PBP Candidate Denman Rooke opposes foreign harvesting of Irish seaweed
People Before Profit Galway completely opposes the application by a Canadian corporation to harvest tens of thousands of tons of Irish seaweed.
The application from Acadian Seaplants, a massive Canadian corporation and owner of Arramara Teoranta, would mean that huge forests of seaweed would be appropriated from some 21 towns and villages, including Achill, Clifden, Killary, Cashla and Galway.
PBP Candidate for the Galway West By-Election Denman Rooke echoed the demands of an Uplift petition urging the people of Galway to oppose the application, labeling it “yet another example of how Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s only vision for the future is the theft of Ireland from the people who live here.”
As the petition explains “Seaweed forests are crucial for protecting communities and homes against coastal erosion, providing the bedrock of the food chains, being a nursery for fish populations, while also being a rich part of the heritage and folklore along the west coast”.
Rooke pointed out that this was clearly part of a wider policy by the Irish Government to sell out housing, health, farming, the environment, and the people of Ireland to big business interests.
“In the past year we’ve already seen Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael slyly try to force through the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which allows Canadian companies to not only buy up and profit from Irish resources, but to also sue Irish taxpayers if they should dare to object.”
“Similarly,” continued Rooke, “the disastrous Mercosur deal which the government is trying to force on the people of Ireland, will decimate Irish small to medium farmers, and will sell food products to the Irish that are not as well regulated or safe for our health.”
Rooke pointed out that it is symptomatic of a government which has absolutely no other ideas and clearly no moral values. “The FF/FG duopoly have one response to everything: sell it. So they sell our housing, our land, our produce, our skills, and our resources to foreign corporations, while trying to blame immigrants and welfare recipients for the government’s shameless destruction of the country”.
Rooke concluded by saying “it should be crystal clear to all by now that the FF/FG gang in government is prepared to give Ireland away for profit, without the consent of the people living in Ireland. It is nothing less than state-sanctioned corporate colonialism, and it must be resisted at all costs. Please sign the petition, call your local councillors, and demand accountability and representation”.
Demand a Galway that we can all live in. Vote no. 1 for Denman Rooke, and then transfer left, to rid Ireland of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.