THE HSE is costing a day-

time-only A & E service for

Connolly Hospital, Blan-

chardstown, and a real threat

now exists to our hospital.

Staffing of the A&E and hospital

generally has been run down to in-

tolerable levels. There are now only

half the number of Registrar Doc-

tors required for Casualty, with

nursing levels pared back and all

locum recruitment banned by a for-

mal instruction to hospital manage-

ment in a threatening letter of 22nd

July.

Staff suspect a Roscommon-sce-

nario is being plotted again, with ad-

ministrators planning to come in and

declare the situation dangerous.

If the HSE is allowed to down-

grade to an 8am-8pm A&E, the en-

tire hospital would effectively be

downgraded. It would also place

huge pressure on the A&E at Mater,

Beaumont and other Dublin hospi-

tals, already under strain.

Savage cuts in the order of €20

million have taken place in the hos-

pital's budgets in recent years. This

is in the context of a greatly-in-

creased population to over 100,000

in greater Blanchardstown, plus a

much wider catchment. Wards and

beds have been closed. Absolutely

nothing else can be skimmed.

Cllr Ruth Coppinger has called

on the HSE to clarify its plans for

Blanchardstown Hospital and for

the two Ministers in Dublin West

(Joan Burton and Leo Varadkar) to

answer on this issue. The Socialist

Party had been given assurances in

the Dail that a 24-hour A&E would

be maintained, but behind-the-

scenes acts suggest otherwise.

Any attempt to downgrade Blan-

chardstown Hospital must be resis-

ted by the staff and the community

who depend on it. In the 1980s a

campaign was waged to success-

fully Defend Blanchardstown Hospi-

tal, with Joe Higgins playing a lead

part. The hospital is needed even

more now. The Socialist Party is

committed to building a strong staff-

community campaign which will

once again defend Connolly and

put relentless pressure on any gov-

ernment planning to downgrade it.

Defend our Hospital Oppose HSE/Fine Gael/Labour cuts

Cllr Ruth Coppingerto stand in DublinWest By-Election

ABY Election to fill the seat left vacantby the death of Brian Lenihan is likelyon 27 October, the same day as the

Presidential Election. The Socialist Party hasselected Cllr Ruth Coppinger to contest it.

As a councillor for 8 years, Ruth has beenan excellent campaigner for communities inDublin 15, taking a principled stance againstdeveloper-led planning and for community facil-ities. Ruth Coppinger would live on the averageindustrial wage if elected and donate the rest ofher salary to community campaigns and thefight for an alternative to this government.

If you are disgusted at the abuse of powerby bankers, builders and right-wing politiciansthat has crashed the economy - use this ByElection to strike back.

Turn the By Election into a referendumagainst the robbery of the bail-outs and auster-ity started by Fianna Fail and now imposed byLabour and Fine Gael. Use your vote to also re-ject the plan to impose home and water taxesof more than €1,000 on each household.

By electing Ruth Coppinger - Socialist Party/ United Left Alliance - you can help establish anew broad based left party that, unlike the rest,really fights for ordinary working class people.To help in our By Election campaign contactRuth on 087 6730187

Newly launched campaign of staff & the community -

DEFEND BLANCHARDSTOWN HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN

PROTEST: 1pm, Saturday 17th September at new entrance to hospital on N3

SCHOOLS IN Dublin 15 are feeling thesharpest edge of the axe in the latest

round of cuts, as SNAs and resource teach-ers are pulled out of classrooms.

SNAPT - Special Needs Assistants Parents and

Teachers - was set up at a packed public meeting

in Blanchardstown in June, initiated by Cllr Ruth

Coppinger, Cllr Matt Waine and Joe Higgins TD.

SNAPT is calling on all parents to act about this

bleeding of resources from our schools. All children

will be affected, not just those with learning needs.

Children with behavioural and learning issues who

have supports withdrawn will inevitably act up, tak-

ing up teacher attention. The life chances of the

young people who need help are being severely

hit as well, with early school leaving more likely.

