Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillors vote to reduce local property tax by 15%- Cllr Carney Boud

September 23, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillors have this evening voted to reduce the local property tax by the full 15%.

Speaking after the vote Cllr Carney Boud said:

“Sinn Féin believes that the local property tax is a regressive, unjust austerity measure and the 15% reduction will result in €11.6m going back into people’s pockets throughout the city.

This is a small step on the road to complete abolition of the local property tax, which is Sinn Féin’s policy should we be elected to government.”

“In addition to the water charges, the local property tax was introduced by the government as part of its austerity agenda with absolutely no regard to people’s ability to pay.

As a result, those who can afford to pay more in tax simply don’t. There are people on very high earnings living next door to those who struggle to pay – a situation resulting from the variation of property prices over time. That is a failed policy on the part of the government.”

“At a time when over 110,000 families are in mortgage distress of over 90 days and deprivation levels remain unacceptably high, the regressive and blanket nature of the local property tax is simply unacceptable.”

Filed Under: General News Tagged With: ,

Worried about Water Charges? You’ve seen nothing yet!

September 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment

The EU soon intends to sign two far-reaching trade agreements: one with Canada (CETA = Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) and one with the USA (TTIP = Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). The real beneficiaries of these agreements will not be Irish citizens, but big corporations. Sinn Féin stand in opposition to these agreements as they have the potential to destroy social and environmental standards. For more, please see Sinn Féin’s discussion document.

6 of our biggest concerns about TTIP and CETA

1. Threat to democracy: Within these agreements are the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms. ISDS allows corporations to sue governments for loss of revenue when government regulations are seen to affect expected profits, trampling on Member State sovereignty. It doesn’t allow governments to sue corporations.
2. Transparency: The secret nature of negotiations is a worry. Even MEPs are drip fed information, which is primarily sourced from leaks from the EU Commission.
3. “Regulatory Cooperation”. This essentially means that representatives of big business are invited to participate in expert groups to influence new draft laws, even before these are discussed in the elected parliaments. This undermines democracy! TTIP lobbying
4. Job Losses: The unequivocal adoption of such trade agreements could lead to the potential displacement of up to one million jobs within the EU. This is a distinct possibility according to the EU Commission that has stated that TTIP is likely to bring, “prolonged and substantial dislocation of EU workers.”
5. The Environment: The EU and its member states are falling under pressure to allow risky technologies such as fracking. At present there is a moratorium on fracking in Ireland.
6. Consumer protection: Foodstuff standards and consumer protection for cosmetics and medical products threaten to be set at the same levels as US standards. Around 70% of all processed foods sold in the US contain genetically modified ingredients. By contrast very little GM food in sold in the EU.

Filed Under: Economy, General News