Coppinger, Ruth

Ruth Coppinger is a long-standing socialist activist for workers’ and women’s rights and has consistently used any public platform afforded to her as a voice for change. She used her position to bring the real concerns of working people, and particularly of women, into the Dáil — she will do the same in the Seanad.

Ruth Coppinger is a BA graduate of UCD and has a H.Dip in Ed from NUI Maynooth. She is a secondary teacher and a former ASTI branch secretary.

Ruth is a long-time member of the Socialist Party. Economic inequality is unprecedented as production for profit devours our share of wages, public services, human rights and the future of the planet. In Ireland, just 17 billionaires now have €41 billion in wealth. If these problems are to be resolved, the key economic resources should be publicly owned and democratically used for social need not private profit.

 

 

 

Ruth has an unrivalled record of fighting for and delivering change

1. a driving force for Repeal and, through her input to the Oireachtas Committee, winning legislation that gave women the ultimate say;

2. highlighted gender violence and victim blaming like nobody else;

3. worked with families impacted by homelessness. Wrote a ‘minority report’ on the Oireachtas Housing Committee advocating mass home-building on public lands;

4. supported striking nurses and midwives, teachers and lecturers, ambulance paramedics and retail workers;

5. moved the Bill that led to the ban on fur farming and favours a ban on hare coursing and greyhound racing;

6. proposed the Objective Sex Education Bill, which has led to massive reform being proposed;

7. worked with parents and professionals to establish autism-specific education in Dublin 15;

8. supports the reintroduction of the state pension to 65;

9. favours an end to the marginalising of History and Geography in the school curriculum.

A socialist voice for workers, women & the planet

Ruth will champion:

1. An end to two-tier pay and precarious contracts for graduates and throughout the public sector;

2. Immediate action using state lands and resources to end the housing and rent crisis;

3. A separation of church and state — autonomy of women over their bodies and lives and full LGBTQI equality;

4. Action, education and increased resources to tackle gender-based violence;

5. Radical measures on the climate catastrophe, such as extending and making free public transport, keeping fossils fuels in the ground and banning fracked gas.

Establishment parties and some independents have handed housing over to bankers, big developers and vulture funds. They have been indifferent to the health crisis, undervaluing skilled health professionals. They have made life more precarious for workers and pensioners. They have tried to put a brake on social progress.

Many have noted how the Seanad has been used by some to maintain discrimination, inequality and backward ideas. The Seanad should be reflective of the positive changes that have taken place in Irish society, not a bastion for the status quo or a platform for those who want to take us back to the past. Ruth would be a voice for social progress and is best placed to challenge those senators.

Ruth makes a difference. She holds the establishment to account. Make your Seanad vote a meaningful one.

Twitter: @RuthCoppingerSP

Facebook: Ruth Coppinger

Instagram: @Ruth.Coppinger

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