New broom has yet to clean up
Harney and O'Rourke have toughest cabinet postings
New faces, new titles for old problems but has anything changed
in Dublin's Merrion Buildings as a new administration comes to
grips for what passes as political power in the 26 Counties? So
far - except for a new coat of gloss as the new government
renames troublesome departments - it would appear that nothing
much has changed.
The new Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat cabinet is moving into
its first month of Government, with some bad cases of opening
night jitters, particularly for two of the three new women
Cabinet members.
FACTORY CLOSURES
Mary Harney's cabinet posting to the Department of Enterprise,
Employment and Trade (a new addition) is one the most difficult
in government. Already she has had to contend with less than
impressive unemployment figures and three factory closures.
Mary O'Rourke has the most difficult cabinet posting as minister
for the renamed Department of Public Enterprise. It is the
ministry that helped sink Lowry, and even Dukes left his short
tenure in the hot seat with his ears burning as the deflector
issue remained clearly unresolved.
Formerly titled the Department of Transport, Energy and
Communications, it should perhaps be renamed the ministry of
privatisation as most of its core elements, the ESB, Telecom, An
Post, RTE and CIE are due to come under either the auctioneer's
hammer or to have to operate alongside foreign competitors. It is
unclear whether O'Rourke's approach will differ from that of her
predecessors.
These are not the only departments to be renamed. Marine is now
known as ``Natural Resources'' while Social Welfare is to be called
``Social, Community and Family Affairs''.
ABBERATION
Mary Harney was only a week into work when the first wave hit
home. June's unemployment figures for the 26 Counties showed an
increase of 6,749 to 254,673. ``An aberration,'' said new minister
Dermot Ahern. Aberration or not, the figures must have
concentrated Harney's mind for she in reality is the minister for
Job Creation and the the temporary increase in the jobless
figures showed just how explodable the hype over the Celtic Tiger
economy actually is.
Many of these new welfare claimants are teachers and other
occupations who only have seasonal work and are effectively being
exploited by their employers who don't have to offer full-time
contracts. In the case of the teachers, many are in reality
government employees as it is the Department of Education who
pays the schools to hire them, and must know that they are
getting these workers cheap. So it shouldn't be such a surprise
in the Summer and in December when they sign on en masse.
TASK FORCE
The second wave of problems to hit Harney came in the form of
threatened closures at three separate factories The first was at
Asahi synthetic fibre manufacturing plant in Mayo. Its 320
workers rejected a new set of pay terms and working conditions
offered by senior management who were buying the company from its
Japanese parent company. The workers had been told that rejection
of the wage cuts could mean closure of the plant.
A very similar situation emerged in the Farah clothing plant also
in Mayo, this time Kiltimagh. Here again was a dispute over wage
cuts and changes in working conditions between 160 workers and
their managers who were attempting to buy out their American
owners.
The reaction to the prospect of two plant closures in Mayo was
considerably different to the news that 91 workers at Shamrock
Apparel in Coolock were to lose their jobs.
The prospect of job losses in North Mayo prompted Enterprise and
Employment minister Mary Harney to launch an enterprise
initiative.
DOUBLE STANDARD
The initiative's role is to explore options to secure not only
the Asahi plant but to market North Mayo as an investment
location while also setting up training courses for the workers.
The closure at Asahi is due in six months time. The closure at
Shamrock is due on 25 July, yet there is as of yet no task force
for the workers there.
Dublin North East representative Larry O'Toole told An Phoblacht
that while he welcomed the announcement of the task force for
North Mayo he felt that Coolock, a disaster area in terms of
unemployment, deserved the same level of Government concern.
He called on the Mary Harney to ``authorise Forbairt to take over
this factory and retain the workers until alternative employment
is found''.
It is unclear what course of action Harney will take. For now it
seems as though nothing has really changed. It is a case of new
government, same policies.
Dempsey's U-Turn
O Caoláin votes against local government funding climbdown
Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin voted last week against
proposals by 26-County Environment minister Noel Dempsey to
backtrack on commitments given by the Rainbow Coaltion to finally
take the first steps towards reforming the financing of local
government.
``The position of the new administration is, in our view, a
reaffirmation of existing central government control with vague
promises to widen and deepen local government. Vague promies are
not a substitute for firm action.''
The Rainbow Coalition had promised to allow local authorities to
retain motor tax revenue and use this as a substitute for the
inequitable levying of service charges. Now Dempsey has proposed
to retract this proposal without making the alternatives clear.
In a statement to An Phoblacht O Caolain said, ``The proposals
brought forward by the previous administration were far from
perfect. However, our interpretation was that it finally
recognised the failures of the present system''.
``Reform of local government where the objective is a vibrant,
self financing, representative powerful system of local
government is one of the core objectives of Sinn Féin,'' said O
Caolain.
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