DEPUTY JONATHAN O'BRIEN ACCEPTS INVITATION TO PUBLIC FORUM ON AUSTERITY AND THE PROPERTY TAX

DEPUTY JONATHAN O'BRIEN ACCEPTS INVITATION TO PUBLIC FORUM ON AUSTERITY AND THE PROPERTY TAX Sinn Féin Education Spokesperson and Cork North-Central TD Jonathan O'Brien has accepted an invitation from the Campaign Against Household and Water taxes to attend a public meeting entitled "Austerity and the Property Tax". The forum will take place on Monday, February 11th at 8pm in The Metropole Hotel. The campaign group has stated that all TDs for Cork South-Central and Cork North-Central have been invited to attend and give a brief presentation on where they stand on the issues. Deputy O'Brien said: "I will be happy to attend and articulate Sinn Féin's opposition to the property tax and to the wider austerity agenda being implemented by this Government." "We put forward realistic and costed alternatives in our pre-budget submission but unfortunately Fine Gael and Labour decided to ignore all other possibilities." "I am looking forward to both critical & constructive engagement with my fellow TDs should they take-up the invitation from the organisers - especially given developments over the last couple of days. The so-called deal between the Government and the European Central Bank is an affront to the people of this country. It fully converts the debts of toxic banks into sovereign debt in the form of Government bonds. It ensures that generations will be paying debt that wasn't accrued by the public." "What will this deal mean for ordinary,working people? Will Fine Gael and Labour turn away from austerity and the imposition of unjust taxes? I highly doubt it. They are firmly wedded to a savage brand of fiscal conservatism aimed at stripping our social infrastructure and exposing the most vulnerable in society to even further hardships."