SNAPT is joining the protest at the Dail on Sep-

tember 14th and will also consider local protests to

bring huge pressure on our government Ministers

to withdraw these cuts. Children should not be

made pay for the private gambling debts of

bankers and speculators.

SNAs/Resource teachers cuts -

An attack on all children

STOP THE SNA / LEARNING RESOURCE CUTS -JOIN THE MARCH TO THE DAIL:

Wednesday 14th September, assemble 4pmCentral Bank Plaza, Dame St. For info /bus place text 087-7417427.

Join the fightback

Join the Socialists Joe Higgins TD appeals to all those who are

opposed to the failed policies of bailouts, auster-

ity and cuts, to help in our By-election campaign.

If you would like to assist, text ‘HELP’ followed

by your name and address to 087 6730187

www.socialistparty.net

Cllr Ruth Coppinger has pledged to assist staff, patients and the wider community to defend Connolly Hospital.

Newsletter of Cllr Ruth Coppinger and the Socialist Party in Dublin West l September 2011

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LABOUR AND Fine Gael continue tobail out European and Irish bankers

and developers with vicious austeritycuts despite this forcing the economyback into deep recession.

In Dublin 15 the major cuts at Blanchard-stown Hospital, together with devastatingcuts in resource teachers and special needsassistants, are only the tip of the iceberg.

The consequence of such cuts is thatconsumption is falling; the numbers in mort-gage arrears is up sharply and despite em-igration, unemployment is getting worse.

We must force a change in policy ur-gently!

Most likely the Presidential Election on27 October will be meaningless with onlyestablishment candidates fighting for a ca-reer. But it the Dublin West By-election isheld on the same day, it will give the peopleof Dublin West a brilliant opportunity tostrike a major blow against the bail-outsand austerity started by Fianna Fail andnow pursued with a vengeance by FineGael and Labour.

Voting in large numbers for CouncillorRuth Coppinger, the Socialist Party/UnitedLeft Alliance candidate, could inflict a de-

cisive defeat on current government policyand strengthen the call for a change inpolicy.

Draconian austerity cutbacks through-out Europe are also the reason a new eco-nomic collapse and continual financialcrises is crippling the EU.

Even conservative economists are nowadmitting that it is capitalist policies, by con-tinually transferring the wealth from ordinarypeople to the big business and the rich thatis undermining the “market” and wastingthe huge economic potential that exists.

The only alternative is for the key eco-nomic wealth to be used in a planned wayfor the benefit of the vast majority throughthe democratic public ownership of the keywealth in society.

Trade union leaders are refusing to or-ganise resistance as they should be so wemust kick off the fight back now.

Ordinary working class people alsoneed a new political party that representstheir interests and could be a basis for analternative government. The establishmentof the United Left Alliance, with five TDs in-cluding Joe Higgins and Clare Daly of theSocialist Party, is an important step.

Labour & Fine Gael - making the crisis worse

Pyrite: action needed THE SCOURGE of pyrite, which cracks and destroys

homes, continues to affect thousands in Dublin West

and nationally. Socialist Party reps are campaigning for

remediation measures. This has been raised in the Dail

by Joe Higgins TD and Clare Daly TD. Cllr Ruth Cop-

pinger is working with residents in Mulhuddart and

Ongar on this. A Pyrite Action Campaign has also been

established which picketed Homebond this summer. For

help or advice tel 087 6730187.

PUBLIC MEETINGS, canvassing

and a successful protest which

drew national media attention are

what is bringing on the pressure to

get Hansfield station opened.

For a year, this station lay idle while

developers refused to build an access

road to it. Negotiations between Fingal

Council, Irish Rail and the developers

were yielding nothing.

Cllr Ruth Coppinger then assisted

the establishment of the Ongar Facili-

ties Action Group. Canvassing and

meetings led to a march on June 18th

to the unopened station. This was cov-

ered on RTE news and national media.

All credit is due to Hansfield/Ongar

residents for their hard work, certainly

not to Fine Gael who never bothered

attending the meetings in Ongar, or to

Labour who gave no support to the

march.

