Palestine solidarity demonstration as DCC again fails to vote on anti-Veolia motion

(Sorry about the delayed nature of this report, been busy!)

On the evening of Monday 12th April 2010 around 40 members and supporters of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) staged a solidarity demonstration outside Dublin City Hall in support of the anti-Veoila motion that was tabled to be voted on by Dublin City Council (DCC).

Unfortunately, for the second month in a row this motion - calling on the City Manager not to sign or renew any contracts with French multinational Veolia until they cease operations in the occupied Palestinian territories - was not voted on. This, we are informed, was due to a raft of emergency motions tabled in the week before the meeting.

IPSC Chairperson Dr. David Landy expressed regret at the failure to take a vote on the motion saying: "This a real shame as based on conversations we had with many of the councillors beforehand, we were confident it would pass. However, we understand that for a city council important local issues must take precedence, and the IPSC will continue to build support for this motion in the weeks ahead. We will also be moving the focus of our campaign to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) which is responsible for the LUAS and Metro North contracts."

The next DCC meeting will take place on May 10th in Dublin City Hall, and the IPSC encourages all those supportive DCC Zone residents who have not yet contacted their local councillors asking them to support this motion to do so between now and then.

Further information on Veolia's links to Israeli Apartheid, as well as a model letter and contact details for local councillors can be found here: http://www.ipsc.ie/veolia.