Protest highlights debt issue

Approximately 30 people staged a protest outside the Department of Finance in Dublin last night in what was termed a "symbolic gesture" to highlight the issue of world debt.

Further demonstrations are expected across Europe in coming days in the lead-up to the IMF/World Bank a.g.m. in Prague on September 24th.

Last night's demonstration was one of two events organised by Debt and Development Coalition/Jubilee Ireland to protest at the failure of the IMF and the World Bank to cancel poorer countries' debts.

The events were staged to increase attention on debt cancellation in advance of the Prague IMF/World Bank gathering.

Thousands of demonstrators are expected on the streets of the Czech capital ahead of, and during, the meeting. Demonstrations have become a common feature at IMF/World Bank meetings over the past number of years. Huge demonstrations were held at the IMF/ World Bank a.g.m. in Seattle last year, while 6,000 demonstrators failed to halt meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington in April.

Debt and Development Coalition/Jubilee Ireland said the vigil - held between 5.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. outside the Department of Finance - was organised to put pressure on the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to make a strong call for cancellation of debts owed to both institutions. "The point of the vigil is to highlight the fact that we are calling on the Minister, while he is in Prague, to make a strong statement on debt cancellation," said Ms Jean Somers, co-ordinator of the Debt and Development Coalition.

There is strong support in Ireland for the two groups' objectives, according to Ms Somers, who said 800,000 Irish people had signed the Jubilee 2000 petition for debt cancellation.

"A debt initiative, the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC), has been on the table since 1996 and the Irish Government is supporting that. It has been tried and tested for four years and it hasn't delivered. We're now asking Ireland to call strongly for debt cancellation," said Ms Somers.

A public forum was also organised to discuss Ireland's role as a member of the IMF and the World Bank.