Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Joe Higgins for an excellent motion, which I will be supporting. The 1913 Lock-out achieved something massive by establishing that ordinary people have power if they flex their muscles. They still have this power. It also established that the media, if left unchecked, can act as an instrument that destroys democracy and the people’s right to choose their own leaders.

The same muscle that was used by unions over the decades with varying degrees of success became atrophied during the so-called Celtic tiger period or disaster. When this muscle needed to be flexed once again after the collapse of the economy, unfortunately it had become limp, like an arm taken out of plaster of Paris, when it should have been ready. One of the reasons we are told the unions did not take the radical action for which they had a mandate is that of the risks involved. For example, an ICTU conference mandated a mortgage strike but it was seen as too risky. The people of 1913 took risks that were bigger than losing the right to go to the cinema for a month. They lost the food from their mouths and they went through hellish pain to leave behind their legacy. Some might say they did not win in the end but they established something. The most important thing to remember is that it is sometimes necessary to go through pain and to take risks to change things.

I am critical of the unions because they have the ability and people power to bring change if they want to do so. I credit the INMO for showing more resolve than many unions since the collapse of our economy. When in 2011 it passed a motion calling for a mortgage strike, which was then brought to ICTU, it presented an opportunity to consider workers’ rights from a different angle in terms of the money going out in debt as well as that coming in. If that idea had been pursued it would have saved us significant hardship because we will end up in a big hole anyway. We will have to make big decisions of this nature.

If unions had used their firepower and acted as bravely as the people of 1913, we would not be in our present hole. Regardless of how we dress it up, we are in the middle of a new lock-out. People are being locked out of basic services because of the banking debts. Hundreds of thousands of people could have been mobilised fairly easily because they are union members. However, the unions failed to act. People would have had more money in their pockets because they would not be paying crazy mortgage payments. We would have fought the ECB and the Government could have claimed these terrible people were forcing its hand in calling for the debt to be written down. That can still be done and it has to be done.

When one thinks of the power these unions could show if they wanted to flex their muscles, it is sad that a little group from Ballyhea that is growing all the time can have a greater impact and has not yet given up. Why do the union leaders not show similar bravery? One would have to suspect they are too comfortable. Surely their ideas cannot change that much, from pegging stones at pickets to being a union leader who no longer gives a damn. People need to learn something from what happened back then. There are times when we have to take a risk. What risks are the unions taking anymore? People are going through hell. Things are so bad that people cannot get into a mental hospital when they are on the verge of suicide. I was told to go away.

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