Statement on #ge2024

THIS week a general election will take place in the South, and the electorate have the chance to pass their verdict on the outgoing government – a government that has failed completely to tackle the crises in housing, health, rural development; or to even contemplate tackling the inequalities in Irish society.

This failure is not the result of incompetence.  It is the deliberate consequence of insisting on letting market forces control every aspect of our lives.  The government is an agency of people with capital.

So housing is not being built by the state to meet social needs.  It is left to private investors who are inspired by the search for profit.

Necessary investments are not made in the health service because the government wants to push us to depend more on the private sector, and take out private health insurance.

Rural development doesn’t happen, because the profit the investors want can’t be made.  The Irish language, a vital part of our national culture, is denied the financial support necessary to keep existing Gaeltacht communities alive and to expand the use of the language again because profits can’t be made.

Action to tackle climate change, the most pressing issue facing humanity, is not taken because real action would lower profits.

And discrimination, especially against women who still have lower pay, lesser opportunities and a dismissive attitude to their role in society, cannot be faced down because the investors need to make profits instead. The availability of abortion is still an issue with over 200 women going to Britain for a termination each year. 

Yes, it’s not just THIS government which has failed.  It is the entire capitalist system.

Sadly, the class forces are not yet developed to the point where the capitalist system, which fails us so badly, can be dismantled in its entirety.  The Irish Communist Party/Páirtí Cumannach Éireann reiterates its commitment to develop the class forces which can make this happen.

Foremost among the issues facing us is this current government’s determination to undermine Irish neutrality to the point of meaninglessness, by abolishing the Triple Lock, thus allowing the government to take us into war at the EU’s behest. Also allowing US military planes to land at Shannon airport.

We must do whatever is necessary to prevent that and to keep neutrality.

But replacing this government and its disastrous policies with a toned down version of the same will be no solution.

The Irish Communist Party/Páirti Cumannach Éireann rejects the idea of “critical support” for the European Union. In its Foundation Treaty the EU specifically insists that every member state’s economic policy MUST be one that relies on market forces, the very policy that has failed us so badly.

The system cannot be changed unless a new government is prepared to face down the EU, reject the Market and gear the state up itself to develop the economy.

Reassurances being given to big business that there will be no change in fundamental economic policy, that is a reliance on external investors to provide employment on a low taxation basis, give no confidence to our class that the necessary state-led economic development will be undertaken.

And, as massive pressure comes from the EU, the US, from business, from investors – as it will –  on any new government to row back on its stated policies and to come to heel behind the international capitalist system, the working class cannot just sit passively by.

Instead, we must generate our own pressure groups, among the rank and file in the trade unions and community organisations, so that the working class becomes an active pressure on government, not just a passive recipient of whatever the government will deliver.

The Irish Communist Party/Páirtí Cumannach Éireann will play its part in building that movement.

We certainly need change, and this is why the current crowd must be put out.  But change must mean real change, and not just a nicer version of the same failure.

END