Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis 1996

Address by Sean Marlow
Ard Fheis 1996

UNEMPLOYMENT IS NOT WORKING

``The Economy Is Booming''. ``The Fundamentals Are Sound''. These mantras have been repeated again and again by ``free-market'' economists and establishment politicians from the PDs to DL. But for Sinn Fein the important fundamentals are the levels of unemployment and poverty and both of these are getting worse. Last year unemployment grew by over 6000 while the gap between rich and poor got even wider. The 1996 budget will do nothing to improve matters: growth in GDP is 7% but those on Social Welfare get only 3% - a relative reduction of 4%. The meagre £2/week for our most needy will be wiped out by increased rents and ESB bills. Politicians sneakily awarded themselves a hike of £2000/year in `expenses' while a low-paid single worker on £10,000 p.a. got only £45/year through minimal PAYE/PRSI reform.

If the poor are getting much less than the 7% growth in GDP, it follows that the rich are getting way over 7%, eg, directors got over 11% last year. It says a lot about our political system that the most incisive critique of the budget was from the Conference of Religious in Ireland, which calculated that after the last two Coalition budgets (with two ``socialist parties'' in power), a long-term unemployed couple are now £1500/year worse off compared with a couple on £40,000. It is this increase in inequality that is the primary cause of alienation, vandalism, crime and drug abuse.

Sinn Fein calls for Social Welfare payments to be kept in line with economic growth (about 7%) to prevent the gap between rich and poor growing even wider.

Similarly, the Coalition has failed to deal in any radical way with the causes of unemployment. Some minimal measures (eg, medical card retention and PRSI reductions) are welcome but not the £80 subsidy for employers - it will be abused and lead to low wages subsidised by PAYE workers as happened with the FF/PD Employment Subsidy Scheme in 1992. The Government's failure to seriously tackle the lack of productive investment which leads to unemployment, is illustrated by its refusal to set up a State Bank or take any measure to regulate financial markets and so secure investment in jobs, rather than unproductive financial and property speculation.

The Government's main fiscal policy of gearing up for EMU is increasing unemployment and poverty, eg, by raising the Punt to £1.03 Sterling and by cutting public spending.

Also, the policy of maximising economic growth only increases the gap between rich and poor if the generated wealth is not fairly distributed. The annual economic report of the Conference of Religious in Ireland said that the 1995 Budget and the PCW have ``resulted in a dramatic widening of the gap between poor people and the better-off in Irish society''.

A major reason for our ``jobless growth'' is the huge export of capital from Ireland. In 1995 it is estimated that £5 billion was taken out by multinationals and about £3 billion by Irish companies.

Some SF transitional measures to generate jobs and reduce poverty:

* State control of the banks to secure reinvestment in productive, job-creating activities * Controls to limit the export of capital * Taxation of profits taken out by MNCs * An increase in Corporation Tax * Introduction of a Wealth Tax * Tackling of tax evasion - £2 billion outstanding in 1995 Funding for local communities to create long-term sustainable jobs in new growth areas like software, telecomms, audio-visual production and culture and the combination of these creative skills in the emerging high-growth technology of multi-media.

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http://www.sinnfein.org/