Paul Dale - Enniskillen Town

Davy Kettyles has been one of the very few socialist councillors in Northern Ireland, having been elected to Fermanagh Council as an Independent Socialist. Davy is standing down this time and is throwing his weight behind Paul Dale.

Read Paul's election manifesto - (PDF format)

Davy told The Socialist: "Paul Dale is the anti-water charges candidate. I thank the people who supported me in the past and ask them to now vote for Paul. He will continue to campaign for working people and keep a socialist voice on Fermanagh Council."

Paul Dale is the candidate in the Enniskillen ward of Fermanagh Council. Paul, who is married with three children and works in County Buildings, Enniskillen, is an active trade unionist. He sits on the executive of his union, NIPSA, and is a leading member of Fermanagh Trades Council.

Paul has a proud record of fighting for the interests of working people in Fermanagh. He has led campaigns against job losses, pension cuts, education cuts and low pay. Paul was an organiser of the local trade union rallies against sectarian killings and the recent campaign against the war in Iraq.

Paul told The Socialist: "Currently my main energies are going into the struggle to stop water charges. I have set up the 'We Won't Pay Campaign' in Fermanagh and will be the only candidate calling for mass non-payment of this unjust charge.

"The Council have done nothing to stop the haemorrhaging of jobs from Fermanagh. When I went to ask them to back a campaign to stop the closure of the motor tax office all they did was write one letter. Similarly they allowed the rates office to close with no more than a whimper. If elected I will use my position to support a real fight to stop job losses and to have jobs that were transferred returned to Fermanagh."

Tommy Black - Belfast Pottinger

Tommy Black is standing in the Pottinger ward in Belfast. Tommy lives in the Bloomfield area and is a caretaker in Ashfield Girls' High School. He is an executive member of his union, NIPSA, representing education workers. He is Chair of the East Belfast "Water Charges, We Won't Pay" Campaign.

Read Tommy's election manifesto - (PDF format)

"I know that the people of Pottinger are completely opposed to water charges. If elected I would use the council position to build support for non payment and also to make sure that the resources of the council are used to defend those who do not pay.

"The other key issue in the election is the cuts in education. As an education worker I know that the cuts the Belfast Board and the other Boards are trying to force through will hit school students. They are asking us to cut corners on safety that we are not prepared to do. A one day education strike must be just the beginning of a campaign to have these cuts reversed."

Jim Barbour - Belfast Laganbank

Jim Barbour is running for Belfast Council in the Laganbank ward. As well as being the South Belfast organiser of the Water Charges We Won't Pay Campaign, Jim is the outspoken local leader of the firefighters' union, the FBU. Jim has defended the jobs and conditions of his members and defended the fire service from cuts and privatisation.

Read Jim's election manifesto - (PDF format)

"As a public service trade unionist I am committed to defending our public services. The main problem we have is underfunding. Elected representatives should be fighting for the money from central government to ensure that we have services to meet our needs.

"The situation whereby unelected people sit on the Boards of services and vote through cuts must end. Public services should be democratically run by elected bodies with a majority of seats going to representatives of the workforce and the communities they serve.
"I am completely opposed to privatisation and will fight to reverse the privatisation policies which all the District Councils have started to implement. Our public services must be run for need not profit."

Harry Hutchinson - Cookstown Central

Our candidate in Cookstown Central is 45 year old Harry Hutchinson. Harry is a nursing assistant in Muckamore Abbey Hospital. He is secretary of the local TGWU branch and has been active in a number of campaigns over the years. In the late 1980's and early 1990's he organised strikes and demonstrations against sectarian killings in the area. He has long campaigned to protect acute services at the Mid-Ulster Hospital.

Harry's election manifesto is coming soon...

More recently he has been one of the organisers of the "We Won't Pay Campaign" in Cookstown which has held several public meetings and a rally in the town centre.

In this election he is also highlighting the funding crisis of the citizen's advice bureau in Cookstown and Magherafelt, demanding that the councils fund the CAB until central government comes up with the necessary finance.

Local "We Won't Pay" activist, Donald Canavan, said "All of the main parties in Cooksown claim to be against water charges. When they had their chance to discuss the issue however they didn't say a word. The only candidate organising to oppose the charge and who will refuse to pay is Harry Hutchinson."

Election finance urgently needed!

Taking a socialist message to the doorstep costs money.

Unlike the other parties the Socialist Party has no outside sources of finance. We have no big business backers. We do not get money from the government for being members of a non existent Assembly. And we don't rob banks.

Our money comes from our members and supporters in the workplaces and the working class communities. If you support the ideas we are trying to put across in the election you can help by making a donation to our campaign. Cheques can be made payable to 'The Socialist Party' and sent to our office at 13 Lombard Street, Belfast BT1 1RB.

Assembly gravy train still running

What does MLA stand for? If you thought it was "Member of a Legislative Assembly", think again. After all the Assembly elected at the end of 2003 has never met to legislate anything.

The only thing it does is suck in money. While education services that do function and are needed are being axed to save £30 million, the Assembly has cost over £50 million since its suspension in October 2002.

Of this more than £23 million has been paid out to the MLAs and their parties. The real meaning of the MLA abbreviation? You guessed it - "Member of a Lucrative Assembly"!

We live in a world where the richest one percent of the population have an income greater than that of the poorest 60%.

Worldwide more than 800 million people go hungry every day and 1.2 billion have no access to safe drinking water.

The resources exist to resolve these problems but this is not done because the system of capitalism under which we live is run to generate profits for the rich few who own the wealth, not to cater for people's needs.

In the rush for profit above all other considerations the big corporations backed by the governments are destroying the environment and mortgaging all our futures.

The Socialist Party and our sister organisations internationally organised in the Committee for a Workers International are fighting to change this. We want a socialist system where the handful of major multinationals are taken into democratic public ownership so that production can be planned to meet need without destroying our climate and environment.

This is a no choice election because the main parties uphold the present economic system and would implement the same pro business economic policies.

The Socialist Party stand for the building of a new mass party based on the trade unions and genuine community organisations to represent the interests of working class people.

When it comes to the national question the major parties are really only arguing about what colour flag working class people can be exploited under. The Socialist Party is fighting for a real peace process, not based on uniting right wing politicians, but on bringing the working class communities together in the struggle for a socialist Ireland as part of a democratic socialist federation of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

If you agree with our policies vote for us but don't leave it at that - join the Socialist Party and help build a socialist alternative.

Dr. Deeny, who topped the pole in the Assembly elections in West Tyrone on a "Save the Omagh Hospital" ticket, is standing in the Westminster elections.

His campaign also intends to run a slate of candidates in the council elections in Omagh.

Deeny's Assembly victory was significant in that it showed how a viable candidate running on a "bread and butter" issue can cut across the sectarian division.

The Socialist Party is not for a hospital in Omagh at the expense of Enniskillen but want local hospitals with acute facilities in both locations. We have sought an assurance from Dr. Deeny that this is his position also and he has said that it is. He has also broadened the campaign to take up other social issues ignored by the main parties.

On this basis we are advocating a vote for Dr. Deeny and for his slate of candidates. If they do well, it will show that the sectarian parties can be taken on and beaten.

However the election needs to be followed up. A meeting of the Deeny campaign open to all his supporters should be called to discuss how to build on the election. Unfortunately the Assembly victory was not built on and this mistake should not be repeated.

If the Westminster or council seats are won, these positions should be used to help develop a new working class party able to mount a much broader challenge to the right wing and sectarian parties.