Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ This is the bollocks we constantly hear from the custodians of Irish capitalism sitting in Dail Eireann when speaking of TNCs (Transnational Corporations) who camp here in Ireland and pay next to fuck all in tax.
 

In a country with a health service barley worthy of the name and a housing crisis which threatens to overflow to the point of allowing a fascist surge in political support by scapegoating asylum seekers. 

It is true, these parasites who come here because it is a haven for making profit under the custodianship of a government who are shit scared of them, they’d bring jobs alright but for how long and how many? These jobs are surrounded by uncertainties for those who take them, or, are ‘lucky enough to land such employment’, as it is never known how long the longsuffering worker will be in their employ. 

Ireland has become a campsite for firms like Apple and recently Meta to come in, pay fuck all in tax and use, abuse and dump employees! A couple of years ago Apple were told to pay back around 16 billion euro in tax, which our beloved government told them; ‘do not to be so silly’ as they don’t want to take their money. Even though we are crying out for investment in goods and services the government of the 26 counties told their friends in big business to keep their hard earned cash, as if playing golf, shagging the secretary who is terrified of unemployment, or having a liquid lunch is ‘hard work’, as they do not want or need it. What crap. These companies must laugh their balls off when our country is proposed as a place to do business! Let’s take an educated guess at one of their conversations between the top brass of these firms with the local CEOs:

Top Brass: what about Ireland, they have a cheap workforce, weak trade unions we don’t even have to recognise or take any notice of, we could go there to exploit and amass greater profits?

CEOs: Good idea, their government is a joke and if those greedy bastards in the European Union interfere and order them to take more money in tax off us, they are so frit they refuse such instructions. Yes, Ireland sounds a great idea Sir.

Top Brass: Well, that’s decided Ireland it is, we’ll announce that we shall be bringing two thousand jobs to Ireland, then if any bollocks hit’s the fan, we’ll just lay off 500 of them (laughter, loud laughter).

This appears to be what has happened when Meta were told by the EU, once again against our grovelling governments wishes, they had to pay 1.4 billion euro back in tax they should have paid. The company claim, conveniently, that this tax has been paid in the USA, another gang who in the eyes of the 26-county government can do no wrong. Oddly enough the United States are the country of origin of Meta! So, they have used Irish labour to accumulate huge profits and when they are asked, by the EU not our so-called government, to pay a drop in the ocean back, they say no and our gang support them! Unbelievable, fucking beyond belief. We have a health service where qualified nurses are leaving by the bucket, a housing crisis the government are unable to fix because they are too afraid of property owners to compulsory purchase vacant buildings, and are bringing in more asylum seekers who they cannot feed and will provide cannon fodder for the far-right. What a fucking shambles!! No wonder they want more asylum seekers, they will be a handy scapegoat for the growing far-right when the shit hits the fan. Do not allow these people fleeing terror in their own lands to be scapegoated as they are innocent, this gang masquerading as a government are the real culprits.

Coincidently the following day Meta were instructed to repay the 1.4 billion euro back to this state who again have publicly apologised to the company for this disgraceful behaviour of the EU, then announce they are slashing 490 jobs in Ireland. Coincidence? I do not believe in such coincidences! Of course, the government are very sorry for the poor souls who are going to lose their employment and therefore the ability to feed themselves and their families in order that Meta amass even greater profits, but there is nothing they can do. More bollocks, they could, if they had the backbone, which they have not: nationalise the company thus keeping workers in employment and families together. 

On 25th May the Irish Daily Mirror on page two printed:

Yesterday it was announced 490 roles in analytics, engineering, finance, marketing and sales will be axed by the corporation which owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

This is on top of 11,000 jobs already disposed of by Meta and comes the following day after they were ordered to pay the 1.4 billion euro back. The company tell us, and the government agree, these jobs had already “been flagged” a long time ago to be offloaded. So, if this was the case, and I doubt it, why wait until the day after they have been ordered to repay tax to this country to announce the job cuts? Sounds very much tit for tat to me. ‘You make us pay this money, and we’ll cut the employment of nearly 500 workers!’ Even if my assumptions are untrue, and they could be, it does show the instability of employment under the capitalist economic system: workers must be prepared to become nomads with their families. Sound a little like “O’Sullivan’s March” back in the early 17th century except this time people are marching to scratch a living.

We must ask ourselves, as it is pointless asking the government, is the price of bringing jobs, which are increasingly more temporary, to Ireland worth the price of allowing these companies off with huge tax bills? Our exchequer needs the money these firms could and should pay but quite evidently do not cough up. The jobs they bring come with baggage packs of uncertainty, disappointment, and total lack of security. Some of the jobs are soulless and soul destroying due to their monotony and repetitiveness. Others are far more interesting and bring the worker much job satisfaction and pride in doing a good job only to have the work taken from them as profits take preference. Either way the workers incomes are denied when the company, like Meta, have used them sufficiently and they can make higher profits using what today we call ‘artificial intelligence’. 

