Newsletter Nov 2022 - Jan 2023

NEW PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVE FOR CORK SOUTH CENTRAL

The Cork branch of People Before Profit has elected Joe Moore to be its public representative. Joe has also been nominated to be our candidate in the 2024 Local Elections for the Cork South Central Electoral Area. Joe has a long record of fighting for worker’s rights and against all forms of oppression. He is a socialist, a trade union activist and a campaigner against racism.

After his nomination Joe said “People Before Profit has a long history of fighting for ordinary working-class people, we challenge the pro-business and pro-landlord agenda of the right-wing establishment parties. We do this both in the Dáil and in local authorities around the country. We need a strong voice in Cork City Council. People have had enough of long waiting lists for both medical care and proper social housing. If elected I will represent the interests of the working people of South Central in City Hall. But unlike other parties, People Before Profit does not confine itself to work in political chambers. We also believe in people power, in organizing people in their local communities to fight for their rights.” People Before Profit will begin its campaign to elect a socialist to the City Council over the coming weeks. If you agree that the failed politics of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael must be challenged, then we invite you to join with us in putting people before profit.

DERELICT CORK

We can find abandoned and derelict buildings all over Cork, such as the building on Washington Street that partially collapsed early one morning and miraculously did not injure anyone. According to Cork’s derelict sites register, there are more than 100 such sites in the city; however, campaigners Frank O’Connor and Judy Sherry have identified over 700 properties that meet the legal classification of dereliction - all in the middle of a housing crisis. Why are there so many abandoned sites in Cork that are slowly falling apart and becoming dangerous ruins? One reason is that the process for compulsory acquisition is long-winded, complicated and costly. Though there is a levy on derelict properties of 7% of the estimated market value, it is easy for owners to evade this fee. In the first half of 2021 only 3% of the levy on derelict properties has been collected. What can be done about this issue? There needs to be an easier process for the council to acquire derelict properties and more severe consequences for not paying the levy. It must be more costly for an owner to let a property go to ruin, than for the council to acquire it. With record levels of homelessness and 41.6% of renters at risk of falling into poverty it is essential the City Council immediately requisition and renovate all derelict properties to alleviate the housing crisis.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL WHAT YOU DON’T OWN

Ireland’s energy system is a mess. The ESB is run to make a profit, and must compete with several other energy companies, all charging you an arm and a leg to heat and power your home. Every time the energy bills come in, they are more expensive, and it doesn’t matter how many times you move from one supplier to another, it’s always the same. Something needs to change. The war in Ukraine has put all this into sharp focus. Since the war began, countries like Germany have introduced legislation that would allow them to nationalise energy companies if it was in the public interest to do so. If other countries can do this, why not Ireland? As the winter comes in, the cost of energy will be a matter of life and death for many people, particularly the elderly.

People Before Profit supports price controls to bring down costs in the short term, but if we want long term control of our energy, we must bring the whole system under public ownership, on a not-for-profit basis. But it’s not just to control electricity bills that we support energy nationalisation. As the climate crisis ramps up, the only way that we can have a just transition to a green, zero carbon energy system is if our energy is under public control.

By having our energy democratically controlled by the people of Ireland we can ensure that workers who worked with old, polluting energy sources like peat, gas and coal can be retrained and given well paid, unionised jobs in new, clean renewable energy industries, if they so choose. We can also fully own of our renewable energy resources, such as wind, tide, and hydro, instead of selling them off to private companies like we did with our natural gas. Our renewable energy resources could help us become more energy self-sufficient and stop having to import oil and gas from abroad, especially from brutal regimes like Russia.

Since our founding, People Before Profit has been consistent in calling for the public ownership of energy. Other easures don’t go far enough in fixing the crisis we are in now. For people, and for planet, let’s take back control of our energy, because you can’t control what you don’t own.