• The Irish General Election will take place on 28th April or on 5th May 2011.
• Values – Civic Society Values
• Policy Choices – There is an alternative - Embrace the Claiming Our Future policy choices and implement job creation measures
• Mobilisation and Awareness Raising
• Actions

Background
The Irish General Election will take place on 28th April or on 5th May 2011. The reason for the timing is that the Government committed to moving the writs for three By Elections in the first quarter of 2011. The Opposition Parties would have won the 3 vacant Dail seats in the By Elections and because the Government would face defeat in a subsequent No Confidence vote the Government will deem it prudent “in the national interest” to call a General Election as above. Easter Sunday is 24th April 2011.

Values
Our Values - A Civic Society where –
Every citizen can secure equality and justice
Every citizen can feel safe and secure
Every citizen can lead a happy life with dignity
Every citizen can have confidence in the future.

Policy Choices
There is an alternative. Embrace the Claiming Our Future policy choices. Think the unthinkable and then act. Fund an economic and community stimulus job creation package by investing €14 billion from the National Pension Reserve Fund in targeted projects over the next four years.

Political and Economic Realities
The three largest parties accept the 3% deficit reduction target by 2014. The Government will succeed in carrying its austerity €5 billion cuts/taxes budget. The cuts will fall disproportionally on the poor/low paid and in a deflated economy with no growth then unemployment will remain at half a million. The political fallout will mean an election after Easter 2011 with Fine Gael/Labour forming the new Government. A people’s movement of civic society can molibilise to decisively influence the policy agenda to shape the new Governments actions. That is the realistic task ahead.

Mobilisation and Awareness Raising
Build local coalitions of civic society to campaign on the Claiming Our Future alternative agenda and target with a Peoples Pledge/Covenant all the candidates in each Dail constituency. Organise a national focus (Demonstration) and awareness raising initiatives that effectively provide communications and information exchanges for the people’s movement.

Actions
1) National Civic Society Demonstration and Carnival of Regeneration
Saturday 26th March 2011 in Dublin
Theme - Claiming Our Future – Making Society Good
We need national events but the real campaign will need to take place in constituencies throughout the country involving every strand of civic society and highlighting the unfairness of the deficit/cuts agenda. Every strand of civic society means local community organisations, trade unions, women’s organisations, unemployed, pensioners, students, youth organisations, faith based organisations and all relevant interest groups (eg disability networks etc). Tactically avoid industrial actions and focus more on winning over public opinion for the regeneration agenda. Organise new groups eg Artists/Musicians for Claiming Our Future. It can also be fun. This is a Carnival for Regeneration not a carnival of reaction.

2) Cutswatch Project and Monitoring
Utilising the website to record the impact of the cuts upon ordinary people, highlight personal stories as well as successful local campaigns. Ask website users to share their own knowledge and experience of how cuts are hitting services on the ground from local hospital waiting lists to overcrowded schools/colleges to welfare/social service cuts. Real people - real stories – real impacts – real anger – real actions. Pick one representative Town – Cavan or Athlone and monitor impacts. Circulate and broadcast for information and empowerment and mobilisation.

3) Local Community Regeneration
All politics is local. Local social enterprise stimulus packages to be devised utilising part of the €14 billion job creation investment funding. Expand CSP/RSS programmes to employ 100,000 (on a voluntary basis) to deliver community regeneration projects. Target investment in Green Economy and sustainable social and economic enterprises and infrastructure.

The combination of the above will provide a strategic and disciplined approach that will mobilise civic society to make a real difference in shaping the policy actions of the new Government in 2011.