From The Newswire: My name is Janette Byrne. Up until four weeks ago I had a pretty stress free life -- then my mam was rushed by ambulance to the Mater hospital and everything changed in a day. My mother was very ill and continuously passing out and vomiting. The doctor thought it could be minor strokes.

I will try take you back with me and hope you get a feel for the upset our family and others went through. We arrived at A&E terrified our mother would die even as we travelled. On arrival we found her on a trolley having been moved from a chair as she repeatedly collapsed in my brothers arms. We have since heard of elderly people falling from the chairs and smashing their faces on the ground. The hospital was packed. It was as if some major catastrophe had happened and everyone was panicked. No doctor came to see my mother for a long time and we felt issolated. The staff were rushed off their feet. We were barely able to get their attention for a bed pan and my mother was lucky she had us to help.

When public services are dismantled a number of tactics are employed. In Dublin Bus they are at the stage of introducing competition: in An Post, other than the letter service this has long been in place. In Aer Rianta the asset strippers are circling as the value of the company is run down. This report, by Paul Kinsella, on the campaign within the An Post unions shows the same tactics at work. The Flynn Report on the service is ignored, elements of the service are closed for being 'uncompetitive' under government set rules and the workers are denied their Partnership agreed wage increases. The campaign material includes draft letters for An Post workers write - have a look, maybe we can all be the mail, as well as the media, for a day.

Selections from the Report.......
The Group of Unions in An Post have recently agreed on the concept of a campaign to change Government policy towards the proper funding of An Post. This decision was made in light of new developments in Industrial relations in the company, the refusal to pay the SP national wage agreement (5% on 1-8-04) and the unilateral decision to close down SDS with the loss of 274 jobs. The use of the present “crisis” in the finances of the company to drive down hard on the Unions and Staff is real, and now firmly underway. In conjunction with the treatment of other Semi-State companies it is clear that this process is politically motivated..........

In 1999 Minister of Communication, Mary O’Rourke commissioned the Flynn Report 2000 to review the Sub Post Office Network. It found, "...As part of the obligation placed on An Post to provide a nationwide service, the Post Offices Branch Network provides access for citizens to mail services, including postal mailing; stamp sales; registration; ancillary postal services. The Post Office Network will be under extreme financial pressure for the foreseeable future. Closure of Posts Offices will only reduce the size of the loses, it cannot stop the loses from the post office network. Also the introduction of new business cannot address these loses." But the Government glossed over the report...........

Postal Sector and Social Obligations
I believe that the group of Unions in An Post should be calling on the Government to make a commitment to a universal obligation to both the Postal and the Post Office Network and for this service to be maintained and further improved. A mechanism should be put in place to access the cost of this social obligation (in light of the further deregulation to take place). And the Government to fund this social obligation.......

An Post is the only major Semi State Company which does not receive an annual Government Subvention for the social services it provides. An Post Group of Unions Agreed Campaign for Government funding of An Post The financial crisis in An Post is directly linked with the Universal Service Obligations of the company, and that the Staff, Customer and Services of the Company are now been targeted, in a bid to let the Government off the hook as regards their Obligations to the Public.....

CPSU Press Release
Draft Letters

PDF of Draft Letters 0.05 Mb

Bands playing are:

Seven Deadly Skins
Cheeko From King Sativa
Disfunktional
Dograck


Info Stalls on : Anti Fascist Action , Vegan/Vegetarian Health , Red Ink Bookstore plus more ..

Voodoo Lounge
39/40 Arran Quay
Friday 5th Of November
Doors 7.30
6 Euro in

This BTW was the first Indymedia Ireland story uploaded all those years ago onto the site as we warmed up for the 'official' launch of open source news in Ireland.

No Justice in County Clare: Harry Browne Counterpunch Article

Mary Kelly Vs The State Trial Updates: 6.20 PM Thursday 28th - Guilty Verdict - Jury 10:2

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligation of obedience. Therefore [individuals] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal 1945-1946.