A timeline has now been issued by

the Minister for Transport for opening in

June 2012. While this is progress, this

timeline is still far too long. There is no

reason it should take a year to build a

road that already has planning permis-

sion. The station car parking should

have been separated, allowing tender-

ing and work on the road to start

months ago and the station open within

months.

Residents should also watch that

agreements are actually signed by the

developers and that the finances are

not cut. If this is not confirmed soon,

the community would have to again

consider further meetings or protests.

The truth aboutHansfield station

l Organise in the community to resistausterity cutbacks and new taxes –start with organising against theHousehold Tax

l For major trade union action to re-sist austerity and for a trade unionlink up with workers in other Euro-pean countries who are also fight-ing attacks from the EU and IMF

l Build a new mass party to representthe interests of ordinary workingclass people

l For a real bail-out for the people ofEurope - don’t pay the debts of thebankers and speculators; nation-alise the banks and finance marketsand use them to facilitate invest-ment in jobs and the economy notspeculation

l For democratic public ownership ofthe main economic resources andsocialist policies to create

THE GOVERNMENT is imposinga €100 Household Charge onevery home from next January.If accepted this would rise re-

lentlessy, with the ESRI demandingaverage home taxes of €1,300!

In a cynical U-turn on election prom-ises, Fine Gael and Labour are now fullybehind the EU/IMF/ECB package of bail-ing out bankers but austerity, cuts andnew taxes for us. This policy is failing,savagely cutting consumption and costingtens of thousands of jobs. This tax wouldnot boost local services, as the govern-ment would cut equivalent amounts fromcouncil grants.

People have the power NOT to paywith a massive grassroots campaign of

non-payment. Already an Anti House-hold and Water Taxes Campaign is beinglaunched nationally. This is how weforced the abolition of the water chargesin 1996.

The government will try to frightenpeople with fines etc but, building a pow-erful campaign of civil disobedience andsolidarity will give confidence to house-holders.

In another U turn, Labour stands withFG and FF in supporting household andwater charges. Labour politicians who saythey oppose the tax, but remain in a partypushing it through, are useless to the com-munity. Sinn Fein voters will be disap-pointed that that party will not support acampaign of non-payment, the only waythe rip-off can be beaten.

The Socialist Party / United Left Al-liance is the only party in Dublin Westclearly supporting a boycott and commit-ted to building an independent, broad-based national campaign to defeatHousehold and Water Taxes.

Throughout September, meetings willbe held in Dublin West. If you would like tohelp, please contact us.

From €100 to €1,000!!

WE SAy:

UNEMPLOYMENT IN Dublin West hasrocketed to over 10,000. That is a

measure of the disaster caused by thepolicies of the last government of FiannaFail and the Greens but now continuedby Fine Gael and Labour.

Against this background, how outra-geous that local Labour Party TD andMiniser, Joan Burton, has referred to peoplemaking a ‘lifestyle choice’ to be unem-ployed. As if thousands of people in ourcommunities had a brainstorm in the lastthree years and decided that they wanted tolive in poverty on the dole!

Time for Minister Burton, Minister Varad-kar and the government to get real. Theirpolicy of savage cuts in ordinary people’s in-comes is causing disaster in the economy,massively increasing unemployment.

What we need now, instead of paying bil-lions into the black hole of bankers’ privatebad debts, is to put the resources into emer-gency programmes of massive public in-vestment in infrastructure to createthousands of jobs for our people in DublinWest and everywhere else.

Jobs not dole

Don’t pay the Household Tax

Your Socialist team in Dublin 15

JOE HIGGINS TD:joe.higgins@oir.ie / 01 618 3370

CLLR. RUTH COPPINGERMULHUDDART: 087 6730187ruthcoppinger@gmail.com

CLLR. MATT WAINECASTLEKNOCK: 087 6684616mattwaine@gmail.com

Cllr Ruth Coppinger, marching with residentsin June to demand the opening of HansfieldTrain Station.

Cllr Ruth Coppinger is calling on people to boycott the charge

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