‘Far Right hate must be challenged’ Sligo May Day gathering is told

Referring to the role the trade union movement played in the struggle for Irish freedom she said “Ireland cannot be free when we are shackled by the oppressive and exploitative forces of neo-liberalism.

“A country is not free when it cannot guarantee a roof over everyone’s head, when it cannot ensure a health care system that actually delivers for its citizens, when it cannot guarantee that we have a free and easily accessible education system for all, a country is not free when it doesn’t provide properly paid jobs, when it cannot deliver a real safe environment for us all.

“Importantly and very worryingly Ireland’s inability to deliver on these very basic social staples has created a dangerous space where racist far right forces have been allowed to gather. These people have used our social deficits to target and heap the blame on those of colour, different ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, gender, and so on.

“Their message is not only wrong and should always be called out, but their activities in delivering their messages of hate must also be challenged. Whilst we will always continue to fight the cause of labour in and outside of our workplaces, we must always remember and ensure that that cause of labour has no truck with the far right in whatever shape it takes.

“Allow these forces to have their oxygen then where do they stop and who is next to fall foul victim of their hatred?” she asked

The Mayor of Sligo, Cllr Declan Bree, who also spoke said it was fitting that they gathered at the site of the former home of Sligo’s great working class and trade union leader, John Lynch, to celebrate May Day

“In the official histories of 21st century Ireland John Lynch’s life and work play little or no part. Like many of his trade union comrades this man of the people who sacrificed so much has been ignored by the establishment.” said the Mayor

“And of course we in the trade union and labour movement know only too well that official histories tend to ignore the bitter struggles faced by workers and their families in their bid to survive.

“However, events such as we celebrate today allows workers and ordinary people an opportunity to remember with pride those pioneers who founded our movement.” he said

“Today we have a cost of living crisis, we have a crises in the health service, we have a housing crisis and the fact is that all of them are intertwined.

“Our hospitals are chronically overcrowded, we have a never-ending trolley crisis and hundreds of thousands of people on HSE waiting lists.

“In Sligo we have over 1,600 households on the Council housing waiting list in addition to many more who are deemed ineligible for local authority housing due to absurd government income limits.

“House prices in the private sector continue to soar beyond the reach of ordinary workers and families. The dream of owning a home has become an impossibility for an entire generation. Rents keep going up.

“Renters are being ripped off every month, robbed of their money but also robbed of their futures. Today Ireland has the highest housing and accommodation costs in the European Union.

“So, let us not get side-tracked by those who seek to defend and increase profits for big businesses and who, at the same time would try to lay the blame for the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis on asylum seekers or refugees.

“The fact is that in Ireland today - the corporate landlords, the speculators, the bankers and investors are creaming it with profits while tens of thousands of people can find nowhere to live or are being absolutely crushed with the costs of rent and accommodation and, on top of those, the cost of living.

“Access to secure, affordable housing is a deep and abiding concern of the trade union movement. Indeed, it was the squalor of the slums in Dublin and other urban areas including Sligo, in the early years of the 20th century that provided much of the motive force for the establishment of the modern trade union movement.

“More than a century on, the demand for secure, affordable housing is again to the fore.” he said.

The President of the Sligo-Leitrim Council of Trade Unions, Mr Pat Fallon, presided at the event and floral tributes were laid by on behalf of the trade union movement by Mr Denis Conway of the Forsa Trade Union and by Ms Brenda Barr on behalf of the Connolly Forum.