ISN local election candidate John O'Neill urges support for Joe Higgins in Dublin Euro race
dublin |
politics / elections |
press release 
Monday May 11, 2009 15:25
by Irish Socialist Network
Irish Socialist Network candidate John O'Neill gives his backing to Joe Higgins.
Finglas / Ballymun local election candidate John O’Neill urged voters in north Dublin to support Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party in the race for Dublin’s Euro seat.
“Joe Higgins would be an excellent choice to represent the people of Dublin,” said O’Neill. “Joe is the only candidate in the race who will offer a radical voice for working-class Dubliners. We need people who will challenge the right-wing consensus in Irish politics, and we can depend on Joe Higgins to do just that.”
O’Neill recalled that the establishment parties have ignored the democratic decision of the Irish people to reject the Lisbon Treaty.
“Supporters of the EU project are always telling us they want people to be more engaged with the European Union,” said O’Neill. “But it’s clear now what they mean: they want people to support their ideas without thinking. If the people of Ireland or other countries like France and the Netherlands reject their agenda, they look immediately for a way to ignore those democratic decisions. All of the establishment parties in Ireland – including the Labour Party – have been complicit in this denial of democracy. They can’t be allowed to represent our views in Europe. A vote for a radical candidate like Joe Higgins will send a message to the EU elites that they can’t ignore our voice.”
Joe Higgins did an excellent job as a socialist TD between 1997 and 2007, O’Neill reminded voters.
“We were lucky to have Joe Higgins in the Dáil for Dublin West,” said O’Neill. “He gave a voice to working-class people who had been excluded from the benefits of the Celtic Tiger. His campaign in support of the Gama workers showed what can be done by socialists who enter the Dáil without joining the cosy political establishment. Now that the Celtic Tiger has been and gone, we need people like Joe who aren’t in politics to feather their own nests.”
John O’Neill is running in the local elections as the candidate of the Irish Socialist Network
You can contact John at 087 6367175 or votejohnoneill@yahoo.ie
Comments (5 of 5)
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Independent Community Candidate , Cieran Perry has also urged voters to support Joe Higgins in the Euro Elections. His latest leaflet calls for a No. 1 vote for Joe.
"Joe Higgins did an excellent job as a socialist TD between 1997 and 2007, O’Neill reminded voters."
I agree totally , Joe was the real opposition in the Dail all the time he was there in my opinion . I still find it hard to understand why the voters of Dublin West rejected Joe at the last election given his record of fighting for workers rights .But that’s in the past . With conditions in the public services and workers’ overtime pay being cut right now by this rotten government we need real fighters like Joe to stand up to the bosses .
The whole of the left needs to get behind the Joe for Europe campaign whatever their ideological differences . It’s good to see John and the ISN taking such a mature view – and I do see the ISN and John acting from principled motives , not just jumping on the Joe Higgins bandwagon .
The Tallaght People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) is calling for their supporters to give Socialist Party Canditate Joe Higgins the No1 vote in the European Election.
There is also an agreement between PBPA candidate Pat Dunne and Socialist Party Cllr. Mick Murphy to call on all their supporters to give the other candidate the No 2 vote. This is a six seater and both of them have an excellent chance of being elected. In the 2004 Elections Mick Murphy got over 2500 first perference votes in Tallaght and Pat Dunne got over 2200 in the old Terenure/Rathfarmham area.
Following the boundary revisions both of their support bases are in the new Tallaght Central Area.
Elsewhere PBPA literature is calling for a vote for Joe Higgins in the European Elections.
good to hear a bit of positivity, and unity . maybe now the left can stop bickering and grab the bull by the horns. its there for us people. if a good left alternative does not emerge soon, we r all fecked. lets get out there and work with all other progressives. power to the people
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