Following the launch of business lobby IBEC’s local campaign for a Yes vote in the forthcoming referendum, independent socialist republican activist Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig has called on the people of Donegal to reject the pro-austerity agenda of big business and vote No.
Responding to IBEC’s pro-austerity launch, Mac Giolla Easbuig said, “It comes as no surprise that leaders and supporters of big business are calling on people to vote Yes, as it is in the interests of big business that this treaty is passed”.
‘If passed, this Treaty will lock us into a permanent cycle of austerity, low wages and privatisation. It will not, as the pro-austerity side falsely claims, bring either recovery or stability. We only need look back to the Lisbon 2 referendum campaign to understand how the big business lobby is willing to make entirely bogus promises to influence the vote. Lisbon 2 was, we were told, all about job creation. Well IBEC, where are all the jobs that you promised? There are well in excess of 400,000 people unemployed in the Twenty Six Counties and Donegal has the highest rate of unemployment in the state.”
Speaking to the small indigenous business on the ground, who are not supporting IBEC’s pro-austerity campaign, Mac Giolla Easbuig said, ‘We all know that more austerity measures will mean that ordinary people will have less money in their pockets, and therefore less money to spend in local businesses. The knock-on effect of this is more closures, more job losses and more hardship.’
‘I very much understand the concerns of small indigenous business as I can see the effect on the ground of the damage that is being done to our local communities. These small companies and businesses are the backbone of our local economy and their concerns must be listened to. IBEC does not represent the views of small local indigenous companies here in Donegal who witness the devastation that has already been caused by the austerity measures’.
In conclusion, Mac Giolla Easbuig, called on the people of Donegal to reject austerity and vote No, ‘austerity measures are not only causing untold hardship in our communities, but economically make no sense.
“The cuts are reducing growth and killing off the local economy. This Treaty will place pro-austerity measures directly into the Constitution. They will force us to adhere to restrictive budgetary measures, which will see the government impose a further €6 billion in cuts this year, to bring the debt to GDP ratio into line with the right wing strictures of this Treaty.
“It is an extremely dangerous proposal that will force our people into a future of continuing austerity. It must be resisted and rejected. By voting No to the Austerity Treaty, we will send a powerful message to the Dublin and European elitesthat the ordinary people have had enough of cuts and austerity’.