"His insistence that the invasion of Iraq cannot be mentioned in testimony is actually contrary to the Criminal Damage Act, which takes a person's state of mind into account when they perform the so-called damage. If they are deemed to have an honestly held belief they were acting in the interests of others, then they cannot be guilty of criminal damage. Therefore, Mary absolutely must be allowed to explain her motivations in order for there to be fair trial."

"Lawful excuse" defense not allowed by hostile Judge
Judge Carroll Moran ruled today in Ennis Circuit Court that the use of Shannon airport by the US military and the war in Iraq are "not relevant" to Mary's case. Court report

Court Watcher "...the judge denied almost every witness that the defense attempted to call. Among the witnesses denied the stand were Mr. Denis Holliday a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Daniel Einsberger of Pentagon Papers fame, Dr. Horst Gunther who uncovered the United States use of depleted uranium in Iraq, Mr. Edward Horgan a former UN Peacekeeper, and Dr. Curtis Doebbler an international lawyer..."

Relevance of evidence in first trial. "He [Judge Moran] ignored the defence testimony, directing the jury not to allow feelings or issues of conscience to influence them in making their decision. This extraordinary instruction, when the whole function of a jury is to act as the conscience of society in matters of law, is perhaps an indication of how profoundly the rosecution’s agenda had been shown up by the strength, clarity and truth of the defence.

Out of Sight out of mind There hasn't been an "immediacy clause" for the necessity defence Mary is using since 1997, when the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act amended the Criminal Damage Act (1991).

"In his ruling against Eoin Dubsky earlier this month in the same courthouse, J O'Donnell also leaped back in time to find him guilty because his defence under Section 6.3.c of the Criminal Damage Act ("Lawful excuse") wouldn't hold cause Iraq is so far away."

Question of the trial? Whats more dangerous knives, bombs or policy? Judge Carroll Moran cautioned Ms Kelly on sticking to relevant issues in her defence, he told her, that the defence of lawful excuse refers only to an action taken to prevent a threat to a person, their property, or other persons, but only when that threat was of an immediate nature. He gave the example of damaging the knife of a potential attacker, brandishing such an implement and went on to inform her, that the war in Iraq and the presence of a US plane did not impose an immediate threat to her or other persons when she damaged the U.S.A.F. navy plane

(from June 2003 court report) "The sage-like Ramsey Clarke (former U.S. Attorney General and longtime peace campaigner) testified for 30 minutes about the adverse effects of U.S. foreign policy, stating facts and figures about the effects of long-term low-intensity conflict in Iraq since 1991. He expressed deep concern about the sanctions, with at least 585,000 young children dead as a direct result of them. He also compared Mary’s action to somebody removing the bullets from a gun that would otherwise be used to kill someone. The prosecuting counsel strenuously questioned the relevance of Clarke’s testimony, and asked him the following question: “If someone broke into your house and did 1.5 million euros worth of damage, how would you feel?” Clarke replied that if his house was capable of complicity in the murder of innocents, he’d be actively offering invitations to people to come and damage it. Clarke was asked the question several times (apparently the prosecutor felt he hadn’t answered it), and gave the same reply each time. I am sure many bizarre questions are asked in courtrooms, but this one strikes me as similar to asking Rosa Parks “If someone sat in your usual seat in the bus, how would you feel?” Removal of context, universalizing of the particular, seems to be a tool used by empire time and again. And, because we all know that the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house (to borrow from Audre Lorde), all that a defence can do is to continually push the focus back to the context in which an action occurs."

June 2003: Hung jury doesn't satisfy state.
"Despite being effectively told to ignore their own human consciences, the jury couldn’t convict Mary Kelly for her efforts to undercut the U.S. war machine." Statements and Audio interview with Mary Kelly after initial trial.

Review of previous trials on Mary Kellys Website - Trial 1 June 03 - Trial 2 June 04 - Trial 3 October 04