Ireland鈥檚 new Fine Gael (FG)-Labour Party (LP) coalition government has set out an agenda of continuing the savage austerity and spending cuts of the Fianna Fail (FF)-Greens coalition ii has replaced.
The cuts are enforced by the International Monetary Fund-European Union bailout of the Irish government.
In the February 26 elections, FF and the Greens were thrashed in a backlash against the bail-out and the anti-worker austerity that goes with it. The Greens failed to win a seat in the Dail (Irish parliament) and FF slumped from 77 seats to 20.
Sinn Fein (SF) and the United Left Alliance (ULA) TDs (MPs) in the Dail accused FG and LP of betraying their electoral promises and ignoring the wishes of the voters. SF and the ULA ran on anti-austerity platforms and won 14 and five seats respectively.
The new government has announced plans to sack 25,000 public servants and admitted its promise to reverse a minimum wage cut was dependent on IMF-EU approval. Labour鈥檚 promise to oppose the introduction of water charges has also been dropped.
Despite the IMF-EU bailout, Ireland鈥檚 banking crisis remains dire. A stress test on four big Irish banks, completed by Ireland鈥檚 Central Bank on March 30, found the total amount needed to ensure the continued solvency of the banking sector has skyrocketed to 70 billion euros.
This adds to the 46 billion euros the state has already pumped into the banking system. The governor of Ireland鈥檚 Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, said on March 31 this was 鈥渙ne of the costliest banking crises in history鈥.
Irishtimes.com鈥檚 Eoin Burke-Kennedy reported on March 31 that, in response, Ireland鈥檚 finance minister Michael Noonan said 鈥渢he government would reduce the number of domestic banks to two 鈥榩illar banks鈥, based around Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and Bank of Ireland鈥.
Sinn Fein鈥檚 finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said in a March 31 speech to the Dail: 鈥淚t beggars belief that this so-called alternative Government is to pump another 鈧24 billion into the defunct banking system.
鈥淭his open-ended commitment to cover bank losses plainly exceeds the fiscal capacity of the state. The losses of the banking sector have become the losses of the taxpayer. Bank debt has become sovereign debt.
鈥淎nd that is the problem and it is the ordinary citizens who are suffering for these failings鈥 Nearly half a million people are unemployed. 50,000 of our young people are leaving our shores each year. A growing number of people face eviction.
鈥淔amilies struggle to feed their children and provide warmth. These are the people Fine Gael and Labour want to foot the bill for the banks.
鈥淭he Government has not acted in the interests of the people today; it has acted purely in the interest of the banks.鈥
Sinn Fein has called for increased taxes on the rich and cutting the salaries of top public servants and politicians as an alternative to the anti-worker austerity.
Sinn Fein is also campaigning for the abolition of the Universal Social Charge. The USC, introduced in early 2011, is a flat tax of 7% applying to all incomes 16,000 euros and above.
Ireland鈥檚 Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny told members of the Dail on March 15: 鈥淣o further monies will be put into the banks until we see how this responsibility can be shared.鈥
However, the ULA accused Kenny鈥檚 government of being 鈥済uilty of the monumental betrayal of its policy of honesty鈥.
The ULA has proposed the 鈥渄emocratic public ownership of the banks鈥 rather than the continued use of taxpayers money to prop up the capitalist financial system.
ULA鈥檚 Dail member Joe Higgins said the government had 鈥減romised burden sharing. Instead the economic lifeblood of our country is being drained to pay for [the bank鈥檚] gambling debt鈥.
The ULA, which was formed as an electoral alliance by left groups in November, has pledged resistance to the government鈥檚 austerity in the Dail and on the streets.
The ULA announced on March 28 plans for public meetings across Ireland as part of a membership drive aimed to help build the ULA into a new radical left party.
Wall Street Journal reporters David Enrich and Eamon Quinn said on March 30: 鈥淚reland鈥檚 crisis arose from an epic property-lending binge that propelled Ireland鈥檚 economy for years. When real-estate prices started tumbling, it wrecked the banking sector.鈥
This same process, driven by reckless lending and deregulated financial sectors, led to the global financial crisis.
In response, governments in the US and across Europe have sought to shift the burden for the crisis, and the huge amounts of money given to private banks to try to save the financial system, directly onto working people.
The fallout from this process has been a monumental tragedy for ordinary people right around the globe.