Mayo councillor joins Sinn FŽin
BY ROISIN DE ROSA (roisinderosa@hotmail.com)
Vincent Wood, Sinn FŽin representative in Mayo, announced
this week that Councillor Gerry Murray from Charlestown, County
Mayo, who resigned from Fianna F‡il last month, becoming an
Independent, has now joined Sinn FŽin.
"It is a significant development for Sinn FŽin and for the
ongoing development of the party in the county," said Wood. "We
are very pleased to welcome Gerry Murray to Sinn FŽin and believe
that it represents an important step in the rejuvenation and
growth of Sinn FŽin in this area."
Murray had been a member of the party before in the late 1970s
but drifted away because of the then weakness of the Sinn FŽin
organisation in Mayo.
In an interview with An Phoblacht, Gerry Murray spoke of a
wide range of reasons why he has severed his links with Fianna
F‡il and why he feels Sinn FŽin is the only party that can
genuinely present a vision to young people who are disaffected
with current political parties.
"The problem with Fianna F‡il, as I see it," he said, "is that
most have sold out their idealism, the idealism which once
inspired republicans, for corporatism. They have forsaken the
ideals and interests of the small farmers, the people of Western
seaboard, and instead become slaves to the corporate sector of
big business.
"They are selling off state assets to private profit making
companies. It is a disastrous policy for us in the West of
Ireland. Deregulation can never bring equality of opportunity to
our people here in Mayo. With deregulation, investment decisions
are based on profit, whereas we need a government commitment of
state funds precisely because, with the lack of infrastructure in
this region, it isn't profitable for private companies to invest
in our local social economy.
"Privatisation can never break the cycle of underdevelopment.
Profitable investment opportunities are on the Eastern seaboard,
where there is the infrastructure. Lack of investment is quickly
followed by population movement to the East in search of
employment. With declining populations and declining
opportunities, there is yet less potential profit to be made
through investment in the West. It is a vicious spiral of
underdevelopment which the corporations perpetuate.
"If we are to move towards equality of opportunity, if we are
serious about the development of the West, about raising the
standards of living here, and providing employment so people can
stay in the West of Ireland, then we must move from policies of
deregulation in favour of government injection of capital in the
provision of infrastructure.
"Yet Fianna F‡il is committed to deregulation. They are
committed through GATT and the IMF to the neo-liberal agenda of
privatisation and fostering private companies to provide the spur
to economic growth. They have sold out to this neo-liberal
agenda, which is entirely alien to the development of the West
and alien to our whole social cultural development in this
country.
"Deregulation, where private companies are given the monopoly
interest in the provision of essential services to the people, is
anathema to the republican ideals of a democratic socialist
republic, where equality of opportunity and diversity of cultures
is what we have ever striven for.
"A case in point is the broadband telecommunications system.
For two years, we have fought to get broadband, which is an
essential part of infrastructure if we are to draw investment to
this area. Neither ESAT nor Eircom will put in the cable simply
because it is not worth their while - there isn't a profit for
them. The state must take on its responsibilities, instead of
selling off our national assets to the big corporations and
leaving our region without the investment we need.
"In the last five years, the Fianna F‡il-led coalition
government has had a greater budget surplus than ever in our
history, yet what have they done with it? They have not taken
seriously the development of the West. Once the Celtic Tiger
slows down, it will be the people again for the road, just as it
was in my youth, where we all left for England to get work,
leaving the West economically and culturally decimated.
"Vincent Wood and I have often shared platforms in the past -
on the closure of local post office, the issue of gas and how to
preserve the interests not only of local people, but also of the
nation to claim its own resources and develop them.
"Together we have fought long and hard to bring democracy into
the discussion of how we are to dispose of our waste. The present
government is set on the course of allowing big corporations to
built incinerators around the country, even at the cost of
stripping local authorities of the power to decide on a waste
management policy.
"But the people who live here need to have a say in this
question which will affect our lives for generations to come. How
we are going to get rid of our waste in such a way as to preserve
not only the magic beauty of this part of Ireland, but in a way
which preserves the future quality of life and the environment in
which farmers have to operate. Corporatism is not the answer. We
don't need incinerators, but this government is wedded to
corporatism and determined to hand over to big private interests
the monopoly control of this essential service to our
communities. The government is oblivious to the destruction of
our environment or the enormous costs which the people will have
to bear in paying corporations to build incinerators we don't
want.
"But in the culture of Fianna F‡il, strong loyalty to party
and to power overrides all discussion of policy. Individual party
members are unable to challenge the policies of corporatism and
deregulation
"Instead of preserving the ideals of the Republic, Fianna F‡il
has based its political support on creating a culture of
dependency. This is the basis of political power of the
establishment. The culture of "leave it to me, I'll get that
fixed for you". I don't think that the young people of today,
people who have avoided emigration, people who are educated and
well able to grasp the broad political issues, are going to fall
for the culture of dependency any longer. They are not waiting to
be told by government what is best for them: they want to tell
government how best to implement the republican ideals we all
share.
"I was first drawn to republicanism at an early age, in
school, when the tragic deaths of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg
were discussed in every classroom. This brought me to an interest
in the Six Counties, and I began to see, like many others at the
time, the suffering that the people there were forced to endure,
and I joined Sinn FŽin.
"But I see all this now as a whole: it is all about democracy
and empowering the people to bring equality of opportunity into
their region.
"Sinn FŽin is the only party that offers a serious commitment
to development in the West, because it has not sold out to
corporatism, consumerism and government to serve the interests of
big business."
Lift
"Fianna F‡il have sold out their idealism, for corporatism. They have forsaken the ideals and interests of the small farmers, the people of Western seaboard, and instead become slaves to the corporate sector of big business." - Gerry Murray