Dublin hit by mass protest over economic crisis
By Honor Mahony
Around 120,000 citizens hit the streets of Dublin on Saturday to protest the government's handling of the economic crisis.
The demonstration was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and was the first major public signal of disapproval by the Irish people as they feel the blast of the world economic downturn.
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The country is officially in recession, unemployment is up, the property bubble which fuelled the booming economy in Celtic Tiger times has burst and popularity ratings for Brian Cowen's government have plummeted.
ICTU general secretary David Begg said that people were full of "fear and anger" as the economic situation is set to worsen.
"Fear because their whole generation of young people, very highly educated, for whom redundancy was never in their frame of reference, don't know what is going to happen to them for the future," he told RTE radio.
"Anger because they know they had nothing to do with causing it."
Mr Cowen has announced a package of measures designed to cut government spending by €2 billion and has previously said the government needs to cut back to the tune of €15 billion.
The measure that has attracted the most criticism and which was the focus of Saturday's demonstration is a pension levy on public servants.
Ahead of the protest, the government released a statement justifying its measures.
"The Government recognises that the measures which it is taking are difficult and, in some cases, painful," it said.
"The Government is also convinced, however, that they are both necessary and fair. They are necessary because it is essential that we show a credible start on the correction of an emerging unsustainability in our public finances."
A series of further protests are expected during the course of this week, the Irish Times reports, including one by civil servants on Thursday and by Dublin Bus on Saturday.
Meanwhile, other public service staff including teachers and mid-ranking civil servants are also considering protests.
Public sector workers feel they are being made to pay for the sins of the private sector.
This feeling has been intensified as details of a scandal concerning Anglo Irish bank have kept the nation agog for much of last week.
The bank, which last month was nationalised because of the size of its debt, admitted it has lent €451 million to ten clients to purchase shares in the financial institution in 2008. While the recipients of the loans have not been named, the bank has already indicated it expects that it will not get most of the money back.
Ireland's protests come after news that the Latvian government fell before the weekend due to the effects of the economic crisis.
Non-EU member Iceland was the first country to see a political casualty due to the world economic downturn. Its government fell on 26 January after weeks of protest. It has also been bailed out by the International Monetary Fund.