original thread title: Am I blind? Can't see a protest march thread?

Surely there must be one somewhere or are ye all out protestin'?

I'm like the woman on the Newstalk voxpop yesterday "I'd go, but I'm having a dinner party!"

I was at work but I was amazed to see the march being top news billing on the BBC website!

I probably wouldn't have gone as I trust the unions less than I do FF

Huge protest over Irish economy

Up to 100,000 people have gathered in Dublin city centre to protest at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.

Many are angry at plans to impose a pension levy on public sector workers.

Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it.

In a statement, the Irish government said it recognised that the measures it was taking were "difficult and in some cases painful".

The pension levy was "reasonable", the government said. reflecting "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue".

There were conflicting estimates of the numbers of people at the march, which began on the north side of Dublin in the mid-afternoon.


Police said 100,000 people were on the streets, while organisers said they expected 200,000 to protest in total.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), which organised the march, said it was campaigning for "a fairer and better way" of dealing with the economic crisis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7903628.stm

Indeed its interesting that there seems to be a sense of 'lets do this anyway'while wondering if it can have any effect.

While not trying to be disrespectful to those who have lost their jobs at SRT and WC, my understanding is that in the case of SRT it was a simple decision made by a company who has no real ties to Ireland. There has been a huge slowdown in aircraft maintenance activities and so, couple that with the fact that the cost of having a business in Dublin and that SRT have other bases this was something they have been prepairing for a long time.
WHat can the government do, short of pumping money in and seeing it disappear as quickly. There is no business case for keeping SRT in Dublin.

With WC, it seems that cheaper countries and the slump in demand for luxury items across the board has led to them being closed. Again...a business decision.

I know with for example with the car industry the french an american governments are propping up companies, which i dont understand either but I guess long term people will need cars and so demand wil return, if not at the levels of the boom years.

Are these protests not merely a small distraction for the government and given that the country is broke is there really anything that can be done that is useful for SRT and WC?

Seems to me that SR Technics and Waterford Crystal delegations were tacked on to the front of this march to give the illusion that this is not just a protest against the pension levy.

Top billing on the Swedish state TV news aswell!

Larkin and Connolly often used this excuse too.

As mentioned in the pub not 2 hours ago

"the best dressed most middle class protest I ever saw"

Just think of Europe as a 25 unit housing estate. All the neighbours are twitching and feeling the pain. All they need is for one of their neighbours to fail so they can feel better about themselves.

Guess what, it is us they want to see fail.

We just moved into the estate 3 years ago, and the others could never figure out how we paid for the house, the BMW, the people carrier and the 3 holidays a year.

They want to see us on our uppers.....

The Germans have a word for it I believe...

Which should scare the gubbermint a lot more .....

In fairness I think the woman said she was having visitors and I as usual was being flippant.

I only became aware at lunchtime yesterday that the demo had expanded to include the private sector unions as well.

Fair play to the organisers for getting such a turnout, but I would guess that if Saturday fortnight they had another demo which was clearly defined as being a protest against the Government's handling of the economy they will get twice the numbers.

I don't wish to turn this thread into another public vs. private sector bitchfest but as one who has already lost their private sector job I had no wish to have my attendance at the march being seen as giving support to the public service anti-pensions levy lobby and at a guess there were many more like me.

I have my "Welcome to the Banana republic" plachard ready and stored under the bed. I only hope the Government falls before I have a chance to use it.

this has become the thread on the matter so I've edited the title.

anyway...

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0221/6news_ ... 2,null,230

It has made BBC America and they gave it a 2-3 minute piece - They had some ignorant fool on representing ICTU saying that not one banker has got the chop. But anyway, from seeing the scale of the protest these Unions are going to bring Ireland down. As an exile I have mixed emotions - I'm glad not to be living in Ireland and having to live in a banana republic, where the elite of society have ruined the economy Vs having real concern for my ilk, especially the people particularly the unemployed citizens duped into buying inflated properties when they had jobs. Shameful.

As a public sector worker I can understand the ire. The so called pensions levy is a bit of a joke, applying to public sector workers who have no entitlement or claim to a pension, while the ESB remain exempt.

At the same time (while I would have preferred a paycut), I am cognisant of the value of still having a job so it's hard to complain.

Spare a thought for us poor non-unionised types faced with crossing picket lines in the weeks ahead