A group of students protesting against threatened cuts in education gave the Minster of State for Health and Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, a frosty welcome as he arrived in University College Dublin today.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, was due to formally open the new Institute for the Study of Social Change on the campus but in a change of plan Mr Lenihan attended.
Mr McCreevy has faced a number of calls for his resignation in recent days for allegedly deceiving voters on the nature and extent of cutbacks in the run-up to the general election.
Mr Lenihan denied the change was last minute: "It isn't a sudden change, I was asked to come here last week," he said. "Well before the Late Late Show," he said in reference to Mr McCreevy's appearance on the show on Friday where he received a hostile reception.
A group of over 40 students chanted: "Raise the grant higher" and other slogans as Mr Lenihan arrived.
They then staged a sit-down protest at the doors of the new building, preventing Mr Lenihan from entering for some minutes.
Gardaí and stewards were forced to remove the students who then banged on the glass atrium as Mr Lenihan talked to the press inside.