People Before Profit New Year statement: ‘Progressives’ must be vocal in demanding Ireland built on Connolly’s vision

The party made the remarks in its New Year statement acknowledging the past year was one of ‘tremendous pain for many in our communities but also a year of growing resistance to an unjust political and economic order’.

"The pay revolt is putting it up to the Tories and corporate bosses in a way we haven't seen for decades. The hope for the New Year lies in developing these struggles into an unstoppable force for change.

"The Tories created chaos by doubling down on their commitment to fight only for the interests of elites. We shouldn't pay for their crisis while the super-rich party on record profits," the party said.

In the statement the party blamed the DUP for the ongoing ‘Stormont paralysis’, which, it said, had ‘compounded the multiple crises we face’.

However, PBP said the resurrection of power-sharing would be no panacea and argued the ‘claim its return will act as any kind of solution to our problems is nonsense’.

It claimed the DUP and its Executive partners ‘presided over years of pay cuts for public sector workers, promoted privatisation of the health service, allowed the housing crisis to balloon, lobbied for tax cuts for corporations’ and were ‘happy to maintain Thatcher-era anti-trade union laws’.

It blasted what it described as a lack of environmental regulation and ‘vicious’ welfare reforms.

"When it comes to Derry and the NW, we see the same failure to prioritise addressing regional inequalities. University expansion in line with our vision isn't a reality.

"Derry's rail tracks are literally second-hand and there's no urgency to expand train services as needed. There isn't any plan to up-end the status quo to properly tackle deprivation, house building, job creation, flood protection and a host of other social needs here,” it stated.

It claimed the Stormont institutions are founded on a sectarian premise.

"To understand why Stormont hasn't delivered change it’s necessary to accept sectarian deadlock is built into its DNA, as is a failed economic model that puts elites first.

"All the main parties in the North accepted this framework in the Belfast Agreement 25 years ago. Now, we live with its consequences. There was an alternative then and there is an alternative now,” it said.

The statement claimed there is an appetite for change and ‘it's a matter of urgency for all progressives and socialists to be centrally involved in discussions about the future of this island’.

“100 years ago elites agreed to a cynical carve-up that produced two reactionary states and a divided working class that allowed them to protect their power, wealth and privilege,” it stated.

The party said ‘progressives’ and the ‘working class movement can't be silent bystanders in this debate’.

"There must be a direct intervention from below to demand a new Ireland shaped by the vision of James Connolly that expands power for and redistributes wealth to the vast majority. We are for forging a united working class in pursuit of a united socialist Ireland,” it stated.

It added: "We cannot expect change from Westminster or Stormont. It has always come from below.”