Joe Higgins.eu | Dublin Euro Election '09

Privatisation of services under the EU-Canada trade agreement

2010-03-19T13:14:41Z

At a Committee on International Trade meeting, Joe Higgins MEP questions the Canadian ambassador and the EU Trade Commissioner, Karel de Gucht, on the contents of the upcoing EU-Canada trade agreement and as to whether there will be an insistence that public services are privatised as part of the agreement and what impact that will [...]

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Why I’ll be voting against the EU-Peru-Columbia trade agreement

2010-03-19T13:11:09Z

At a Committee on International Trade meeting, Joe Higgins MEP criticises the right-wing members of the Committee for considering voting on a trade agreement that they have not see or had an opportunity to debate and negotiate. Joe also raises questions over the neo-liberal, privatisation clauses of the agreement and whether the issue of human [...]

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What will the EU-Turkey trade agreement mean for Turkish workers’ rights?

2010-03-19T13:07:43Z

At a Committee for International Trade meeting, Joe Higgins MEP criticises the EU for not inviting ordinary Turkish workers to the Committee to discuss the terms and conditions of EU-Turkey trade relations as well as questioning whether the invited expert from Turkish big business also represents the multinational GAMA which was involved in the massive [...]

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Report from European postal workers’ meeting organised by GUE/NGL

2010-03-19T09:31:08Z

“Liberalisation has turned the market into the wild west. Those countries that haven’t been subjected to liberalisation yet – beware.” This is what one Dutch postal worker told a meeting organised in the European Parliament in early March. The meeting was co-hosted by Joe Higgins MEP of the Socialist Party and was held to bring [...]

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Lack of resources is to blame for Tallaght Hospital X-Ray scandal

2010-03-18T10:34:57Z

How many times over recent days have we heard that there were ‘governance issues’ with Tallaght Hospital as an explanation for the unbelievable saga of X-ray results not being properly monitored and thousands of doctors’ letters remaining unopened? This is typical establishment speak to obfuscate the reality that, while there was a disastrous failure in [...]

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A radical review of mortages is an absolute necessity

2010-03-18T14:40:23Z

The recent report by the ESRI on negative equity in the Irish housing market exposes the black hole that Irish householders were lead into by the speculators and the banks. The ESRI estimates that up to one third of mortgage holders, nearly 200,000 householders, could be trapped with mortgages vastly exceeding the value of [...]

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GUE/NGL Press Release – Colombia’s human rights record demands investigation of GSP+ status

2010-03-14T19:06:18Z

GUE/NGL MEPs Joe Higgins and Helmut Scholz welcomed yesterday’s passing of a resolution on the GSP+ (General System of Preferences plus) trade scheme in the European Parliament. The ongoing violation of human rights in Colombia and in particular the murder of trade unionists, indigenous people and other civilians requires increased attention from the international community. Furthermore...

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Press Release – Survey of primary care in Tallaght exposes HSE’s ‘perverted method’ of financing hospital

2010-03-14T19:03:10Z

Following on from the recent news of X rays going unchecked by radiologists and written GP referrals being unattended to for up to two years a survey carried out by the Dublin South West branch of the Socialist Party a week before these scandals came to light reveal that the poor level of GP [...]

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Bring the resources of the Hedge Funds into public ownership!

2010-03-18T15:02:45Z

Joe Higgins MEP explains his abstention on today’s vote on the Financial Transactions Tax resolution and calls instead for the hedge funds to be taken into public ownership and their resources invested into society for the benefit of all. He criticises the Commission for conspiring with the speculators in their attacks on the Euro and [...]

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Three members of Socialist Resistance (Socialist Party in Kazakhstan) beaten and arrested – send protest letters

2010-03-14T19:09:05Z

On 7 March, in Taraz, southern Kazakhstan, three activists from Socialist Resistance (CWI), Dmitri Tikhonv, Vladimir Lomaev and comrade Mikhail were arrested by police. They were held outside a culture centre where a rock festival was taking place. A police patrol approached and asked the three to ‘accompany them’. A scuffle ensued, in which Dima was [...]

