Latest news with #CorkCouncilofTradeUnions
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Cork groups unite to take the fight to the housing crisis ahead of major protest on June 21
The Raise the Roof campaign includes a wide group of organisations including political parties, unions who represent older people, students, families and people with disabilities. Representatives of those various organisations met outside Cork City Hall on Thursday evening to outline their plan. Speaking at the event, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould said support for the protest is crucial because the housing crisis impacts everyone. 'There are generations of families living under the same roof. 'I know of a woman who is getting evicted on Monday, and another woman getting evicted tomorrow (Friday). 'People are crying out for houses, and we have hundreds of boarded up council houses throughout Cork city that families could be in right now. 'What we are trying to do here is come together and put pressure on the government,' Mr Gould said. Protesters are asked to meet at the National Monument on Grand Parade. Joe Kelly from the Cork Council of Trade Unions said it is important for all working people to come out on the day. 'There was a time that having a job would guarantee you a certain standard of living and enabled people to get on the housing ladder. 'Nowadays that is nearly impossible and that is unacceptable. 'It's going back 100 years ago when there were tenements and that can't carry on,' he said. Labour TD Eoghan Kenny and Labour Councillor for Cork City South-West Ciara O'Connor represented their party on the day, and Mr Kenny said: 'Housing is the issue of our time and of our generation's politicians.' 'My email is inundated with people looking for either affordable housing, social housing or private housing to rent. 'The days of going to people asking every auctioneer on the street of towns to find reputable accommodation should be absolutely gone. 'I'm sick and tired of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael making false promises on housing and missing housing targets,' he said. Ms O'Connor was co-opted to Cork City Council when newly elected Senator Laura Harmon gave up her seat and she said housing is the 'most prominent concern' of her constituents. 'I've had families that I know personally who have children with autism or severe needs in emergency accommodation for long periods of time. 'Emergency accommodation is not a good place for children to grow up,' Ms O'Connor added. Maire Kelly from CATU echoed the importance that people come out and show their support. 'Whether you're a parent with kids living at home or you're renting in an absolute dive of a house, or even a mortgage holder, everyone is affected and it's so important that everyone comes out. 'If we don't collectivise and show this is an issue, we won't see any change at all,' she added. Green Party Councillor for Cork City North East Oliver Moran described the housing crisis as a 'cross generation issue.' 'It is often said that people with mortgages are insulated from the housing crisis, but from that perspective you have a whole generation of people who are coming after them that do not have that opportunity. 'People's hearts are breaking looking at their children who don't have the same chance to get a house,' he said. Solidarity – People Before Profit's Brian McCarthy echoed the statements made and added: 'The real message that we want to push is that at the moment we have a landlords' government that serves the interests of millionaires, billionaires, developers and vulture funds. 'The money is there, the land is there but the political will isn't,' he said. Social Democrats Councillor for Cork South Central Niamh O'Connor said housing is something she gets contacted about most. 'We need people to get out on the street and make their voices heard because it is the number one issue in the country at the moment. 'Central government needs to give local authorities enough money to do up the derelict homes that we have. 'Even that would make so much of a difference,' she added. Sinn Féin Councillor for Cork City North-West added by saying: 'Even just visually, the more people there the better because we need feet on the ground. 'We need the support because we are fighting for people in our own areas inside the City Hall and the Dáil, and the support is really important,' she concluded.
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Bernie Sanders blasts 'the Musks and the Zuckerburgs' at Cork trade union meeting
Bernie Sanders has urged working people to come together and work 'aggressively' against the oligarchs who are moving very fast and do not 'believe in the concept of government." In a keynote speech on Monday evening at Siptu's Connolly Hall in Cork City, the 83-year-old US senator from Vermont addressed 'the rapid growth of oligarchy' which he said was 'one of the great crises we face'. It was Mr Sanders' first visit to Cork City and the latest in a series of visits across the country meeting with trade union members and community activists. Mr Sanders also met President Michael D Higgins. Bernie Sanders wrestles with an umbrella as Cork City's Lord Mayor Dan Boyle accompanies him and his wife Jane O'Meara Sanders on the walk from City Hall to Connolly Hall where the US senator addressed the Cork Council of Trade Unions meeting. Picture: Eddie O'Hare 'If anyone thinks the growth of oligarchy is an American issue and not an Irish or European issue, you are very, very mistaken,' Mr Sanders said. 'No one disputes, least of all Trump, that in America right now, it's no big secret, we have a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires,' the former US presidential candidate said. '[These guys] are not nice guys, and some people will think that I am engaged in hyperbole here, but I am not. Musician Ricky Lynch share a lighter moment with Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane O'Meara Sanders after the US senator addressed the Cork Council of Trade Unions at Connolly Hall. Picture: Eddie O'Hare Mr Sanders added: 'In America right now, we've got Mr Musk alone, and I want you to hear this: One man owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. Yet, for these guys, that is not enough. He added that what is new with these 'oligarchs' in their beliefs is that they 'believe they have the divine right to rule". Elon Musk, centre, attending a meeting of US president Donald Trump's cabinet at the White House on April 30. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP The US senator compared the 'Musks and Zuckerburgs' to kings and tsars in 19th-century Europe who were 'able to do terrible, terrible things". '[They were able to have] incredible wealth for themselves while their people lived in terrible, terrible, horrendous conditions. That is because god gave them the right to rule,' Mr Sanders said. 'Well, these guys, the Musks and the Zuckerburgs are not particularly religious, but they also believe because of their intelligence — these are smart guys — because of their wealth, because of their entrepreneurial capabilities, which are extraordinary, they also have the right to rule,' he added. Cork Council of Trade Unions president Anne Taylor with US senator and former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at Connolly Hall on Monday. Picture: Eddie O'Hare Mr Sanders also claimed that these men were not coming to the US Congress to 'simply ask for tax breaks, [...] they do not believe in the concept of government.' 'Their view is 'how dare you to tell me how I can run my business',' he said. He added that 'these guys' do not believe control should be put on them in terms of environmental regulations: "'If I want to destroy the planet, that is my right and I will do it.'' Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane O'Meara Sanders enjoying the craic with Cork poets and musicians after the US senator addressed the Cork Council of Trade Unions at Connolly Hall. Picture: Eddie O'Hare 'The challenge we face right now, these guys are very very smart, they are extraordinarily wealthy, they are extraordinarily greedy in the sense that they want more and more and they are moving very very aggressively,' he added. Mr Sanders also expressed concern that the US Democratic party and European social democratic parties 'haven't got a clue' and are '50 years behind the times". US senator Bernie Sanders addressing the Cork Council of Trade Unions meeting at Connolly Hall. Picture: Eddie O'Hare 'These guys are moving like a Blitzkrieg, when the social democratic parties were thinking about how to operate 50 years ago,' Mr Sanders added. The reception event on Monday saw speakers including Lord Mayor of Cork City, Dan Boyle, Siptu divisional organiser Adrian Kane, and performances from poet Fionnghuala O'Connell, and writer Cónal Creedon. President Michael D Higgins greeting Bernie Sanders at Áras an Uachtaráin earlier on Monday during the US senator for Vermont's visit to Ireland. Picture: Maxwell's Both Senator Sanders and Jane O'Meara Sanders also received awards as lifelong members of the Cork Council of Trade Unions. The pair are set to visit the plaque commemorating Mother Jones in Shandon on Tuesday.
