Labour's health proposals are nothing but false empty promises - Cllr John Brady

Sinn Féin General Election candidate for Wicklow-East Carlow, Councillor John Brady, has described the Labour Party proposals for health care as "nothing but false and empty promises."

He also spoke out against Labour Party Leader Joan Burton's claim, that the crisis in this state is over.

Councillor Brady said;

"The Labour Party is responsible for a huge range of broken promises in relation to health care and addressing the health crisis.

“These broken promises and pledges have included reform of the HSE, the introduction and implementation of Universal Health Insurance and free prescriptions, and the safeguarding of the disability allowance.

"The Labour Party and Fine Gael willingly made a political choice to bring our health system to near ruin. The health care policies of the coalition has been the emphasis on the erosion of our public health service and replacing it with private health care.

"The Labour Party, including their TD in Wicklow-East Carlow, Anne Ferris, have failed in counteracting the worst of Fine Gael's right-wing agenda. It is due to their policies that that 92,998 patients were on trolleys in 2015 - a 37 percent increase from 2013.

“However, as Labour Party is asking to be returned to Government in coalition with Fine Gael it makes their false empty promises even more irrelevant, a coalition led by Fine Gael will continue to prioritise tax cuts for higher earners than on delivering a quality health care system at the expense of ordinary people.

“I found it ludicrous that Joan Burton would claim, on live the television, that "the “crisis is over”, if anything the crisis has gotten worse. It was incomprehensible for the Tánaiste to make this claim while our public services are being decimated. The crisis is very much a reality and it has seeped down into our hospitals in the most catastrophic of ways.

"Unlike the last coalition, citizens and our public services will be better off under Sinn Féin's vision and credible policies for health care, which have been costed.

“We are committed to introducing fully free and easily accessible healthcare, increasing capacity whilst also prioritising mental health care.”

Cllr John Brady welcomes public apology from former Fine Gael Councillor Mick Glynn following settlement of defamation action

Sinn Féin General Election Candidate Councillor John Brady has welcomed the public apology offered to him by former Fine Gael Councillor Mick Glynn, which he read out at Wicklow Circuit Court today.

Cllr Brady had brought Circuit Court defamation proceedings against Mick Glynn, a former Fine Gael councillor, in respect of an unfounded allegation made by Mick Glynn in a press release issued to the media and repeated on his website during the early stages of the 2014 local elections.

Today at Wicklow Circuit Court in Bray, Counsel for Mick Glynn informed the court that the case had settled and read out the following apology on behalf of his client:

“I Mick Glynn of Headlands, Bray, acknowledge that the claim made by me in February 2014 that Councillor John Brady of Kilbride Grove, Bray, staged bogus photographs of a find of hazardous drug waste in a housing estate in Bray was not true and I apologise for the publication”.

Reacting to the settlement of the Circuit Court proceedings, Cllr Brady said: “While I am disappointed that this situation had to involve solicitors and the courts, I welcome Mr Glynn’s apology and I accept it in good faith.

“It is a pity that the untruth went unaddressed for two years but now it has been resolved.

“We are all entitled to our good name and I felt it was very important that I defended mine" said Cllr Brady.

"The law plays an important role not only in protecting public representatives from false statements of fact about their personal character, but also in protecting constituents in making informed decisions at election time. It is of great importance that the electorate exercises its choice of candidates on the basis of facts and competing policy positions rather than unfounded allegations.

“I am presently focused on my general election campaign and representing the people of Wicklow.”

Sinn Féin would deliver for ordinary families in Wicklow - Cllr John Brady

Sinn Féin General Election candidate for Wicklow/East Carlow Cllr John Brady has stated that a Sinn Féin led government would focus on delivering a real break for struggling families in Wicklow.

Councillor Brady said that Sinn Féin would go about bettering the lives of ordinary families by scrapping the Local Property Tax, abolishing water charges and taking 277,000 workers out of the USC bracket.

He said;

"During their time in office, Fine Gael and Labour Party delivered budgets that have ring-fenced the wealth of the most well-off in society. To pay for this they placed a huge burden on average workers and families in Wicklow and East Carlow and they left thousands of people on hospital trolleys. 1,500 children are in emergency accommodation throughout the state.

“In stark contrast, Sinn Féin wants to see a fair recovery for the people of this constituency and we want to ensure it is sustainable. In government, we will introduce a progressive tax system. We will ease the burden on ordinary workers and families, including those who are self-employed, and ask those who earn the most to pay their fair share.

-We will abolish the Local Property Tax, saving 1.8 million homeowners an average of €244 per year.

-We will scrap water charges, saving a family of two adults €260 per year.

-We will remove 277,000 workers from the USC.

-We will ease the tax burden on the self-employed, moving towards the equalisation of the Self-Employed Tax Credit with the PAYE Tax Credit.

