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LABOUR SENATOR MARY Moran has hit out at the party after a message was sent to all its trade union members to join a ‘monster canvass’ for her running mate in Louth.
The canvass is being organised by Labour Trade Unionists for the party’s super junior minister Ged Nash in Louth tomorrow, with a bus being laid on to pick up members from Dublin and take them to the constituency.
An email, seen by TheJournal.ie, states:
Ged Nash has been at the forefront of the party’s achievements for workers’ rights and ensuring our core values of fairness and decency at work are integral in Government policy.
It cites the sitting TD’s work establishing the Low Pay Commission, restoring register employment agreements, legislating for collective bargaining and commissioning a report on zero hour contacts.
The email makes no reference at all to Moran, who is running the northern end of the constituency. She was angered by her exclusion and claimed is “another example of the ‘old boys club’ at work”.
Asked if she thought her exclusion amounted to ‘sexism’, Moran said she agreed that it did. She added:
I just feel that this goes against everything that was agreed and I think it’s grossly unfair for a party that’s promoting equality that this is the way things have gone.
Labour rejected charges of sexism and insisted it was satisfied with the level of support it had given to the senator.
But Moran said there had been other examples of her being excluded, citing Tánaiste Joan Burton’s interview on local radio LMFM in the first week of the campaign in which she mentioned Nash repeatedly, but made no reference to Moran.
“I made it known that this wasn’t on,” Moran said. “I was told: ‘Oh sorry it won’t happen again.’”
However she said that when the Tánaiste visited Drogheda’s Boann Distillery on 4 February to launch Labour’s jobs plan, she was not allowed to speak at the event.
There was the three Labour party people and the owner of distillery and he introduced Joan, who introduced Ged, who spoke and that was it. I thought: ‘Why am I sitting here?’
Moran said she felt this was “far from the equality” that Labour consistently talk about.
A Labour spokesperson said that Labour Trade Unionists is an autonomous group within the party, and insisted: ”We’re satisfied with the level of support we have given to Senator Moran.
It is the case that she was involved in the launch of the jobs strategy in Drogheda. She’s one of a very small number of candidates who have had any involvement in the launch of our policy positions.
The spokesperson added that on the same day as the launch, Burton visited Dundalk to canvass with Moran and, as a result, the senator “got considerable profile in the media from that visit”.
They said that given Labour’s record of promoting equality over the last five years the charges of sexism “don’t stack up”.
The spokesperson also claimed that Labour Women had offered to canvass for Moran some weeks ago but that she pulled out of this “late in the day”.
Moran denied this happened and said an offer was made before Christmas but that she was unavailable on the specific date, had let Labour Women know this and no alternative date was offered.
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I’m on the Wage Subsidy scheme I don’t want it extended – it’s benefiting employers and penalising workers who will end up with a tax bill at the end of the year. Some employers are paying their staff extra to cover the impending tax bill but others are not.
Yes, I get the reasons for it to help employers stay in business but come on, do you think all of the companies availing of it are really in need of it or just jumping at the chance to get free labour?
@Fon_Ellard: : wow. That’s some grade A stupidity there!
Do you not know that if you were taxed at source you’d just have less in your back pocket now? You should calculate what total income for the year will be, find out how much you tax you should be paying monthly and then set this aside if you’re that worried. You’re not being penalised ffs!
I can’t believe this. You shouldn’t have a job based on your mindset!
@Joe: The economy is finished, the EU central bank has estimated that our GDP will contract between 7.5% to 8.00%
This makes the banking crisis look like pocket change. Tell me how we are going to pay back this funny money?
There is no such thing as free money, this government is preparing for the complete breakdown that’s coming, you should do the same, get your house in order
@Fon_Ellard: I’m not really disagreeing with you but one thing I can tell you for sure is workers on the wage subsidy scheme will not be hit with a tax bill later. The wss is paid after tax if you get me. There is no tax due on it. I’ve checked this with Revenue. So … that’s one less thing to worry about.
@Fon_Ellard: I’m not really disagreeing with you but one thing I can tell you for sure is workers on the wage subsidy scheme will not be hit with a tax bill later. The wage subsidy scheme is paid after tax if you get me. There is no tax due on it. I’ve checked this with Revenue. So … that’s one less thing to worry about.
First thing they did was give themselves a rise while we pickup the bill. Pigs at the trough
Promising however not addressing the elephant in the room which is the biggest hindrance to businesses operating is not solely finance but the restrictive measures/guidelines that prevents them from operating at full scale (rightly or wrongly).
@John Egan: they are reviewed and discussed every week….have you been missing the massive media reports on same?
@Canyon: are you mistaking reviewals to allowing businesses to open under the same regulations/conditions as businesses opened in previous phases? Or actual changes to the regulations. Because the only ‘massive media’ report was when they were debating on keeping 2m distancing or reducing to 1m….
Pigs will fly before fine geal implement these
@Richard Doherty: that’s the spirit! Glad you’re keeping an open mind.
Loans with 4.5%+ interest… In a negative yield market!?! Shocking.. No other word
@Nigel o’Neill: The State can borrow from the ECB at close to zero. If they issue loans to businesses at even 2%, it would surely lower their interest bills sign
Only in Ireland does SME stimulus come in the form of debt at about 500% markup on EU average interest rates. Small businesses need CASH, not debt or some nonsense about tax rebates in 18 months time. We’ll be dead and buried by then. RIP SME sector in Ireland.
What about property tax waiver?
Tax reductions for some businesses, but not all I hope. Our local grocery shops that stayed open had a massive boost to their business. Developers used the wage subsidy scheme to slash their labour costs, assuming they will sell their units this will only add to their massive profits and if they get tax reductions I doubt they will lower the house purchase prices to reflect this.. Not all businesses need a helping hand.
I miss Bertie… lol..
Just suppose our Government decided to waive the Tax on the Wage Subsidy for employees, imagine the spending spree that would create. They would get a big %age back indirectly and an awful lot of local businesses would benefit greatly.
Just a thought, definitely a far better option than awarding themselves monster salary increases.
have your say