A powerful voice that must continue to be heard
For ten years, Joe Higgins has been the strongest voice in Dáil Éireann in defence of
the interests of working people. Even the millionaire owned media often refer to him
as a powerful contributor to Dáil debates and "the real opposition". Time and again
he has uncompromisingly challenged Taoiseach Bertie Ahern over his Government’s
privatisation and pro big business policies.
The Socialist party uses positions in the Dail
or on Councils to give a voice to working class
people on all the issues that affect them. We use
these positions as a platform to organise from.
Joe Higgins has an unrivalled record of fighting
on issues ranging from the estate management
fees rip-off and water charges to corruption in
planning. He is a key opponent of the
Government’s privatisation of public companies
such as Aer Lingus.
A committed fighter for the community
Since his election to the Dáil in 1997, Joe Higgins has been
a tireless fighter for the rights of working people and working
class communities. As an activist for more than 20
years in Dublin West, he has:
• Strenuously highlighted and opposed the speculation and profiteering that brought about
rocketing rent and house prices;
• Endured a month in Mountjoy Jail in 2003 when he refused to abandon his constituents’
protest against the bin tax;
• Strenuously fought the privatisation of public companies like Aer Lingus;
• Actively campaigned with householders and apartment owners against rip-off management
company fees, forcing a pledge for early legislation from the Government;
• Struck a major blow in support of decent wages and
conditions for all workers when he led the successful campaign
against the Gama exploitation machine whish exposed the race to the bottom under way in Irish society;
• Strongly opposed and campaigned against the catastrophic invasions of Iraq
and Afghanistan and the use of Shannon Airport by the US Military in these criminal imperialist conflicts;
• Stood with local communities in campaigns to stop
mobile phone masts too close to schools and homes;
• As a County Councillor, fought for proper planning
for communities, for crucial green belts and against
corrupt rezonings;
• Led the Anti Water Charges Campaign in the
mid-1990’s to secure the abolition of this hated double
tax;
• Led the campaign in the early 1990’s to stop property
speculators and corrupt politicians scuppering the
building of the Blanchardstown Centre;
• Led the successful campaign in 1987 to halt the
threatened closure of Blanchardstown Hospital.
Living on a Worker's Wage
As a T.D. for the last ten years,
Joe Higgins has lived on the wage
of an ordinary worker and donated
the remainder of his salary to
the Socialist Party’s fight for a
political alternative and a wide
range of campaigns. If re-elected
to the Dáil, that policy will continue.
The Socialist Party does not
accept money from big business.
End traffic misery by revolutionising Public Transport
As residents of Dublin 15, we are at breaking
point daily over the traffic crisis in our area.
Responsibility for this is twofold. Firstly a corrupt unsustainable planning system
where Councillors from Fianna Fail, Fine
Gael and the Progressive Democrats in the main,
have facilitated a housing explosion without the
appropriate infrastructure to support it. They
make millions for the property developers who
finance their parties but at the expense of our
quality of life. Secondly, Ireland has the least subsidised public
transport system in Europe.
The only way to solve this nightmare is to declare a Traffic Crisis now –
take emergency action and make serious investment to revolutionise our
public transport system. The Socialist Party and Joe
Higgins TD are making
proposals for debate
which we feel could
transform the current
situation. A key demand of our
campaign is to ensure that
people from any part of
Dublin West can travel to
Dublin City centre in 35
minutes or less which we
think could be achieved if
the necessary investment is
put in place immediately. (Download the Socialist Party proposals in PDF format (requires a PDF reader) or as a jpeg graphic)
The key to transforming
this crisis is to reduce the
number of cars on the
roads by providing people
with a reliable and viable
public transport
alternative.
A real public transport system for Dublin
would be an integrated network of trains, trams and buses covering the whole city,
connected to ports and airports and fully accessible
to all.
Everyone should be within 5 minutes walking distance
of a transport point, which is serviced at least
every 5 minutes at peak travel times. Such systems
operate in many other countries and can be delivered
in Dublin. Without it congestion and pollution
will become unbearable.
Our present public transport system is totally
inadequate because it has been systematically underfunded.
This has been deliberately done to manipulate
public opinion into supporting privatisation.
Political interference has prevented companies such
as Dublin Bus from operating a proper service. For
example, to service a new route, they must get a
licence. Such licences were denied in areas like
Swords forcing them to extend existing routes in
order to cover new areas – making journey times
unbearable.
This is a disgrace. The Government has pumped
billions into roads rather than public transport. The
latest National Development Plan (NDP) launched
with a fanfare, continues the bias with €19 billion
going to roads compared to €13 billion on public
transport! National Toll Roads who have presided over the
biggest car-park in Dublin, the M50, built the
Westlink for €38 million. They have extorted over
€400 million in return, to date! This is a scam.
The Government claims that giving bus routes to
private operators will improve the situation. Along
with the gift of a licence they are going to give at
least 100 new buses for free and 15% of bus routes
in Dublin. They were equally generous to Veolia
(Connex) who operate LUAS. The owner of Aircoach "bought" the licence for the very profitable airport
route for €6 and sold the company for millions!
There are no reasons why democratically controlled
public companies could not build and operate
the public transport services we need more efficiently
and cheaper, while guaranteeing decent pay
and conditions for transport employees. Fianna Fail
and the PDs won’t implement this obvious policy
because they want business, including major multinationals
to profit at our expense.
A Public Transport system should be a service. The investment
will be repaid many times over socially, economically and environmentally.
However if the service is privatised then profit
comes first. The level of service and conditions of the workforce
are sacrificed.
