MEP and Dublin West candidate for the general election Joe Higgins commented:
“This weekend the annual conference of the Socialist Party takes place against the political and economic backdrop that points towards years of savage cutbacks, high unemployment and mass emigration of our youth unless a serious political challenge to the establishment consensus is built allied to a fightback in the form of mass protests and strike action.
“The conference will thoroughly discuss current economic and political developments internationally and in Ireland, North and South. But we do not discuss these events as passive spectators but as active participants in opposing the government’s cutback agenda in the workplaces, communities, colleges and the council chambers.”
Swords Councillor and Socialist Party candidate for Dublin North in the General Election Clare Daly commented:
“Since the unfolding of the crisis, left and socialist ideas have been gaining an increasing echo in Irish society and this has reflected itself in the growth and development of the Socialist Party around the country.
“The recent agreement to form the United Left Alliance between ourselves, the People Before Profit Alliance, the South Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group and the Independent Socialist organisation of Declan Bree in Sligo which collectively will field up to 20 candidates across the country with the realistic possibility of getting up to six elected to the Dáil in the next general election also represented an important step in the genuine left becoming a real factor on the political scene.”