"Fine Gael have tried to cook the books with their figures and their local TDs have yet to explain the €2 billion hole in Michael Noonan's plan. In their desperation to cling to power, they are willing to return us to the boom and bust style economics of Fianna Fáil. This is reckless in the extreme and it would lead to the prolonging of the nightmare scenario currently being experienced by families who depend on accessible and robust public services.

"I have no doubt that ordinary families in Wicklow and East Carlow would be far better off under a Sinn Féin led government."

Fine Gael TDs in Wicklow refuse to back ICTU Fair Work Campaign - Cllr John Brady

Sinn Féin General Election candidate for Wicklow/East Carlow Cllr John Brady has strongly criticised the refusal of local Fine Gael TDs Simon Harris and Andrew Doyle to support the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Charter for Fair Work.

Councillor Brady said;

"The Congress Charter for Fair Conditions at Work sets out five key principles to help make decent work a reality: a Living Wage, Fair Hours of Work, the Right to Union Representation, the Right to Respect in the workplace and Fair Public Procurement.

"It comes as no surprise that both Fine Gael Deputies Simon Harris and Andrew Doyle have decided to give two fingers to ordinary workers looking for fairness and dignity at work. Fine Gael stands out as the political party refusing to support this campaign. It goes against their right-wing views and anti-worker agenda.

"This snub to workers' rights will doubtlessly anger the thousands of trade union members living in Wicklow and East Carlow. These workers need to consider very carefully the move on the part of Fine Gael to ignore the demand for fairness in the workplace.

"Sinn Féin is proud to support the charter and the principles for fairness. We support the work of Congress and, in the recent past, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with home helps and the Dunnes Stores Workers. I can't say that I remember any Fine Gael TDs lending their support to these campaigns or standing on the picket lines in solidarity with workers.

"The refusal of Simon Harris and Andrew Doyle to sign up to the ICTU Campaign for Fair Work demonstrates that ordinary workers in Wicklow cannot afford another five years of a Fine Gael led Government.

Irish Water intensifying “bully-boy tactics” in run up to General Election - Cllr John Brady

Sinn Féin General Election Candidate for Wicklow/East Carlow Cllr John Brady has stated that Irish Water is intensifying its “bully-boy” tactics in an effort to coerce people into paying water charges in the run-up to the General Election.

Councillor Brady said;

“From speaking to people while canvassing in Wicklow, it is clear to me that Irish Water is intensifying its bully-boy tactics in an effort to increase payment rates ahead of the election.

“I spoke to a lady in Carnew yesterday who told me that she had received seven phone calls from Irish Water in the last week demanding payment. She is only one of many people who have shared similar experiences with me while I have been canvassing.

“It seems that there is a concerted effort being made by Irish Water to intimidate struggling families into paying the charges in order to gain some positive PR in the form of increased payment figures. They hope that this will allow the government to say that more and more people are accepting the deeply unfair water policy of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

“This shameful attempt by Irish Water to construct some glossy publicity spin for their allies in government will backfire. It is bullying and harassment. It is causing severe distress for those who are already struggling to make ends meet.

“I am calling on Irish Water to cease with the persistent intimidation of those who have not paid. It will not be tolerated. The reality is that many people cannot afford these bills and many others are fundamentally opposed to domestic water charges.

“The solution is not to pressure people into paying. The solution, as demanded by the people of this state in protest after protest, is to scrap water charges and abolish Irish Water.

“A Sinn Féin-led government would deliver on these objectives and we have committed to holding a referendum to enshrine public ownership of water services in the constitution.

“These are guarantees that will form part of any programme for government involving Sinn Féin.”

It's time to Disable Inequality-Brady

Sinn Fein candidate for Wicklow East-Carlow Councillor John Brady has launched a stinging attack on Fine Gael and Labour claiming that promises made in the run up to the 2011 general election were nothing more than verbal gadgets invented to trap a demoralised and frustrated electorate:
“Some broken promises cut deeper and sting harder. Persons living with disabilities have been among the hardest groups hit. Over the last five years the government parties have overseen cuts to rent allowance and fuel allowance, disability allowance rates cut for over 18’s, carer’s allowance cut, telephone allowance axed, illness benefit qualifying period raised to 18, invalidity pension cut, medical cards taken off the sick the elderly and the terminally ill, mobility allowance stopped, cuts to respite hours and day care hours, €100 million euros have been cut from the drugs payment reimbursement scheme while prescription charges were introduced and increased. Incredibly, 2 million home help hours have been axed”.