Is the price of such disappointments leading to poverty for the workers really worth it? Should the government not insist on a permanent employment clause of at least ten years be inserted to all TNCs wishing to locate in Ireland, possibly with an unforeseen circumstance proviso written in, for example the company goes broke? If they should do this, the TNC would probably tell the government to fuck off and unceremoniously locate elsewhere. The 26-county government are not the only ones to lay bare at the mercy of these companies, the British, French, German administrations are also powerless before these big battalions of business. The lesson here is; big business are far, far bigger than elected governments or nation states.

How much longer can this uncertainty among the masses be tolerated? Will the shit ever hit the fan when people have had enough? Are the government, on behalf of the system, already clandestinely putting scapegoats in place? All relevant questions with no apparent answers! Today, as artificial intelligence gathers momentum at an alarming pace, even those responsible for advancing these new toys are concerned, where does it all end? Meta have laid off 490 jobs in Ireland and that may be just a tip of the iceberg, what is to follow not only in high-tech but other forms of employment. What happens in years to come, long after my lifetime on this earth has come to an end, what happens to future generations who are no longer needed to create wealth for the bosses? What happens when artificial intelligence can do the most menial and advanced forms of employment? Will the employing classes pay all our grandchildren and great grandchildren for sitting on their arses doing nothing? Will the government, and the 26 county administrations despite all their faults are one of the better ones, pay people to do nothing? Even if they wanted to, with no taxes being paid and companies paying a tiny amount of what they should where would the cash come from to pay us all? Could the international bourgeoisie demand of nation states, which by then they may be running politically as well as economically, a cull of all unnecessary labour produced. A cull of these people’s children at birth rather than pay them for doing nothing? This is a worst-case scenario and at the moment is unthinkable, but I am talking in fifty, sixty, seventy years down the line. What will society be like with all this artificial intelligence doing all the jobs presently carried out by humans? 

Do not misunderstand me, technology including artificial intelligence is a wonderful thing, provided it is employed to benefit all of us and not just the profits of the planet’s minority. With this technology, the updated means of production, remaining in private hands the future is dark. With the same technology in public ownership working for the benefits of us all the future should be rosy, even climate change could be slowed down and countered with this common ownership where profits and associated words are consigned to the dustbin of history.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

They Do “Bring Jobs”

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ This is the bollocks we constantly hear from the custodians of Irish capitalism sitting in Dail Eireann when speaking of TNCs (Transnational Corporations) who camp here in Ireland and pay next to fuck all in tax.
 

In a country with a health service barley worthy of the name and a housing crisis which threatens to overflow to the point of allowing a fascist surge in political support by scapegoating asylum seekers. 

It is true, these parasites who come here because it is a haven for making profit under the custodianship of a government who are shit scared of them, they’d bring jobs alright but for how long and how many? These jobs are surrounded by uncertainties for those who take them, or, are ‘lucky enough to land such employment’, as it is never known how long the longsuffering worker will be in their employ. 

Ireland has become a campsite for firms like Apple and recently Meta to come in, pay fuck all in tax and use, abuse and dump employees! A couple of years ago Apple were told to pay back around 16 billion euro in tax, which our beloved government told them; ‘do not to be so silly’ as they don’t want to take their money. Even though we are crying out for investment in goods and services the government of the 26 counties told their friends in big business to keep their hard earned cash, as if playing golf, shagging the secretary who is terrified of unemployment, or having a liquid lunch is ‘hard work’, as they do not want or need it. What crap. These companies must laugh their balls off when our country is proposed as a place to do business! Let’s take an educated guess at one of their conversations between the top brass of these firms with the local CEOs:

Top Brass: what about Ireland, they have a cheap workforce, weak trade unions we don’t even have to recognise or take any notice of, we could go there to exploit and amass greater profits?

CEOs: Good idea, their government is a joke and if those greedy bastards in the European Union interfere and order them to take more money in tax off us, they are so frit they refuse such instructions. Yes, Ireland sounds a great idea Sir.

Top Brass: Well, that’s decided Ireland it is, we’ll announce that we shall be bringing two thousand jobs to Ireland, then if any bollocks hit’s the fan, we’ll just lay off 500 of them (laughter, loud laughter).

