Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton was interrupted by hecklers at an event in Dundalk town centre this afternoon
Demonstrators chanted slogans and “shame on you” and waved placards bearing messages protesting against cuts to child benefit and the imposition of the household charge and septic tank charges.
The protest took place at the of a JobsPlus scheme at Marshes Shopping Centre in the town. She accused the hecklers launch sullying the reputation of Dundalk.
"I know Dundalk an awful lot longer than some of the people inside and my only concern would be that they would give Dundalk, which is full of the most hard-working people in businesses, that they would really give the people of Dundalk a bad image," Ms Burton said after the event.
"We're here today to provide employment to people and I'm afraid that the people shouting and roaring inside don't seem to care about their fellow Dundalk citizens. And that's a pity."
"I know how hard people work here and how much businesses have worked to recover from all the difficulties," she added.
Commenting on last week’s announcement by online auction site eBay to create 450 jobs in the town, Ms Burton said: “I think its super that that Paypal and eBay and companies like Hertz and Pen should be here.
“There’s a wonderful workforce. You have an IT in Dundalk which is world class
"Dundalk has so much to be proud of. And, for people to sully the reputation of Dundalk I think [is] very short-sighted,” she said.
“I think they're short-changing their fellow citizens."
Ms Burton was in Dundalk to announce details of a scheme to encourage businesses to hire additional employees from the live register.
The job creation scheme is focused on "incentivising" companies to employ job seekers that have been on the live register for 12 months or more. Under the scheme, companies will receive a grants of up to €10,000 for each new employee.
