28 January 2010
Press Release: United Left Alliance
Joe Higgins and Richard Boyd Barrett call for United Left Alliance must feature in party leader debates
Agreement by TV3 that ULA will be included a welcome development
RTE, TG4, Sky, Today FM and Newstalk must follow suit
Responding to the discussion about the format of live debate between representatives of the parties Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit/United Left Alliance candidate for Dun Laoghaire commented:
“The United Left Alliance’s inclusion in the debate format is essential if we are going to have a real clash of ideas on the alternative to the cutback consensus of the establishment parties.
“We believe that the United Left Alliance has earned it’s right to be heard on the basis of having an MEP who achieved 12% of the vote across the capital and a number of poll topping councillors who are widely recognised as Dáil seat contenders. We are contesting around half the Dáil constituencies and are therefore clearly a coherent national force not to be obscured in the amorphous category of ‘others’ and ‘independents’.
Joe Higgins MEP, the Socialist Party/United Left Alliance candidate for Dublin West added
“The promise by Vincent Browne last night that TV3 would feature the ULA in the debates it will be hosting on the basis of the amount of candidates we are running is welcome. We have written to RTE on this matter and await their response. We publicly call on all the national TV and radio stations to guarantee the rightful inclusion of ULA in the national debate.
“It is entirely conceivable that we will have more seats than the Greens and as many as Sinn Féin in the next Dáil. To exclude or marginalise the United Left Alliance would be completely anti democratic.”