Thank you

The derogatory remarks made by Mick Wallace TD about the Socialist Party while speaking on the Personal Insolvency Bill, reflect poorly on a TD who claims to operate in the public interest. The Socialist Party has taken a principled stand on all the issues related to Mick Wallace and his failure to declare and pay VAT - we reiterate that he should pay all the monies now owed to the state and put all the relevant information regarding his dealings with the Revenue Commissioners into the public domain.

It has come to our attention that the HSE is costing a daytime-only A & E service for Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown. We have received confidential information that this is being done and that a real threat now exists to a 24-hour A&E service at the hospital.

Trade unions have to take a stand against the property tax. This is an austerity tax being brought in for no other reason than to fund the ongoing bailout of bondholders . It will tip thousands of families into poverty. How can the unions, as representative organisations for workers, stay silent about that?

This past summer, Ireland’s Crisis Pregnancy Programme announced in its annual report that the number of Irish women travelling abroad for abortions is falling. In 2010 some 4,422 women gave Irish addresses at UK abortion clinics compared to 6,673 in 2001.