Young Drivers to Quiz the Politicians about the Car Insurance Rip-Off.

by Working-Class cyclist - Class War Cyclists Tue Apr 09, 2002 17:37

So Whingin' Finghin is still at it: lobbying in the interests of the rich car-owning feckers that pollute our cities and divert public resources away from bus and rail and toward construction of motorways.

Give it up. It's retrogressive, narrow-minded and sanctimonious. /Poor/ liddle oppressed "young people" in der mothors.

I can hear Whingin'Finghin's speech now:
"Rise up fellow young persons, it is appalling that in today's world today that we are oppressed. Society is oppressing us. We have a right in today's society, we have an obligation to drive cars! In this so-called modern Ireland today at this present time, the youth of today demands the right to liberate itself by driving cars. We demand the right to burn oil produced by theocratic regimes and sold to us by multi-national corporations. We are being RIPPED-OFF by the motor-industrial-complex! Revolt! throw off your bus passes, you have nothing to lose but your conscience."

by Working-class cyclist - Class War cyclists Tue Apr 09, 2002 17:40

should have read:
Yuppie swine seek reduction in subsidized private transport costs.

by aunty party Wed Apr 10, 2002 10:35

fingin, you sound like a member of young fine gael. are you sure youre not in the wrong party?

by Cillian Gillespie - Socialist Party Wed Apr 10, 2002 22:00 cilliangillespie at hotmail dot com

The Socialist Party stands for a public transport system that remains under public ownership under workers control, that is cheap and intergrated. The fact is we do not have this in Ireland. Therefore many working class young people are forced to travel by car to get to work for example because the bus service is so unreliable. However they are forced to pay criminal costs for insurance. This is why we intiated a campaign against the high cost of insurance which calls for a nationalised car insurance company that will provide cheap insurance. This campaign is something that should be supported by everyone on the left to combat this discrimination against young people.

by Working Class cyclist Thu Apr 11, 2002 04:59

Your argument doesn't make sense Cillian:
1. The number of young people that can afford a car are from the affluent classes.
2. If as you admit there is no public transport then how is supporting cars going to develop it?
Sounds like cheap bandwaggon jumping. You won't convince many of the car-owning feckers to vote Socialist and you can be damn sure the rest of us will remember that you stabbed us in the back.

by Finghin - Socialist Party Thu Apr 11, 2002 11:26

The fact is that young workers do have cars, they are certainly not affluent or middle class.
They are also dependent on cars as there is no public transport system in many parts of Dublin or around the country.
We fight for a reliable fully integrated public transport system under workers control. The reality is that this is a long way off for those woking in many of the industrial estates in West Dublin that have no public transport. What do you say to those people who depend on cars?

All those on the left should oppose the car insurance rip off of young drivers, it is blatent discrmination by the Insurance companies.

This is not some cynical election ploy on behalf of the SP, it one of many campaigns that we are involved in and is by no means the main issue we are standing on in any of the constituencies.

by uncle party Thu Apr 11, 2002 13:42

Would aunty party happen to be that Simon Basketter of that SWP in disguise!?

by Working Class cyclist Fri Apr 12, 2002 01:38

You make grand statements about how you support "public transport under workers control" and blather on about young drivers.

It is obvious that supporting car-drivers and making it possible to drive a car forces puts more people into cars. The economic reality is that even if you achieve your goal of reducing insurance for young drivers to comparable rates it's still a massive investment for someone working retail.

The outcome of this is that when you have a car you use it all the time instead of the bus: it's more economical. The outcome of that is that you don't want more public transport because that means that more of your taxes are going towards other people's transport needs not your own. The end result is that public transport disappears in Ireland.

You are being short-sighted.

You are not looking at the cyclist on the road who is about to be knocked down by one of the extra cars that you've put on the roads.

You are not looking at the schoolkid knocked down by one of those cars.

You are not looking inside the lungs of the child who has grown up breathing the exhaust from those cars.

You are sloganeering.

You have no vision.

You are not supporting the working class.

You are being divisive and ineffective.