Former Labour Party TD to run as United Left Candidate in Sligo/North Leitrim

13 February 2011

Former Labour Party TD to run as United Left Candidate in Sligo/North Leitrim

United Left going from strength to strength as it offers to only real alternative to austerity and cuts

 At a press conference today the United Left Alliances announced that Declan Bree the Independent Socialist candidate for Sligo North Leitrim has affiliated to the Alliance.

 Speaking at the press conference Declan Bree said

 “It is my intention to stand as an Independent candidate for Sligo-North Leitrim in the forthcoming General Election as a member of the United Left Alliance. The United Left Alliance, is a real alternative to the mainstream political establishment who are all committed to the same policies of cutbacks and austerity. The main opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, can only offer more of the same tired, old-style, crony type politics.

 “The United Left Alliance is committed to putting the interests of people first by ending the bank bailouts and reversing the savage cuts to pay, social welfare and public services. Instead we will invest in jobs, housing, health and education. We believe that those who caused this crisis should pay for it, not ordinary people.�

 Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit/ULA candidate in Dun Laoghaire, said

"The United Left Alliance warmly welcomes former Labour Party TD, Declan Bree, to the Alliance. We now have three former TDs running. Since its launch last November the United Left Alliance as gone from strength to strength.  In the past three weeks hundreds of people around the country have attended ULA events and the Alliance is emerging as a significant political force in the upcoming election.

"People see as a real alternative as we are the only group that has consistently argued against the bank bailouts, against the EU/IMF austerity deal and against the attacks on our public services and communities. The ULA is fighting for a genuine, new alternative to the crisis; one that puts the interests of people ahead of bankers, speculators and property developers."

Mick Murphy, Socialist Party and United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin South West said:

“I am convinced that the United Left Alliance will score victories that will surprise the political establishment who want to paint us as extreme and out of touch with reality. The most extreme feature of Irish politics is the measures countenanced by all the establishment parties to ensure private European investors get their money back.

“For the establishment parties no essential service or welfare payment or minimum wage level is sacred. The only thing that is sacred is the vast wealth of the super rich and company profits which we must not even talk. The lack of debate permitted about real progressive taxation of the wealth that does exist and is generated in this country is truly shameful. The ULA refuses to be bound by the parameters set by the cutback consensus in the media and political establishment here and in Europe.�

Joan Collins People Before Profit/ULA candidate in Dublin South Central also welcomed Declan Bree to the Alliance. She said

“Declan has a track record of fighting for working people. There is no doubt that the Alliance is on track to win a significant number of seats in the new Dail. For the first time we will have a group of principled left TDs who will fight for real change.

“In my constituency people know I won’t betray them for the trappings of office or do grubby deals with the right wing parties.  While people want real change the Labour Party has committed itself to government with Fine Gael, a party which has more in common with Fianna Fail.  Its now up to Labour to show how a government dominated by Fine Gael will be any different to the current government. I say clearly to the electorate that if you want real change vote for the ULA.�

 Socialist Party/ULA candidate for Dublin West Joe Higgins commented:

 “The United Left Alliance has now 20 candidates in 19 constituencies spread across the country and contains within it four affiliated organisations of the left. We get no favours from the establishment media but nevertheless we have forced our way into the national debate.

 “Through our campaigns on the ground we have established ourselves as the only consistent force that stands outside the cutback consensus. We are also the only force that openly calls on people power protest to become a permanent feature of the political scene in this country as the only means of de-railing the austerity measures that will be continued under Fine Gael/Labour which will not work, will destroy what’s left of our services and drive hundreds of thousands of predominantly young people out of the country�

 Ends