Hey TDs Out, out out!

It must have been tough for Labour Party leader Ruairi Quinn at Wednesday's USI protest. The former student radical was flagged in advance by USI as the guest of honour at what they hoped would be a revival of "the spirit of 1968".

But when the man who's also a former Minister for Finance got up to speak from the temporary stage outside the Dail, the jeering from his audience was so loud he could barely make himself heard - despite the fact he's currently in Opposition. The students might have been young, but they were profoundly cynical about mainstream politicians.

Denis Naughten of Fine Gael didn't fare much better. He was doing well until he called on the students to vote for his party's candidates in the forthcoming elections. His efforts were rewarded with a chorus of boos.

The only TD to escape without a roasting from the students was the Socialist Party's Joe Higgins, who said students were paying up to £70 a week for "a grubby bedsit you wouldn't even put your cat in."

Higgins proposed a State building programme in every college town to alleviate the shortage of budget accommodation. While there was a certain amount of cheerleading from the Socialist Workers, who were at the front of the crowd carrying "Tax the Rich! Double the Grant!" posters, it was still an extraordinary performance from a generation of students long since written off as being hopelessly conservative.

"The newspapers said the days of student radicalism were over. We proved them wrong today," said USI president Dermot Lohan. Earlier, he had said students were "less confrontational than in the past", but no one was going to remind him of that in his hour of glory.

Despite his initially hostile reception, Quinn had the good grace to stress to the students that they should learn the lesson of "unity on the streets".

"Bring your union together and put the pressure where it needs to be put," Quinn said. He even raised a cheer when he called on the audience to ensure every student registered to vote in next year's European and local elections. However, by the time he finished, the jeering had started again.

Up until their arrival in Molesworth Street, the students' protest had been very good humoured. Buses arrived in Mountjoy Square from as far afield as Letterkenny IT and UCC. Placards variously depicted the Minister for Education as The Joker, Father Dougal, and - most bizarrely - "The Gimp" from the Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the students' protest, however, was the soundtrack. They set off from the northside of Dublin singing The Fields of Athenry, alternated with You'll Never Walk Alone. Every now and again, a lone bagpipe player would strike up a tune.

"We've had enough talk from politicians when they're in Opposition promising us the world," said Lohan. "When are they going to do something about the people who are trying to live on £45 per week - it wouldn't even buy a ministerial lunch. What about the students who queue for three hours to get a place in a slum an are then charged £60 a week for the privilege?"

Lohan promised the "mass demonstrations" would "continue until we have an education system open to all". He promised to "fill O'Connell Street next time if that's what we need to do."

Little did the students know that just down the street from their protest, the Minister was emerging from a press launch. As thousands of students chanted "Micheal, Micheal, give us a grant" in the direction of the Dail, the man in question was just a few metres behind them. It's just as well USI didn't check the Minister's diary of public engagements before they set out in the protest. The mood the students were in about politics, it could have all turned nasty if they'd been facing in the right direction.