Richard Boyd Barrett TD, ULA Finance and Education spokesperson said today that the Government’s about turn on planned cuts to the Deis schools was entirely a victory for people power and the protests mounted by parents, pupils and teachers from disadvantaged areas around the country.

Deputy Boyd Barrett stated that Minister Quinn must now, having admitted his terrible mistake, clarify if there will be a full and immediate reversal of all Deis cuts.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said the Minister must clarify for example, whether Deis bands 1 and 2 will be retained in full as they are and the additional resources referred to by the Department of Education as so called "legacy posts".

In a statement to coincide with the arrival of the EU-IMF “Troika” for the fifth review of the EU-IMF programme for Ireland, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance, warned that continuing down the road of “Troika” dictated bank bailouts and austerity was a dangerous slope leading to a 1930’s style economic depression.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said that with Ireland now facing the certainty of a second bail-out, it was clear that the policy of austerity and propping-up toxic banks was not working, and warned that any such new bail-out programme would be accompanied by demands for even more severe and damaging austerity.

In a statement today (Tuesday 20th December), Richard Boyd Barrett TD and Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance has pledged support for today’s strike by 300 EBS workers, who are demanding the re-instatement of their annual “13th month” payment.
Deputy Boyd Barrett who first raised the issue in the Dail last week will visit the picket lines of the EBS workers this morning to show his support for the strikers.

€3.8 BILLION OF AUSTERITY REPRESENTS “ECONOMICS OF THE MADHOUSE” AND WILL FURTHER CRIPPLE IRELAND’S ECONOMY

POLITICAL THEATRICS IN EUROPE CAN’T MASK SLOWING GROWTH AND EUROPEAN SLIDE TOWARDS RECESSION

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD for the People Before Profit Alliance has responded to reports on the content of the government’s medium term economic review, published today, which is proposing a further 3.8 billion of austerity cuts and taxes in the forthcoming budget.

Meeting to start fighting against the cuts in special needs education

When: Wednesday 15th June at 16:30
Where: The Temple Bar Hotel, Fleet Street, Dublin 2

• Do you think that people with special educational needs should not have their service cut?
• Do you have special educational requirements?
  Do you have a child who has special educational requirements?
• Are you a teacher?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then you would benefit from coming to The Temple Bar Hotel, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 on Thursday 15th June at 16:30.

Richard Boyd Barrett TD will facilitate  a meeting which will bring together people with  disabilities, their teachers, and family members who will discuss ways of halting and reversing the cuts in these services.

If you would like to attend, please contact me:

Email:  richard.boyd.barrett@peoplebeforeprofit.ie
Website: http://www.richardboydbarrett.ie

Mobile: +353(0)86 781 4520
Tel: +353 (0)1 61 83 44 9

So that everyone can participate in the meeting, please advise me if you have any of these needs:

• Wheelchair Access.
• Material provided in Large print, Brail, Electronically.
• Sign Language Interpreter.
• Loop for hearing aid users.
• Personal Assistance.
• Another requirement not listed here.

In a statement, People Before Profit Alliance TD, Richard Boyd Barrett has described the special sitting of the Dail (Monday May 9th) to celebrate Ireland’s membership of the EU as “the sick joke of an already bankrupt government” in the context of an EU-IMF deal which was inflicting brutal and economically crippling austerity on Ireland, in order to pay-off the gambling debts of European bankers and speculators.
Deputy Boyd Barrett attended a protest outside the Dail prior to the special Dail sitting and will over the coming weeks be involved in a sustained effort to build a mass campaign of opposition to the EU-IMF deal as part of the recently established “Enough” campaign.
The ‘Enough’ campaign was established at a recently held public meeting in Dublin, organised by Deputy Boyd Barrett, attended by almost 500 people, and addressed by an Icelandic MP involved in the referendum campaigns against the bank-bail-outs in that country.
A follow-up meeting of the ‘Enough’ campaign was held yesterday in Dublin where activists agreed plans for a sustained national campaign of opposition to the EU-IMF deal and the austerity measures contained within it.
The campaign has agreed to continue a nationwide push to demand a referendum on the EU-IMF deal as well as an intensive effort to mobilise mass public resistance to some of the key planks of the austerity programme including campaigns on: unemployment, special needs and education cuts, public transport cuts, plans to sell-off state assets, any attacks on low-paid workers under the review of JLC’s and REA’s, and social welfare cuts.

PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT TD CALLS FOR MASS POPULAR RESISTANCE AGAINST PLAN TO SELL STATE ASSETS

Richard Boyd Barrett, TD said in a statement today that the plan recommended by McCarthy is “the mugging of Ireland by the corporate vultures in Europe backed up by the Irish political establishment”.