Hyland blasts Sinn Fein for not ‘caring about the unions’ | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Hyland blasts Sinn Fein for not ‘caring about the unions’

Independent republican councillor for Newry and Mourne Davy Hyland has accused Sinn Fein of adopting an ‘anti-working class agenda’ following comments from a Sinn Fein councillor in the council chamber ‘attacking’ the Trade Unions.

During the meeting Sinn Fein councillor Brendan Curran allegedly stated that he “couldn’t give a toss about the unions”. The comments were made during a Staff and Policy meeting.

Following the meeting councillor Davy Hyland said the comments made by councillor Brendan Curran at the meeting were ‘disgraceful’ and ‘totally unacceptable’.

Speaking to Newry Times, Hyland blasted,

“The Trade Unions provide a valuable service for the hundreds of thousands of workers they represent across the country. They provide support, advice and assist the workers when dealing with employers. I suspect the workers represented by the unions won’t be too pleased with this verbal attack by an elected representative.

“Sinn Fein claim to be for a socialist republic, yet their actions and now their words say otherwise. Some of our most notable Trade Unionists have included Jim Larkin, who coincidentally lived in Newry for a number of years, and James Connolly, both were union leaders.”

Hyland continued, “One only has to study the writings and words of Connolly to see how far councillor Curran and Sinn Fein have changed. Indeed outside Liberty hall, once the headquarters of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and currently home to SIPTU’s offices in Dublin, a magnificent statue of James Connolly proudly stands while in O’Connell Street stands a statue dedicated to Jim Larkin.

“Now Sinn Fein elected representatives are saying they “couldn’t give a toss” about the type of workers organisations Larkin and Connolly helped found and lead. This type of anti-working class language will come as no surprise to many given Sinn Fein’s role in the right-wing coalition implementing Tory cutbacks through Westminster’s Stormont administration.”

He added, “Sinn Fein, as a party, should publicly state their position on the unions, do they support them? Or like councillor Curran could they “not give a toss about the unions”? If Sinn Fein claim to support the unions then clearly Brendan Curran is at odds with the party he represents.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=22973

Posted by on Sep 24 2012. Filed under News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

2 Comments for “Hyland blasts Sinn Fein for not ‘caring about the unions’”

  1. Neil

    Another example of so called politicians twisting the truth to fulfill their own agenda, what councillor Curran actually said was ” I don’t give a toss about the unions, I care about the workers” a detail councillor Hyland chooses to omit.
    It is time we started voting for people who care about the community they live in and genuinely want and work towards a better future for all, not ones who prefer petty point scoring to supplement weak a agenda

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