautionary Principle
• Consumers want GM-free Irish label to support responsible farmers

Related Links: FF reverse Irelands position to pro-GM during last days in office. Fianna Fáil Decision on GM food is dangerous and foolhardy | Gathering Momentum: Stop GM! all Island meeting | European Commission exceeding its powers to approve more GM crops: | EU citizens should not be force-fed GM food — Former Chair, European Food Safety Authority | Two Governments call for Ireland to become GM-free zone | Bio Technology and G.M.O.s sponsored by the Irish tax payer | Call for Government's Chief Scientific Adviser to resign | And this scientist advises FG - Irish biotech scientist's fraudlent pro-GM paper slammed by leading experts Irish Greens amazing u-turn on GM feed External Links: www.gmfreeireland.org/

Confrontation at Mountjoy

This evening (Wed 11th March), after the news of the 30 day sentence imposed on 55 year old Shell to Sea protester Maura Harrington filtered through, supporters converged on the gates of Mountjoy prison. By the time the van carrying Maura came into view over 30 supporters were waiting at the prison gates, matched by a similar number of Gardai.

Latest Stories About This:

Maura Harrington to be taken to Mountjoy Jail for 28 Days
* "Veteran Shell to Sea Campaigner, Maura Harrington has just been sentenced to 28 days imprisonement in Mountjoy"
Report on day in court which led to Maura Harrington's Jailing
* "Yesterday evening Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington was sentenced to 28 days in prison in relation to an assault charge arising from the incident at Pollathomais Pier on the 11th June 2007."
Political Policing sees Maura Harrington jailed for 28 days
* "This evening at Belmullet court Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington was sentenced to 28 days in prison in relation to an assault at Pollathomais Pier on the 11th June 2007."

Send Messages of Solidarity
Maura Harrington
Dochas Centre
Mountjoy Prison
N Circular Road
Dublin 7

It's time to fight back, not cut back.

There is no money left in Ireland. At least that’s what you might think after listening to Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, IBEC and the parade of capitalist economists and pundits who parrot this nonsense. Yes, we are heading into a deep recession but guess who is expected to pay the cost?

Related Links:
• Workers Solidarity Movement Website - www.wsm.ie
• Irish Congress of Trade Unions - www.ictu.ie
• Workers Issues on Indymedia.ie.
• Workers Solidarity Movement articles on Indymedia.ie
• Michael Taft's, from Notes on the Front - The Recession Diaries, proposal Towards a New Economic Narrative

Indymedia Reporters Group:
Mick Burke and the Indymedia Collective are trying to set up a dedicated reporters group to report on the (potential) strike on March 30th. Read about it here.

Don't just sit there, contact someone:
If you feel strongly about this, why not contact some/all politicians - Contact.ie

The Government has no problem finding money to bail out bankers and speculators, it’s only when cash is needed for special-needs teachers, the sick, or to improve run-down schools and hospitals that nothing can be found. The attack on pay and pensions is a class struggle by employers and the government against working people.

It may sound old-fashioned to talk of class struggle, but what else do you call it when one class wants to preserve its wealth at the expense of the other class? When private sector workers see 90% of pension funds they paid into for years going down the tube, Brian Goggin of Bank of Ireland thinks he is hard done by because he will “take home less than €2 million” this year.