In a few weeks time the actual election will be on. In reality however the campaigning has already been going on for the last year in what some are calling the longest election campaign in history.

People have mixed feelings. They are sick that politicians who have broken their promises are once again about their area looking for votes. There is a general disenchantment with the main parties but at the same time people are concerned about many issues and how the country is run. The problem is there is no real or immediate alternative on offer.

Capitalist parties offer no real solutions to society's problems

Both blocks, led by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael/Labour, are fundamentally the same and want to impose capitalist market policies. In a recent poll, less than 10% of people thought that a change of government would actually result in a change of policies. People understand the tight grip that big business has on the political establishment in this country.

It’s pointless to speculate too much on who’ll win the election and who’ll form the next government. It seems likely that Fianna Fail support will diminish but it looks unlikely, unless there are dramatic developments, that the official opposition could gain the more than 20 seats that would be necessary to form a government.

Given the willingness of all the main parties to shed their "principles" so easily for the trappings of office, you would need a degree in higher mathematics to work out all the possible arrangements in the event of a hung Dail. The fact that Sinn Fein and the Greens are falling over themselves to be in what will inevitably be a rightwing conservative government will disappoint those who had hoped that these parties would make a real difference.

The Socialist challange

The Socialist Party will be standing in four constituencies - Dublin West (Joe Higgins TD), Dublin North (Cllr. Clare Daly), Dublin South West (Cllr. Mick Murphy) and Cork North Central (Cllr. Mick Barry).

While elections are not easy for small socialist organisations, we will be going all out in all the areas. In particular, we will be striving to get our TD Joe Higgins re-elected in Dublin West and to try to win a new seat with Clare Daly in Dublin North. The battle in these constituencies will be very hard fought. We believe we are in a position to run good campaigns and poll well.

The aim of the Socialist Party in standing in this election is to try to represent the anger of people on many issues such as transport, health, education, planning and to show how relevant and necessary socialist policies are to resolve the problems facing working class people. We will use the elections and any positions we may win as platforms to assist people to get organised and active in the workplaces, in the unions, in the communities and in the schools and colleges.

Any Socialist Party TDs will not be a part of or prop up any capitalist government. We want to be a real opposition and to use our positions to build a new mass movement for working class people. In the past, the Labour Party, with its link to the trade unions, was the traditional party for working class people in this country. But the collapse of Labour into the camp of capitalism has meant that for more than a decade there has been no major party to argue, represent or organise working class people.

The Socialist Party believes it is vital to build a new working class party. The active involvement of working class people is essential if such a party is to be established successfully. Such a fighting, working class party could transform the political situation and be a real focal point for people to get organised and become confident in the power they have to change things. The Socialist Party will use whatever influence it has to make sure that any real opportunities to build such a new party are grasped in the months and years ahead.

Dublin West - Joe Higgins TD
	Joe Higgins TD  for Dublin West is recognised as the real opposition to the government. As with all Socialist Party public representatives, Joe Higgins takes only the average industrial wage, donating the rest of his salary to the Socialist Party and to other campaign groups fighting on behalf of working people. In 2003 he was imprisoned for a month for his part in the campaign against the bin tax.  Joe’s position in the Dáil enabled him to bring to national prominence in 2005 the unprecedented struggle of immigrant Turkish building workers against their exploitative employer GAMA.
Dublin North - Cllr. Clare Daly
	Councillor Clare Daly is the Socialist Party candidate in Dublin North. Clare narrowly missed out on a Dail seat in the 2002 general election winning over 5,500 votes.  She is widely tipped to win a seat this time out. Clare is a shop steward in Aer Lingus. She was also jailed for a month for her opposition to the bin tax. Clare Daly has been the most vocal advocate of sustainable development, opposing the developer led rezoning frenzy in Fingal of recent years, which has been facilitated by the establishment parties.
Dublin South West - Cllr. Mick Murphy
	Councillor Mick Murphy was elected in the Tallaght ward in 2004. He has been active in South West Dublin since the beginning of the 90s leading several local Campaigns on Planning matters, the heroin crisis and rented housing. Mick was the Treasurer and a key organiser in Dublin of the Campaign Against Water Charges from 1994 to 1996. In 1999 Mick set up MIJAG the Motor Insurance Justice Action Group. Mick also played a leading role in the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign in the Tallaght area and was instrumental in exposing the GAMA low pay scandal in 2005.
Cork North Central - Cllr. Mick Barry
	Mick Barry was elected as a Socialist Party councillor in Cork North Central in 2004. Mick was jailed for his opposition to service charges in 2001. Mick is a proven fighter for the rights of working class people. He helped build MIJAG to fight for fair insurance for young drivers. As Secretary of the Home Helps movement he has been a consistent campaigner for the rights of these working women. He has also been strongly involved in campaigns to improve teh quality of life and services for working class communities in Cork.

The Economy

Earlier this year Brendan Keenan, economist with the Irish Independent, said that without government investment and recruitment in the public sector, the real problems that exist in the jobs market would be a much bigger talking point.

Since then, the downward drag on wages and rights (the race to the bottom), which is part of the bosses’ offensive to maximise profits, has been brought to a dramatic point with the closures and job losses in a number of "high skilled" multi-nationals. The pulling out of some companies is now a clear trend.

While the election is still very likely to be fought against a backdrop of continuing growth, the tremors in the world economy combined with the change in the property market and recent job losses are likely to increase fears about the future. The Socialist Party believes that the unions must resist closures and redundancies. Companies who have made billions should not be allowed to up and leave because they want to exploit cheaper labour elsewhere. The reliance of the government on the multi-nationals as the source of high skilled jobs and knowledge is being exposed. Rather than lose the technology and the skills of these workers, the state should maintain the expertise and the research and development and continue production through genuinely democratic publicly owned companies.

