DUBLIN:TENS OF thousands of people marched through Dublin city centre yesterday in the largest of the demonstrations organised by the Irish of Congress of Trade Unions to oppose planned Government cutbacks.
Gardaí estimated the attendance at 30,000 but the organisers insisted that some 70,000 had taken part in the march from Parnell Square, across the Liffey to Merrion Square.
The march concluded with a rally at which Ictu president Jack O’Connor said only the labour movement had advanced proposals to enable Ireland to emerge successfully from the economic crisis and allow people to hold on to their jobs and homes.
Mr O’Connor accused the Government of being deaf to the interests of the great majority in society but “particularly attuned” to the interests of the top 5 per cent of the population.
“Those at the top of our society, the 5 per cent who own 40 per cent of the wealth, are determined that they will contribute nothing and we are equally determined that they will make their contribution, whether they like it or not,” he told the marchers.
He also accused the Government of making “the most dramatic about-turn in the history of our State” by agreeing in April that those at the top would pay some contribution and then in August, deciding that those who depended most on public services should shoulder the entire burden of adjustment.
The Government had allowed itself to be “browbeaten” into accepting this, in the same way it had accepted the bank guarantee scheme, “an unprecedented €400 billion guarantee in the name of the Irish people”.
“They allowed themselves to be browbeaten to issue an IOU of €54 billion to prop up the banking system when they couldn’t find one measly euro to help working people retain their jobs.
“We are here to attest to the fact that it is fundamentally unfair and we will not accept it regardless of how they demonise us,” he told marchers. “We insist that the people at the top of society pay their contribution and that is the only solution.”
Mr O’Connor, who is also president of Siptu, said concepts that were once taken for granted, such as a decent job for a decent wage and a decent level of social security, had been ditched in the interests of those at the top of society.
Meanwhile, “luxuries” which allowed people earning more than €200,000 a year to pay the same tax as someone earning less than the average industrial wage, had not been ditched.
He said Ireland could not afford the luxury of having no wealth tax and added, to cheers: “Neither can we afford the luxury that people with trophy houses contribute nothing either.”
Throughout history, the labour movement had been asked to have regard to the national interest when government were making a “dog’s dinner” of it. “What’s actually happening is that they’ve confused the national interest with the interest of the better off and the well-to-do and that’s a tragedy.”
Ictu general secretary David Begg said Ireland was confronted with the choice of taking a brutal cut of €4 billion upfront or trying to effect a more gentle adjustment over a longer period. “We know for certain that the first option risks collapsing the economy and is a guarantee of more job losses. Our alternative at least offers the possibility of preserving the social fabric of this society.”
Criticising the “coarseness” of public debate since the recession began, Mr Begg said the principal objective was to split public and private sector workers.
