Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that there are two communities in the North and each feels various forms of alienation and the effects of the crisis. It is, however, wrong to give the impression that the predominance of suffering and poverty is on one side. For reasons of history and geography, and because of residues of sectarian discrimination, there are differences between the two communities. However, 19% of the Protestant population and 26% of the Catholic population live in poverty. In the years up to 2010, some 28% of working age Protestants were not in paid work, compared with 35% of Catholics. This is common misery. Neither community is privileged.

It is shameful that the establishment politicians, by whom I mean Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the DUP and UUP, have no address for these crises but to implement austerity dictated by the Liberal and Conservative Government and divert attention from it by dividing people further. Working class people need representation by an independent party that will challenge and resolve the crisis of this system, whether the capitalist austerity is North or South, and have a real transformation for their people. That is what is needed.

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