Statement by the President of Republican/ Sinn Féin Poblachtach Sinn Féin Des Dalton

“The proposed sale of Aer Lingus to IAG who also own British Airways is yet another step in the asset stripping of the 26-County State”, according to the President of Republican Sinn Féin/Sinn Féin Poblachtach, Des Dalton.

“The ideology of neo-liberal economics places no value on the social or economic consequences of workers, their families or the wider national interest. This ideology has dictated economic policy by all 26-County Administrations and has resulted in the stripping of public ownership of energy supply, such as electricity and gas.

“Our natural resources such as water, gas and oil have been sold off to multinationals while our own people have borne the brunt of economic austerity imposed by the Leinster House regime and their masters in the EU/ECBIMF Troika. In the 1980s Irish Shipping was arbitrarily wound up. In the last decade our sugar beet industry was dismantled at the behest of the EU while our fishing industry was decimated. All the markers of a sovereign and independent state have been given away by successive administrations.

“Now Aer Lingus looks set to be sold off. For an island nation to be deprived of the ownership and control of all these essentials modes of transport and communication leaves the Irish people even further at the mercy of transnational capital with the resultant effect on employment and further social isolation of communities.

“The people of Greece have sent a message to the EU political and economic elites that they are not prepared to see their nation sold off piece meal and the collapse of their society. It is time that the Irish people stood up these acts of political and economic treason. As we approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising the words of the 1916 Proclamation have rarely been more relevant: “’We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.’”

January 27 / Eanaír, 2015

Críoch/Ends

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