Connolly forms new political party

A new political party – the Irish Citizens Party (Pairti Saoranaigh na hEireann) – was launched in Clare this Thursday. Its founder is Kilbaha sculptor Jim Connolly, who states that his motivation in forming the new party is simple, love of his country and his fellow humans.
Mr Connolly told The Clare Champion that 21st century Ireland needed a new political leadership and a new party. Raking over the smouldering ashes of Civil War politics at every election had left the country bereft of an inclusive humanitarian vision, he said.
“The recent collapse of Ireland’s economy, combined with the threat to the euro and the prospect of implosion of the EU itself had finally brought the fundamental inequalities in Irish life into stark focus,” he said.
Founder of Rural Resettlement Ireland in 1990, bringing 720 new families to rural areas of the country, Mr Connolly also established other voluntary organisations such as The Open Fair, Irish Rural Dwellers Association and the Safe Driving Pledge.
He said that having worked with others in the voluntary sector trying to bring improvements in the quality of life of some people, he had concluded that Ireland’s political and bureaucratic system of governance had become so far removed from the dreams and aspirations of our founding fathers, that only a radical new political initiative would bring Ireland back from the brink.
An independent candidate in the Clare constituency in the last general election when obtaining nearly 1,000 first-preference votes, Mr Connolly also told The Clare Champion that in launching the Irish Citizens Party, he was making the point that he wished to put in place a political structure countrywide to enable otherwise non-political people to go forward for election.
Mr Connolly emphasised that at 74 years of age, he was not seeking a political career for himself.
“My experience gained from establishing some national voluntary associations in the past should stand me in good stead in this new social movement.
“There is growing frustration and outrage at the way we have been – and in many ways continue to be – ripped off by those who ran our country into the ground. A major social upheaval is now inevitable but that said, the democratic way was the only way forward,” he argued.
Mr Connolly said all workers paid from the public purse will be accountable to the people.
“No elitist, privileged class of powerful public servants enjoying disproportionately huge salaries, bonuses, lump sums, extended holidays and other perks not enjoyed by all workers will not be tolerated or allowed to continue,” he warned.
“Payment of politicians will be divorced from parity with public servants. Public servants do not stand for election so no similarities exist. The present system of self-perpetuating cosy arrangements concocted by politicians, public servants and trade unions to milk the public purse to their mutual benefit will cease,” he declared.
Mr Connolly said payments for all public servants will relate to the real economy. “Farmers, private enterprises, fishermen and others in the private sector see their incomes fluctuate in relation to the real economy. There is no moral justification to sustain a privileged class of public servants immune from the real economy,” he said.
“Overall, the aim of the Irish Citizens Party is to make Ireland a cheaper place to live in, one where money goes further and where a decent quality of life is affordable to all.
“It is a deeply sick society that accepts a status quo where the public purse is plundered to pay hundreds of thousands per annum to privileged individuals while the weakest members go hungry, cold and sick on minimalist payments from the same purse. Only when the spending of public money is radically rebalanced will it be possible to plan the best welfare system for Irealnd,” Mr Connolly said.
He added that in restoring the balance of power to people, his new party will champion the cause of people living in disadvantaged urban areas, the cause of rural Ireland and will fight to de-list An Taisce from the planning process.
In confirming that membership of the new party will be open to all Irish citizens, he stated that applications will be particularly welcome from people who feel that in spite of having a vote, they may be part of a sector or group in society, which is not represented at decision-making level in the Oireachtas.
He stated that the new party would take a logical and pragmatic approach to the country’s economy. They will propose that the concept of the black economy be abolished and replaced with a legitimate, people friendly, grey economy so that people operating openly in the grey economy could draw their benefits and work at the same time at enterprise development or whatever to improve their situation until such time as they were self supporting,
“All agricultural policy will be planned in consultation with the farming and food-processing sector and perhaps new-style food supermarkets owned by farming organisations might sort out serious anomalies in the present profit structure of huge stores selling food products – structures which are neither good for consumers or farmers,” he said.
On the question of public spending, Mr Connolly described the efforts at reform promised by Fine Gael-Labour coalition as “feeble” and “purely cosmetic”.
The new party will dedicate itself to the principle that people paid from the public purse will be paid a fair rate for the work they do and no more. Super salaries over €100,000 will end.
The sculptor said that the health service was in crisis and his new party would stand by the right of people to make their own decisions on hospital closures and other contentious issues on which even experts cannot agree.
He also announced that the party would commit to investing public funds to strengthen Gaeltacht areas, which are the fountain of our language.
In the area of education, he said equality of access to it would be the foundation of the party’s education policy.
On the question of Europe, he said that ironically it was the rural dwellers – the custodians of the environment from time immemorial – who have to carry the brunt of a myriad of environmental control measures.
“The Irish Citizens Party will fight the clear EU plan – aided and abetted in Ireland by the Department of the Environment, An Taisce and much of the urban media and intelligentsia – to clear the landscape of people, like the landlords of the past.”
On the topic of public broadcasting, he is calling for a complete review of how RTÉ operates and fundamental changes be made to the “incestuous celebrity culture within the organisation” in favour of giving voices to ordinary people and groups in every corner of the land.
“Ireland is full of bright, intelligent people who deserved to be heard,” he maintained.
Mr Connolly said that Radio na Gaeltacht and TG4 were outstanding examples of how public service broadcasting should be run.
As regards tourism, he said that without radical change, rural Ireland would end up without people and without a living culture. Tourism in these circumstances would not exist. His party will fight to end all anti-rural bias in Ireland and this will directly benefit efforts to promote the real Ireland worldwide.
He also stated that an Taisce has a unique, privileged and influential role in planning. The fact that this privileged secret society, which he claimed rubbishes the constitutional rights of citizens, has been guaranteed a statutory role in planning by successive governments was a “scandalous blot” on our democracy.