‘Workers’ Party TDs in Dáil Éireann can punch way above their weight and be a powerful force for change on the Left,’ Michael Finnegan, President of The Workers’ Party told his Dublin Mid West supporters in Lucan yesterday. Mr Finnegan was speaking following his selection as candidate to contest the Dublin Mid West constituency in the forthcoming general election. Mr Finnegan heads a team of six Workers’ Party candidates. Mr Finnegan is well known throughout the constituency as a campaigner and defender of workers’ rights both as a trade union activist and official. He was a leading opponent of the Lisbon Treaty. He has been to the forefront over the years in exposing the threat of speculative development to the wellbeing of Dublin Mid West communities.

‘It was precisely this type of reckless activity that has been such a destructive force for our communities in Dublin Mid West,’ Mr Finnegan pointed out, ‘and is now responsible for leading the country into bankruptcy. ‘Unscrupulous bankers and developers were allowed by government to engage in grossly speculative and risky activity. Government then went on to make the debt of this super-wealthy corrupt elite the nation’s debt and workers are paying the price and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.’ 

 ‘The Government’s Four Year Plan,’ Mr Finnegan slated as ‘the most vicious attack on workers since the 1913 Lockout. Every advance won over decades whether it be in wages and conditions, welfare, education and health has been and will continue to be slashed. This is a plan put together by both national and international ultra conservative forces. Ireland is the international test case in which the IMF/ECB are experimenting on how much cutting a people can bear. Unfortunately, the most likely successors for government, Fine Gael and Labour, offer no alternative. The same people – workers – will carry the burden.  The danger is that any genuine left wing view in Labour will quickly be erased as they align themselves once again with Ireland’s most conservative party.’

 ‘The job of The Workers’ Party,’ Mr Finnegan concluded, ‘is to fight and be a force in Dáil Éireann which would put the pressure on Labour like nothing else. We can be a powerful voice at the most crucial time ever for workers and punch way above our numerical strength. If the PDs could do it for the Right,  The Workers’ Party can do it for the Left.’  

Issued Sunday, 23rd January 2011

The six Workers' Party candidates in Election 2011 are:

Cork North Central: Councillor Ted Tynan

Dublin Central: Malachy Steenson

Dublin Mid-West: Mick Finnegan

Dublin North West: John Dunne

Meath West: Seamus McDonagh

Waterford: Joe Tobin