On Tuesday 28th April 2009 in the Unite Hall in Dublin the People Before Profit Alliance launched it's "Economic Alternative Agenda" Document.

The Alliance speakers on the night Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit Alliance), Cllr Joan Collins (People Before Profit Alliance) were joined by Cllr Catherine Connolly (Independent Galway), Cllr Declan Bree (Independent Socialist Sligo), Cllr Chris O'Leary (Independent, ex- Green Party Cork), Vincent Browne (Journalist) and a worker from the Visteon/Ford factory occupation in Belfast.

Over 150 people packed the hall to hear the People Before Profit Alliance present their "Economic Alternative Agenda" document and discuss the idea of left unity into the future.

To read the document click on the attachment below.

The latest ESRI Quarterly Report makes frightening reading. It claims that Ireland is entering a depression that is worse than any industrialised country experienced since the 1930s.

The economy is due to shrink by 9.2 percent – which is of the same magnitude as the US experienced after the Wall St Crash of 1929.

Unemployment is set to rise so that almost one in five workers will be without a job.

In its Quarterly Report of last Winter, the ESRI predicted that the economy would shrink by 4.1 percent – just half of their current prediction.

The obvious question is: why is the prognosis getting worse? Why is the Irish economy going down much faster than any mainstream economist thought?

The ESRI cannot answer this question because it is locked into the conventional wisdom of the Irish economic establishment.

It concludes its report by advocating more wage cuts and more cuts in public spending to make Ireland ‘competitive’.

But it is precisely the wage cuts which have made the recession deeper.

In the past 2 days, Bus Workers at two depots at Clontarf and Harristown took unofficial action which led to the cancellation of 29 routes, in a row dispute over bus cuts.

This morning 27th April 2009, the 206 bus was cut completly as a service in Ballyfermot. This route services an area with an aging population which also houses a population of at least 60 elderly people in Rossaveal Court. People Before Profit in Ballyfermot started at the beginning of February to campaign to save the service.

The People Before Profit Alliance today called for immediate action to ensure that Ireland’s super rich make a serious contribution to bailing the country out.
The Alliance spokesperson Richard Boyd Barrett said:  “The Rich List shows there is no recession for Ireland’s wealthy elite. The wealthiest top ten share €17 billion between them. Half of these, including Denis O Brien, Tony O Reilly and Dermot Desmond are tax exiles. While the rest of us are being hammered by levies, extra taxes and cuts in basic services these people are living it up. The government must immediately close off all tax loopholes so that these people pay their share”.

At a major rally on Tuesday the Alliance will launch An Alternative Economic Agenda.
The Alternative will offer a radical alternative to the failed policies which have  created the recession.