CLLR. Ted Tynan, President of the Workers Party of Ireland
The Workers Party over the course of the last year has continued to challenge the capitalist and nationalist consensus which dominates political discourse on the island of Ireland. There are multiple problems facing workers and their families. The bankruptcy of the main political parties has nothing to offer the working class.
Despite the narrative presented in the mass media, ours is a class-based society, with unrestrained attacks on the social and economic conditions of workers and their families; the impoverishment of working people; the increased power of the monopolies and multinational corporations; the continuing attacks on living standards, labour rights, social protection, health, education, public employment and the provision of public services.
The general election in the Republic of Ireland has maintained the political status quo although no government has yet been formed. The 6th Northern Ireland Executive, formed on 3rd February 2024, and dominated by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, offers no prospect for change. In Britain, the election of a Labour government immediately revealed the callous opportunism of social democracy and its ongoing betrayal of the working class.
The capitalist system is facing another crisis. It is incapable of overcoming its cyclical crises and contradictions. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, with economic and social inequality, wage stagnation, job insecurity, and the lack of affordable housing. There is a lack of access to quality healthcare, social care and education. The escalating impacts of climate change, fuelled by capitalism, threaten the world. Systemic racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination remain rampant.
Workers' rights guaranteeing proper wages, equal pay for equal work, the right to a safe and healthy working environment, protection from arbitrary and unjust termination of employment; the right to form and join unions without fear of retaliation and workplaces free from discrimination and harassment have yet to be secured. Young workers are deprived of proper and meaningful opportunities to improve their skills and access to training, education, and development programmes.
Poverty remains a critical issue. Poverty rates among older persons in the European Union is increasing, with almost twice as many older women being affected than older men. This trend of rising poverty among older people is of significant concern, given that populations are ageing at an unprecedented rate. The pension gap between men and women across the EU remains vast and workers in “flexible” and insecure work face difficulties accessing and accruing pension rights. The growth of precarious work exacerbates this problem.
A fifth of children in the EU are living in poverty. Of the approximately 559,800 people living in poverty in the Republic of Ireland, around 177,000 are children. Ireland has one of the most unequal distributions of income in the European Union.
There is an unacceptably high instance of low paid employment with many thousands living in poverty despite having a job. The Republic of Ireland has one of the highest rates of low-paid employment in the OECD and this impacts on housing inequality, particularly adversely affecting young people, people with disabilities, single parents, children and travellers.
The world faces continuing global inequality, misery and suffering. This is no accident. The richest 10% of the global population own 76% of all wealth, while the poorest half own just 2%. Income inequality is also stark, with the richest 10% earning 52% of global income, compared to just 8% for the poorest half. Yet while poverty increases exponentially, global arms production is a large and growing industry. The United States remains the world's largest arms exporter, responsible for 41.7% of international arms sales between 2019 and 2023.
Our Party remains deeply concerned by the rise in misogyny and violence and murder against women. Violence against women and girls has reached alarming levels, including domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault, stalking, harassment and murder. Our Party has been active in campaigns to raise consciousness and protect and empower women.
The Workers Party of Ireland reasserts its solidarity with the Palestinian people. We demand that Ireland breaks diplomatic ties with Israel. The genocidal acts of the Israeli state which include the indiscriminate and mass killing of Palestinians, especially children, the destruction of their homes, their expulsion and displacement, the blockade on food, water and medical assistance, the targeting and destruction of hospitals, essential medical and health care facilities, causing serious mental and bodily harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions meant to "bring about their physical destruction as a group” amounts to genocide.
Our Party has denounced the hypocrisy of the imperialist powers which have backed the jihadist forces in Syria, which they previously denounced, in removing the previous capitalist Assad regime while promoting the weakening and dismemberment of the sovereign, secular state of Syria. These developments take place within the context of increasing imperialist aggression in the region and Israel’s genocidal, aggressive and expansionist policies which in addition to its murderous attacks in Palestine and Lebanon now involve massive military intervention in Syria. A secure and safe world can never be created by imperialism.
The bloody inter-imperialist war which continues and escalates in Ukraine at the expense of the once comradely peoples and workers of Russia and Ukraine is yet another example of the savage consequences of imperialist designs, interventions, wars and exploitation.
In the midst of this aggression, the ruling parties of the Irish state plan the destruction of Irish neutrality. Ireland’s membership of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council; the collaboration with NATO in the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme, the attack on the Triple Lock, the commitment to the creation of a 50,000 strong EU First Entry Force capable of invading other states, the proposal for a massive increase in military expenditure, the continued facilitation of Shannon Airport as a military base, the increasing shift towards the aggressive imperialist miliary positions of NATO and the EU pose a threat to the peace and security of the people.
Capitalism has no solutions for workers and their families. The Workers Party enters 2025 firm in its continuing commitment to revolutionary change, to the abolition of the exploitative and oppressive capitalist system which sees the minority appropriating for themselves the wealth produced by the working class, to unrelenting support for and solidarity with workers in their workplaces and neighbourhoods in their day-to-day struggles and for a new world of peace, freedom and socialism!
Our Party sends its Best Wishes and New Year Greetings to our fellow workers and to our comrades at home and abroad in our common fight for a new and better future!
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