Speech by Jack O’Connor, General President at the Connolly Commemoration 2012

14 May 2012

We come here today to honour James Connolly, unquestionably Irish Labour’s greatest martyr. He was a product of an economic, social and political system that condemned him to spend his life in grinding poverty but rather than buckle to it, he unflinchingly criticised and, more importantly, analysed its flaws more intelligently and accurately than any of his compatriots. He was arguably the greatest Irish intellect of his generation.
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Remarks by President Michael D. Higgins at the unveiling of a memorial sculpture to commemmrate the Wexford Lockout of 1912 on Saturday, 12th May 2012

14 May 2012

A Chairde, Is mór an onóir agus an pléisiúr dom a bheith libh i Loch Garman inniu don ócáid thábhachtach seo. I would like thank the Mayor of Wexford, Councillor David Hynes, for his kind invitation to come to The Faythe to inaugurate a public work of art marking the centenary of the Wexford Lockout of 1912. That historic struggle secured a return to work for those involved and vindication of the right of the workers to establish a union to represent all foundry workers.
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Address by Jack O’Connor, General President, SIPTU to the SIPTU Biennial Delegate Conference

03 October 2011

A great deal has occurred since our last Biennial Delegate Conference in Tralee in October 2009. Working people on this island have suffered a great deal in the interim. The context was already set by the global collapse of 2008 and in this jurisdiction the implosion of our own domestic property bubble. The course had already been set, as well, with the Government’s declaration in August of that year of its intention to impose a €4bn ‘adjustment’ in the budget deficit entirely through public spending cuts. In other words, entirely at the expense of working people and those who depend most on public services while the wealthy would contribute nothing at all.
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