Councillor Brady said the outgoing government are guilty of deceit:
“Fine Gael and Labour will argue that such cuts were necessary in order fight Fianna Fail’s economic attack on the country. But we in Sinn Fein would call on people to simply look at the numbers. In the last of the government’s long list of regressive budgets, the top twenty percent wealthiest citizens were awarded 180 million euro back in tax cuts. A bonanza that even the recipients themselves would argue they simply didn’t need. The truth is that both parties were cynically acting in an effort to protect what they see as their electoral constituency. They were using cash in an effort to try and buy-off voters. This is shameful, when we look at the cuts outlined above, it is impossible to underestimate the difference 180 million euro could have made had it been invested in essential services for those with disabilities.”

Speaking in regard to responsibilities and priorities which should occupy the minds of all political parties and independents, Councillor Brady had this to say:
“We shouldn’t even be having this discussion. One of the greatest responsibilities for any society is to ensure the safety and welfare of all citizens, but particularly those who are in some way disadvantaged, its basic humanitarianism. It should not be a political issue, people with disabilities should not have to wait until economic winds blow in a certain direction, or one particular party gets into power, or one particular individual becomes a dominant advocate. Collective responsibility when it comes to all those who are most vulnerable in our society should straddle the consciousness of every political group regardless of ideology.”

“Quite simply the issue is votes. The numbers of people affected are proportionately small. This means that right-wing parties such as Fine Gael, labour and Fianna Fail are not motivated to provide the services needed. On the other hand, those of us who push for change are accused by TD’s such as Fine Gael’s Simon Harris of ‘populism’. Essentially what Harris and others are really saying is this; giving hundreds of millions in unnecessary tax breaks to high earners is sensible economics, but providing funding for those with disabilities is a waste of resources. In other words - conservative populism is good, progressive accountability is bad.”

Councillor Brady went on to say that Sinn Fein will not make promises it cannot keep. The party has fully costed its options should it be in government and persons with disabilities are at the top of its list of priorities:
“While Fine Gael and Labour advance their plans to cut taxes by 4.5billion to benefit their higher earners, Sinn Fein have a better idea. In government Sinn Fein will increase provision for people with mental health difficulties alongside intellectual and physical disability. The party will increase Personal Assistant hours by an additional 500,000 hours each year. Increase the number of Speech and Language Therapists by 250, Occupational Therapists by 100, Physiotherapists by 100 and psychologists by 150. Increase Respite Care Services by 20%. We will Increase the budget allocation to disability service providers’ year on year and deliver a secure medical card for persons with disabilities. This is not an exhaustive list, but more importantly it is not a populist list. It is nothing more than a responsible commitment to decency, fairness and equality. In 2011 Labour said; ‘every little hurts’, they weren’t joking.”

Brady welcomes Bray Municipal District decision to allow two 1916 commemorative gardens proceed

Wicklow Sinn Féin councillor John Brady has welcomed the decision taken unanimously by the Bray Municipal District councillors to allow two 1916 Glor na Cásca gardens go ahead as part of the centenary commemorations for the 1916 Rising. It was agreed that a garden would go ahead in the Peoples Park in Bray and second will be on the public green space in the centre of Kilmacanogue, adjacent to the old cemetery.

Speaking after the unanimous decision was taken at Tuesday evening councillor Brady said “Over the last year I’ve been pushing the need to commemorate 1916 in a meaningful way in Wicklow, I believe that the Glor na Cásca project is one good way of ensuring that the community can commemorate the 1916 Rising and all those who declared and fought to defend the Republic during Easter week. At Tuesday evenings council meeting in Bray things have thankfully taken a huge leap forward as agreement was finally reached to allow two 1916 community gardens proceed on publicly owned land in the Bray Municipal District.”

“The gardens will consist of a granite proclamation, Tri-colour and flag pole as well as seven trees to represent each of the signatories of the proclamation. One of the gardens will be located in the Peoples Park in Bray and the second one will be in Kilmacanogue. The Bray garden is right across the road from St. Brigid's Tce, where a number of the Bray volunteers who fought in 1916 came from. Ordinary men and women like Steenie Mulvey, Tom Sutton, Desmond Fitzgerald, Bill Forde and Connie O’Brien to name a few who took on an Empire during Easter week 1916. They are true local heroes and are now rightfully going to be remembered for their actions in declaring the Republic 100 years ago and subsequently fighting to defend it.”

Brady went onto say “The second garden in Kilmac promises to be special as the renowned garden designer Diarmuid Gavin who lives in Kilmac is working with the community 1916 committee who are behind the initiative. The key to these gardens success is getting all the community involved, particularly children, I know the committee in Kilmacanogue is working with the school there to ensure that is the case. I want to commend everyone on the Kilmac committee for their hard work. I also want to thank all the relatives of the volunteers and the District Engineer who has worked on my proposal to move ahead with the Glor na Cásca plans and to get it to this stage. I know there are plans for at least 4 more of these gardens across the County and these should be driven by the community also.”