On the basis that the media and political pundits say the last election was won and lost on the issue of personal taxation, the parties are lining up to promise more tax cuts that will benefit those with more money most. However people have clearly indicated in polls and on the doorsteps that proper public services are more important.

Public Services

The privatisations that the government has implemented since 2002, of facilitating private operators to build infrastructure and to operate public services has created a mess. Allowing profit to dominate over proper planning and provision is a key part of the infrastructural backlog and deficit and is making the health crisis, traffic gridlock, the housing sprawl and the schools crisis much worse. The privatisation of Aer Lingus and the attacks by the management on workers’ rights is also having an impact on the attitudes of other public sector workers.  

The government try to claim credit for economic growth but have been completely incapable of dealing with its consequences including the increase in population, mainly due to immigration, and the increased demand for transportation, healthcare, education and so on. Their piecemeal method and their encouragement of a smash and grab for profit approach is the opposite of proper integrated planning for people’s needs.

Their lack of planning and provision of public services, given the resources at their disposal, is a monumental failure. The irony of Fianna Fail’s slogan last time "A lot done, more to do", sounds like a very bad joke and will not be lost on people.

Transport Crisis

In The Socialist last month we outlined extensively why there is a transport crisis and the socialist policies that could tackle the problem. We showed relying on the private sector to supply the land, build the infrastructure and operate the new services such as LUAS has proved to be a rip-off, has cost more and is inefficient. The government has maintained their bias against public transport and in the new National Development Plan has invested most in roads. Gridlock is set to worsen unless and until there is investment to create a real public transport system. In this issue we will just touch on some of the other issues that we think will feature prominently in the election.

Health Crisis

Since the last election, the government has abandoned key reports that it commissioned. The Health Strategy and the Primary Care Strategy have been jettisoned. They committed the government to provide an additional 4,800 acute hospital beds and the establishment of up to 600 fully equipped primary care teams and centres.

Instead they are supposedly trying to resolve the crisis in healthcare, which is rooted in inequality and discrimination, by promoting "for profit" services and private hospitals. That is the equivalent or trying to put out a fire by adding petrol. The logic of competition in health insurance is that those who need care most will have to pay most of do without.

The government has lied on how much they spend on health. They spend only 90% of the average of the EU 15. In order to make up for the decades of investment shortfalls and to create the necessary capacity, there should be a massive increase in current and capital spending.

But even if the capacity is increased, unless private practice and private health is prevented from leeching off the public system, money and not medical need will still determine who gets treated and when.

Socialist Party says:

- End the A&E crisis and the knock-on cancellation of surgeries – extend capacity by providing thousands of acute beds, beds in the community and long-stay facilities now.

- For fully facilitated primary care centres in all areas to give assistance on healthy living and disease prevention and care teams of doctors, nurses and other professionals.

- Take all private nursing homes into democratic public ownership immediately as part of a comprehensive plan by the state to guarantee proper care for the elderly.

- No "for profit" healthcare in the public system. Publicly paid consultants should work only in the public system. No to privatisation or state support for private hospitals. 

- Healthcare should be free and quickly accessible for all, paid for through a genuinely progressive tax system.

Education

Again forget about the rhetoric that Ireland spends huge amounts on education. The average spending on education in the OECD countries is 6.3% of GDP. In Ireland, Greece and Turkey the figure fluctuates between 3.7 and 4.5%.

The crisis in education is sharpest in the primary sector. For every E3 spent at primary, E6 is spent at secondary and E11 at third level. 46% of the country’s students are being educated at primary level on less than a third of the budget. This is reflected in chronic shortages of teachers including teachers for those with special needs, very high pupil/teacher ratios, lack of school places, lack of school buildings and facilities. 

Socialist Party says:

- Fund training and additional teachers to reduce the pupil teacher ratio to 15:1 and ensure that the needs of pupils with special needs are fully met.

- Emergency resources and action to ensure that no children are excluded from enrollment at primary or second level. No permission for major new housing developments unless there is a commitment to provide the necessary school facilities.

- Free publicly funded and publicly controlled quality education for all from early childhood, primary to university.

Housing

Buying a new house is now out of the reach of those on the average wage and paying the mortgage for those who have recently bought is becoming increasingly difficult for thousands of families because of interest rate rises.

There are 45,000 families on the waiting lists for accommodation and homelessness is increasing sharply. This housing crisis completely exposes the inability of the capitalist market to provide for people’s needs. It demonstrates the inevitable conflict between organising things on a "for profit" basis and the providing for people’s needs.

Socialist Party says:

- For strict regulation of the private rented sector to ensure tenant rights, good standards and affordable controlled rents.

- Launch a massive state programme to build quality, energy efficient homes for all who need them in places well serviced by public transport, shopping and leisure facilities.

- For special state investment to provide the homeless with decent accommodation and any other additional social services that they require.

Other Issues

Other key issues that the Socialist Party will campaign around will include defending the rights of all workers, both Irish and migrant; serious action on the environment, including the need to force changes on big business who are the key source of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change; and the need for childcare care facilities.

Working people have through their labour created an enormous amount of wealth over the last 15 years. This wealth has been squandered by the political establishment which has proved incapable of developing the country. At the same time that working class people get second or third-rate services, big business, including international capitalism have been given carte blanche to exploit, profiteer and rob.

If the inability of the capitalist market to resolve the key issues facing people and society is becoming clearer even at a time of boom, economic decline or recession will put the need to break with capitalism on the agenda. A socialist society where the wealth, resources and talents of the world are used to provide for the needs of all, not the profits of the few, is the only real alternative. Join the Socialist Party today!