McCreevy misfires on funding cuts
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McCreevy must make sure that the Irish people are the
ones who actually benefit from whatever funding is
available.
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``We will be fighting for a fair share of the funding''.
This was Charlie McCreevy, Dublin Government finance
minister, firing on all cylinders this week in the face
of EU Commission proposals to cut structural, cohesion
and CAP funding after the year 2000 by up to 80%.
McCreevy was speaking after a meeting of EU finance
ministers heard the Dublin Government's first response
to the proposed changes in EU funding.
The cuts in the Agenda 2000 plan at present include
proposals to cut structural funds by 20% by 2006.
Cohesion funding will be discontinued after 2004 while
CAP funding will be cut by between 15% and 30%. Total
funding in these three areas over the years 1993 to
1999 will total over £15 billion.
The reason behind the cuts is that the last decade of
record economic growth has meant a loss of our status
as a most disadvantaged region. We are becoming a more
affluent EU economy.
The question that hasn't been asked though is who are
the `We'? Year after year hugely impressive figures
have been released which measure economic wealth in the
26 Counties. Though this wealth was created by Irish
workers it does not necessarily mean that we were all
net beneficiaries. The vast majority of us are in much
the same position today as we were before the Celtic
Tiger economy was hyped into being.
If Charlie McCreevy is really concerned about the loss
of EU funding there are range of options he could take
rather than the well worn path of shaking the EU
begging bowl.
First, he should make a case to the EU that the huge
increases in total wealth have not transferred into
more wealth and better living standards for the masses
of Irish households. In fact in some areas particularly
in the North West and Connacht there is chronic
economic underdevelopment. Again many urban areas in
Dublin and elsewhere have been completely bypassed by
the benefits of the Tiger economy.
McCreevy should challenge how the EU money is
allocated. Much of the infrastructural projects funding
is allocated to projects of dubious merit. In the case
of CAP funding the vast majority of farmers have not
benefitted from the funding.
Finally, Charlie should look at alternative sources of
funding such as billions of punts of profits earned by
foreign multinationals that are sucked out of the
26-County economy annually.
McCreevy must make sure that the Irish people are the
ones who actually benefit from whatever funding is
available. That would be a unique step for a Dublin
Government minister as in the past they have merely
trumpeted the billions they had wrangled from EU
coffers. McCreevy needs to think again.
Bluffer's Guide to the Single Currency Part Two
How will the single currency affect Irish workers?
Irish workers are now being coerced into accepting low
wage increases on the basis that with the arrival of a
single currency they are competing with other workers
all over the EU.
The fact that wages in Ireland are already very low
relative to most other EU states has been forgotten.
Instead a paranoia over wage levels is being induced
into the Irish labour market, disempowering workers.
Who is in charge of the currency?
Control lies with the unelected European Central Bank
(ECB). The ECB board of governors is made up of
appointments from each member state. The ECB will
decide all aspects of monetary policy with each
participating state ceding control over inflation and
interest rates to this unelected authority. The bank is
sited in Frankfurt. The British Government had lobbied
hard for it to be in London but the IRA's bombing
campaign in the city put the seal of death on their
claims.
Who decides who will be in the currency on 1 January
1999?
The EU Commission together with the Eurpean Monetary
Institute and the ECB have been monitoring the
economies of EU member states to see if they are
abiding by what's called the Maastricht Criteria.
The criteria includes targets that must be met on
inflation, interest rates, debt and public sector
borrowing. At present only 11 EU states meet these
criteria. There is no criteria for lowering
unemployment or ensuring adequate standards of living
across the EU.
Are there any other comparable examples of single
currencies?
The only other example of a single currency is the
Yankee Dollar. Yankee because in the aftermath of the
1860s war between the states the Confederate dollar
became worthless and the US moved towards monetary
union. Full monetary union was not achieved until 1913,
137 years after independence. The EU is trying to
achieve the same in just over 40 years.
In the aftermath of monetary union in the USA the
process of internal migration away from rural areas in
the centre states towards the eastern and western
coastal urban centres increased rapidly, leaving many
states economically devastated.
Green with envy
Here in An Phoblacht we always want to bring you the
good news about ordinary everyday workers doing well.
This week the spotlight is on the six executive
directors of Green Property who bucked the trend of low
wage increases enjoyed by workers who are party to
Partnership 2000 agreement.
The salaries and bonuses earned by the six increased by
nearly 32% in 1997 from £971,000 to £1.28 million, an
average of over £213,000 each. Not bad going for a
year's work.
Don't privatise Cablelink
Public Enterprise minister Mary O'Rourke is set to
instruct Telecom Eireann management to sell off their
75% share in Cablelink. Apparently Minister O'Rourke is
worried that ``clearly the full rigour of competition is
not evident in this arena''.
This is an interesting analysis from the minister.
However Cablelink is a highly desirable company and it
is highly likely that a range of transnational media
companies will bid for a slice of Cablelink, which
offers unrivalled access to the TV viewing of most
26-County cities.
How much rigorous competition would there be if a
multinational cable company bought Cablelink, or if god
forbid a Murdoch or a Microsoft bought in? The simple
answer is that there would be no competition but a
public resource will have been sold off for short-term
financial gain.
The real reason that Mary O'Rourke wants to sell off
Cablelink is because its two owners Telecom and RTE are
public sector companies and must be privatised
according to EU dictats. Minister O'Rourke should face
up to the reality that she is only the EU's
privatisation messenger.
Ryanair sackings
SIPTU baggage handlers have appealed for intervention
from Bertie Ahern to prevent Ryanair's sacking of three
co-workers this week. The baggage handlers were still
on trial at the company and were let go because of
their ``general attitude towards work''.
Mangement denied that the dismissals had been prompted
because the three baggage handlers had been involved in
the still unresolved dispute.
SIPTU's Paul O'Sullivan described Ryanair's decision to
sack the workers as one that ``most reasonable people
will find totally abhorrent and unjust''.
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