Coppinger: Anti-austerity candidate needed in every constituency

Opposition TD Ruth Coppinger is hoping an anti-austerity candidate will run in every constituency in the next General Election.

The Right to Water group are holding a series of talks and workshops in Dublin today, in an effort to establish a new set of political policies.

They are presenting an alternative framework outlining what they say a "progressive government" would do in budgetary terms over the next five years.

Trade unions, politicians and community activists are taking part in the event.

Anti-Austerity-Alliance TD Ruth Coppinger wants ordinary people to engage with politics ahead of the next General Election.

"We should have an anti-austerity candidate in every single constituency - all 41," she said. "The main movement against the water charge can, obviously, facilitate that. But here are other issues as well."

She said the young people who had been politically active during the marriage equality movement would have to be won over to the anti-austerity cause.