On 2 November, nine members of Socialist Youth occupied the lobby of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

Our aim was to show our opposition to the present situation in Rossport, Co. Mayo. We wanted to emphasize strongly that we want an end to Garda brutality in Mayo, experienced first hand by some of our members, and a complete removal of the Garda presence of around 170 daily at the Ballinaboy site.

This number is unacceptable and unnecessary; the aim of the locals and supporters is nothing other than peaceful. The pipeline should be built at sea, not on land which is not only dangerous because of the threat of explosion but also because of the risk of disease such as leukemia. Thirdly, we believe that the gas which has been given to Shell without any benefits to ordinary people should be nationalised.

During our occupation, we demanded to speak with Noel Dempsey but we were told he was not available and instead we spoke with Bob Hanna, the chief technical advisor for energy. We told him our reasons for occupying the building and he tried and then failed to justify his opinion to us. He said that the gas (worth €21 billion) had been given to Shell for free because it was hard to get companies to invest in looking for gas, so the license had to be made very attractive. He accepted that we were not going to agree with him and soon left. We believe that the wealth given away could be used to fund public services that are hugely lacking in this country.

This issue doesn’t just affect the people of Rossport or even Mayo; it impacts everyone. The need to protest and make our voices heard is important throughout the country.

It was standing room only for the Friday night debate between Joe Higgins TD and economist and broadcaster David McWilliams.

Over 280 people packed into the Teachers’ Club in Dublin on 20 October to hear the debate on "is there an alternative to the capitalist market?” Joe opened the debate by lambasting a system which denied the right to a home, a decent job and quality public services, such as health, to the vast majority of people.

He explained that the shortcomings of the capitalist system were not down to bad management or bad leaders but were the result of the very nature of capitalism. The conclussion therefore was not to try to reform this system, but to replace it with a democratic socialist alternative [Click here for the audio of the debate].  

The following day saw a lively debate between the Socialist Party and Colm Breathneach of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign on how the conflict in the Middle East could be ended.

The hugely successful weekend ended with a discussion on the need for new mass parties of workers and youth. Lucy Redler of the Berlin WASG and Philip Stott of Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement spoke outlining the develpoment of new left forces in their respective countries.

On 3 October Organise!, the young workers’ rights campaign, held a picket outside Manpower Employment Agency to highlight and protest against the massive exploitation of young workers by employment agencies.

Agencies are increasingly being used by employers to undermine wages and conditions by introducing ultra-flexible, short -term contracts where young workers are exempt from protective legislation, creating a race to the bottom to increase their profit margins.  In many cases, young people are unaware as to whom they’ll be working for, when they’ll be working or even if they’ll be working at all and are often only told their rosters the night before work!

During our picket, many people were interested in taking a leaflet and finding out what we had to say about agencies, often agreeing with us that it was disgraceful that young workers were being forced to work under these conditions.

We were even approached by the Director of Manpower, asking us to meet with him to clarify why we were protesting outside his agency.  When we told him that we were picketing Manpower because of their terrible working conditions that put young workers in a position where "the client may ask at any time that you be removed from an assignment" (Manpower Staff Handbook 2006), he tried to argue that "this is how the market works" with no concern for the livelihoods of workers.  He believed we were being "unfair" by picketing his agency, but his concern didn’t extend to the "unfair" conditions agency workers have to accept!

Young workers do not have to accept these brutal conditions and have the ability to organise and fight back.  Organise! hopes to assist young workers in their workplace by campaigning on their behalf and assisting them in unionising their workplaces.  But unionisation in itself is not enough. Young workers should get active in their unions, challenging the bureaucrats, while forcing the unions to fight for improvements in their wages and conditions.

Socialist Youth are launching a campaign to force Tesco to increase the wages of their young workers to the same wage rates as staff who are over 21.

Why should you be paid less for doing the same amount of work as someone older? If you work in Tesco or anywhere else you get paid less than other workers then contact Socialist Youth to find out what can be done about it:

Belfast phone Paddy - 07876146473

Dublin phone Cillian – 01 6772592