This appears to be what has happened when Meta were told by the EU, once again against our grovelling governments wishes, they had to pay 1.4 billion euro back in tax they should have paid. The company claim, conveniently, that this tax has been paid in the USA, another gang who in the eyes of the 26-county government can do no wrong. Oddly enough the United States are the country of origin of Meta! So, they have used Irish labour to accumulate huge profits and when they are asked, by the EU not our so-called government, to pay a drop in the ocean back, they say no and our gang support them! Unbelievable, fucking beyond belief. We have a health service where qualified nurses are leaving by the bucket, a housing crisis the government are unable to fix because they are too afraid of property owners to compulsory purchase vacant buildings, and are bringing in more asylum seekers who they cannot feed and will provide cannon fodder for the far-right. What a fucking shambles!! No wonder they want more asylum seekers, they will be a handy scapegoat for the growing far-right when the shit hits the fan. Do not allow these people fleeing terror in their own lands to be scapegoated as they are innocent, this gang masquerading as a government are the real culprits.

Coincidently the following day Meta were instructed to repay the 1.4 billion euro back to this state who again have publicly apologised to the company for this disgraceful behaviour of the EU, then announce they are slashing 490 jobs in Ireland. Coincidence? I do not believe in such coincidences! Of course, the government are very sorry for the poor souls who are going to lose their employment and therefore the ability to feed themselves and their families in order that Meta amass even greater profits, but there is nothing they can do. More bollocks, they could, if they had the backbone, which they have not: nationalise the company thus keeping workers in employment and families together. 

On 25th May the Irish Daily Mirror on page two printed:

Yesterday it was announced 490 roles in analytics, engineering, finance, marketing and sales will be axed by the corporation which owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

This is on top of 11,000 jobs already disposed of by Meta and comes the following day after they were ordered to pay the 1.4 billion euro back. The company tell us, and the government agree, these jobs had already “been flagged” a long time ago to be offloaded. So, if this was the case, and I doubt it, why wait until the day after they have been ordered to repay tax to this country to announce the job cuts? Sounds very much tit for tat to me. ‘You make us pay this money, and we’ll cut the employment of nearly 500 workers!’ Even if my assumptions are untrue, and they could be, it does show the instability of employment under the capitalist economic system: workers must be prepared to become nomads with their families. Sound a little like “O’Sullivan’s March” back in the early 17th century except this time people are marching to scratch a living.

We must ask ourselves, as it is pointless asking the government, is the price of bringing jobs, which are increasingly more temporary, to Ireland worth the price of allowing these companies off with huge tax bills? Our exchequer needs the money these firms could and should pay but quite evidently do not cough up. The jobs they bring come with baggage packs of uncertainty, disappointment, and total lack of security. Some of the jobs are soulless and soul destroying due to their monotony and repetitiveness. Others are far more interesting and bring the worker much job satisfaction and pride in doing a good job only to have the work taken from them as profits take preference. Either way the workers incomes are denied when the company, like Meta, have used them sufficiently and they can make higher profits using what today we call ‘artificial intelligence’. 

Is the price of such disappointments leading to poverty for the workers really worth it? Should the government not insist on a permanent employment clause of at least ten years be inserted to all TNCs wishing to locate in Ireland, possibly with an unforeseen circumstance proviso written in, for example the company goes broke? If they should do this, the TNC would probably tell the government to fuck off and unceremoniously locate elsewhere. The 26-county government are not the only ones to lay bare at the mercy of these companies, the British, French, German administrations are also powerless before these big battalions of business. The lesson here is; big business are far, far bigger than elected governments or nation states.

How much longer can this uncertainty among the masses be tolerated? Will the shit ever hit the fan when people have had enough? Are the government, on behalf of the system, already clandestinely putting scapegoats in place? All relevant questions with no apparent answers! Today, as artificial intelligence gathers momentum at an alarming pace, even those responsible for advancing these new toys are concerned, where does it all end? Meta have laid off 490 jobs in Ireland and that may be just a tip of the iceberg, what is to follow not only in high-tech but other forms of employment. What happens in years to come, long after my lifetime on this earth has come to an end, what happens to future generations who are no longer needed to create wealth for the bosses? What happens when artificial intelligence can do the most menial and advanced forms of employment? Will the employing classes pay all our grandchildren and great grandchildren for sitting on their arses doing nothing? Will the government, and the 26 county administrations despite all their faults are one of the better ones, pay people to do nothing? Even if they wanted to, with no taxes being paid and companies paying a tiny amount of what they should where would the cash come from to pay us all? Could the international bourgeoisie demand of nation states, which by then they may be running politically as well as economically, a cull of all unnecessary labour produced. A cull of these people’s children at birth rather than pay them for doing nothing? This is a worst-case scenario and at the moment is unthinkable, but I am talking in fifty, sixty, seventy years down the line. What will society be like with all this artificial intelligence doing all the jobs presently carried out by humans? 

Do not misunderstand me, technology including artificial intelligence is a wonderful thing, provided it is employed to benefit all of us and not just the profits of the planet’s minority. With this technology, the updated means of production, remaining in private hands the future is dark. With the same technology in public ownership working for the benefits of us all the future should be rosy, even climate change could be slowed down and countered with this common ownership where profits and associated words are consigned to the dustbin of history.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

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