The newly-formed United Left Alliance intends to run candidates in at least 14 constituencies for the general election including Dublin MEP Joe Higgins and former Tipperary TD Seamus Healy.
The alliance was formed last October and is made up of members of the People Before Profit Alliance, the the Socialist Party and the Tipperary-based Workers and Unemployed Action Group.
Spokesman Eddie Conlon told a news conference in Dublin today the alliance believed the Government’s policy of “prioritising the needs of the banks over the citizens” was wrong.
There should be a policy of “taxing the rich” because the ordinary workers had suffered enough. He said the “private debts” of the banks could not be transferred to the taxpayers.
Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett - who is a candidate in Dún Laoghaire – said the alliance had called for a maximum limit on salaries in the public sector but this should be set at €100,000 and not the €250,000 which the Government was said to be considering.
Cllr Mick Barry, who is running in Cork North-Central, said the ULA “strongly supports” the call by the Unite trade union for a one-day general strike against the Government’s austerity policy.
“We are launching a petition on this issue, which has been signed by more than 50 trade union activists across a wide range of unions,” he said. “Such a strike could bring down this government and fire a warning-shot across the bows of any incoming government.
Paddy Healy of the National Public Services Alliance said the leadership of the union protest against the cuts last Saturday week had put forward “no next step whatsoever”.
A list of ULA general election candidates includes: Cllr Mick Barry (Cork North Central); Cllr Richard Boyd-Barrett (Dún Laoghaire); Cllr Joan Collins (Dublin South Central); Joe Higgins MEP (Dublin West); Cllr Clare Daly (Dublin North); Cllr Seamus Healy (Tipperary South); Cllr Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West), Seamus O’Brien (Wexford); Mike Murphy (Dublin South West); Cian Prendiville
(Limerick City); John Lyons (Dublin North Central); Annette Mooney (Dublin South East); Conor Mac Liam (Carlow-Kilkenny) and Brian Greene (Dublin North-East).