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Joe Higgins MEP condemns the use of preferential trade agreements to dominate developing countries

2010-03-18T15:04:00Z

At a plenary session, Joe Higgins MEP questions Karl de Gucht, EU Trade Commissioner, on the impact that preferential trade agreements have on the economies of the developing countries around the world as well as the awarding of preferential agreements to countries involved in serious human rights abuses and attacks on minorities and working people. [...]

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Solidarity with action by taxi drivers

2010-03-14T19:03:10Z

It is absolutely despicable that once again, taxi drivers have been forced to take action to highlight the plight that workers in the industry face. I support the actions of the taxi drivers in occupying the Regulator’s office and those taxi drivers who have withdrawn their service in solidarity. As a result of deregulation, we have [...]

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Removal of trees from M50 is an act of wanton vandalism

2010-03-14T19:03:11Z

Residents are now being subjected to increased levels of noise that are excessive and above the maximum level recommended. The Dublin Area Noise Plan recommends a maximum of 60dB (decibels) during daytime and 50dB at night for frequency range. Incredibly, some residents are experiencing noise levels of over 95dB! Even where noise barriers have been [...]

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Iceland rejections rejects repayment plan – where is the mandate for NAMA?

2010-03-14T19:09:06Z

The rejection by the Icelandic people, by such a decisive margin, of the proposed repayment package to major UK and Dutch depositors to the Landsbanki is to be welcomed by working people and the unemployed throughout the world. Had the terms “negotiated” by the Icelandic government amounting to €3.9 billion of repayments in a nation of [...]

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Free Mumia Abu-Jamal – Report from meeting organised by the GUE/NGL

2010-03-14T20:11:03Z

“Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Death Row for almost 30 years in Pennsylvania. He’s currently sitting in a very small dark cell on Death Row. He is in solitary confinement as are all on Death Row. Mumia only gets to bathe three times a week. He is allowed outside five days a week for a [...]

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GUE/NGL Press Release – Relentless EU dismantling of postal services will hit both workers and customers

2010-03-14T20:11:04Z

Opening today’s GUE/NGL group conference on the liberalisation of postal services, Irish MEP Joe Higgins said citizens were being hit hard by the Commission’s ongoing drive to privatise Europe’s postal services. “This relentless process of liberalisation totally ignores the impact on workers and customers as well as the social functions of public postal services. The EU...

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Greek workers’ resistance to attacks is an example to be followed in Ireland

2010-03-05T15:08:46Z

It is a privilege to be invited to join other public representatives from the European revolutionary left this weekend to address Greek workers and activists at forums in Athens and Salonika. I will bring the experience of Irish working people into the forums that I will be addressing and which I expect are fundamentally similar experiences [...]

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Workers must resist attempts to increase retirement age

2010-03-14T19:03:11Z

There is a growing clamour to force upwards the retirement age for workers. Today the Government is scheduled to publish new proposals for future pension arrangements in Ireland. Minister for Social and Family Affairs Hanafin has already hinted that the age at which people first receive the State pension should be raised. Bank of Ireland is [...]

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Report from the “Women and the Economic Crisis” meeting in the European Parliament

2010-03-14T20:11:04Z

A meeting was held in the European Parliament last week titled ‘Women and the Economic Crisis’. The event brought together many activists, left wing parties and women’s’ groups and was hosted by the United Left group (GUE/NGL). The meeting discussed the effects of the economic crisis on women and what solutions the left had. There [...]

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Release Pat O’Donnell and bring the Corrib gas field back into public control

2010-03-14T19:03:11Z

Having travelled from Dublin on Friday to visit Pat O’Donnell in Castlerea Prison, I was encouraged by Pat stating that he was well treated and well respected by prison staff. However, it is an outrage that Pat O’Donnell finds himself in prison at all. He is a victim of the criminalisation of decent people involved [...]

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