Dave Hughes, deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO ), has called on ICTU to support a mortgage strike.
In advance of his address to conference, Mr Hughes said: “On March 31 this year, and every year for the foreseeable future, Irish taxpayers will pay €3.1 billion to the now dead Anglo Irish Bank. Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed this to the ICTU conference on Monday when he mournfully lamented the better use which could be made of this money.
“Congress and the majority of economists have now declared that Ireland’s debt is unmanageable and there is no moral justification behind the demands that Irish taxpayers alone should pay it. Yet, we as a nation continue to pay.”
According to the INMO deputy general secretary public protest and strikes in Ireland and Greece have so far failed to persuade Government to resist the demands of international bankers and opportunist markets. “The fight must now be taken to those markets and banks by depriving them of their only resource which is our willingness to pay,” he added.
The INMO are calling for a broad based campaign demanding that mortgages on principle private residences be revised downwards to reflect the actual value of homes, laws to penalise those who commit financial treason, and a charter of rights for all.
The motion calls on Congress to prepare for, and if necessary, implement a broad based mortgage strike.
Mr Hughes concluded: “Ireland can lead the way in the fight back for workers and taxpayers in the face of rising taxes and penal interest rates if workers realise the new power created by their level of indebtedness.”
