Workers Solidarity Movement

Zombie developers….. Vampire bankers….. Ghost estate creators….. Black holes that swallow tens of billions of Euros…. They sound like characters from a particularly eerie Hallowe’en tale of horrors. However while they might be spooky, there’s nothing fictional about this array of characters. They stalked our land during the era of the recently-departed Celtic Tiger. But now they’ve gone to ground. They’ve disappeared, they would have us believe. And if they themselves haven’t actually physically disappeared, then their wealth most definitely has.

All gone – in a puff of smoke as it were. No spondulas left! Sure they’re all bankrupt now and really we ought to feel sorry for them. Except for the Black holes – because the Black holes are extremely ravenous. Let’s squeeze a last drop of blood out of the poor and the sick to sate the appetite of the Black holes.

And shouldn’t we all be glad to sacrifice what’s left of our health and education services to satisfy the Black holes – Isn’t it in the national interest and aren’t we all in this together?

Listening to the vast majority of media comment on the financial crisis, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there are no wealthy people left in Ireland. But the reality is that they do still exist and the wealthy today are the same people as the wealthy of a few years ago.
Consider:
• 1% of the Irish population owns 34% of the wealth (source: Bank of Ireland ‘Wealth of the Nations Report’ 2007)
• The wealthiest 5% of the Irish population owned assets worth €320 billion in 2007 (same source as above). Even if these assets have lost 40% of their value, that’s still €200billion worth of wealth.
• The number of Ireland’s High Net Worth Individuals (those with investable assets of more than $1 million) rose by over 10% to 18,100 in 2009. The number of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (those with investable assets of more than $30 million) rose to 181. (source: Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management ‘World Wealth Report’)
• According to a Central Statistics Office 2009 report Irish residents own €1,251 billion worth of foreign stocks and bonds. While it is unclear exactly what this figure represents (it is 10 times the figure for the wealthiest 1% quoted in the above ‘Wealth of the Nation’ report, but considerably lower than the €1,560 billion in funds held by IFSC companies who might claim to be resident for tax purposes), it’s clear that we are not ‘all in this together’.

The 1% Network takes its name from the fact quoted above that 1% of the population own 34% of the wealth. The Network has come together to highlight the fact that wealth still exists in Ireland and to attempt to re-orientate the political discourse about the financial crisis to focus on how the glaring wealth divide can be tackled.

On Saturday evening, 30th October, we invite you to join us for an after dark Hallowe’en Treasure Hunt while we point out where just some of the supposedly disappeared wealth might be found.

Meeting at AIB Headquarters, Ballsbridge at 6:30p.m., we intend to take a ramble along some of the most expensive streets of Dublin where mansions have sold for up to €51 million. We will be having a look at some of the monsters who think the costs of the crisis should be paid for by the low paid, the sick and the unemployed rather than the 1% who own 34% of the wealth in the country.

Come along and join us. Fancy dress along the theme of Zombie developers, Vampire bankers, Ghost estates and Ravenous black holes encouraged but not required!

For more information on the 1% Network and for a report on our ‘Political Walking Tour through the heartland of the Golden Circle’ held on Saturday October 9th see www.onepercent Network.org. Contact the 1% Network at 1percent Network@gmail.com.