Monday 31 May 2010

Micheál Martin should kick out Israeli Ambassador after convoy attack

Cork Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin to immediately expel the Israeli Ambassador and break off all diplomatic relations with Israel following this morning’s attack by Israeli commandos on the international aid flotilla to Gaza.

There are a number of Cork activists on the convoy including Dr. Fintan Lane who is onboard the Challenger 1 which is one of the vessels attacked this morning. Cllr. Tynan has expressed concern for their safety.

Cllr. Tynan said that while Minister Micheál Martin had visited Palestine recently and had criticised Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people this was no longer enough and it was now time to isolate Israel as the pariah state that it is following its attack on a humanitarian aid convoy.

“Words of condemnation are no longer enough from Minister Martin and he must stop the Israeli embassy in Dublin being used as a mouthpiece to justify international terrorism. Israel recently used Irish passports and those of other nations in order to carry out a cold-blooded assassination – several of the other countries involved have broken off relations with Israel but not Ireland. We now have peaceful Irish aid workers being put directly in the firing line by Israel in this heinous attack on the aid flotilla and it is time to take off the kid gloves with which Israel is being treated”, said Cllr. Tynan.

Saturday 15 May 2010

"Hands off the State Pension" Tynan warns Ó Cuiv

Cllr. Ted Tynan has condemned comments of Social Welfare Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv in which the Minister hinted that the State Pension (formerly known as the Old Age Pension) might be cut in the next Budget.

Cllr. Tynan said that the Minister would find himself faced with the wrath of pensioners if he attempted to interfere with a right people had worked all their lives to earn and the Workers Party described claims about wealthy people on State Pensions as a "red herring".

The State Pension is a means-tested payment. People who have paid in via their PRSI or stamps during their working lives may qualify for a Contributory Pension but the Non-Contributory Pension is subjected to a rigorous means test. The whole talk about people with wealth getting the State Pension is nothing other than a diversion and is a bit rich coming from a government that claimed it was unable to cut the massive pensions paid to judges and the golden handshakes given to criminal bankers.

"The Pension is a meagre enough payment and does not even make ends meet for people, particularly during Winter when they have to spend a large part of their pension on fuel in order to keep warm. In the harsh winter just gone by many elderly people, and indeed other people on welfare or low pay, ran up large bills for heating because it was literally a matter of life or death for them. Eamon Ó Cuiv, a grandson of Éamon De Valera, should know how dangerous it is to try and cut the pension - after all his grandfather got elected Taoiseach for the first time after a predecessor, Ernest Blythe took a shilling off the Old Age Pension. Blythe later lost his seat. Mr. Ó Cuiv should worry about his if he does the same", said Cllr. Tynan.