LIMERICK:MORE THAN 5,000 people took to the streets of Limerick to tell the Government they will not accept any more pay cuts.
Gardaí, nurses, teachers, prison officers and local authority workers were among the protesters who said low and middle-income earners were being targeted to protect “fat cats”.
Hundreds of banners with messages such as “Stop Fleecing Workers” and “Banks Must Lend to Save Jobs” were among the placards carried by demonstrators led by the Limerick Council of Trade Unions.
It was the second time Limerick city centre was brought to a standstill in as many days. On Thursday some 2,000 people from community groups marched to voice anger over the McCarthy report which calls for many community schemes to be cut.
Speaking at yesterday’s event, Mike McNamara, president of the Limerick Council of Trade Unions, said there will be more days of action. “People don’t have any other choice at this stage. They are faced with this challenge that most people never had to face before and when all other tactics have been used in the past like going into partnership, going into normal dispute mechanisms, in extraordinary times we just have to resort to revolutionary procedures to get what we want off the government,” he said.
“The government talk about tiger kidnappings, but there was another tiger kidnapping recently, the Celtic Tiger was kidnapped and he is being held for ransom for €54 billion,” he added.
Siptu’s Paul Gavin addressed the protesters. “It’s time for all of us to fight, to take our country back. To take it back from the cabal of corrupt failed politicians, bankers and developers,” he said.
Mary Fogarty, union official with the Irish Nurses’ Association, was among those who took to the streets in Limerick. “We are here to demonstrate to the Government and to the country that the public sector isn’t willing to lie down and have further pay cuts imposed on us unless it’s done equitably throughout all society and that everybody pays their fair share,” said Ms Fogarty.
Limerick City Council worker John Harmon said he was willing to take to the streets again if required. “They are hitting the ordinary person and bailing out the banks and the developers who made millions during the so-called boom when the ordinary person only had a week’s wages,” he said.