SEVERAL HUNDRED people attended a protest march in Dublin on Saturday against the EU-IMF austerity programme.
The protest, organised by the Enough Campaign, was supported by trade unions, TDs, political organisations and groups seeking to maintain services in their areas.
Campaigners said suggestions the State’s implementation of the EU-IMF austerity programme was going well were badly misplaced.
The protest began at 2.30pm when marchers walked from the Garden of Remembrance to the Central Bank before forming a sit-down “people’s assembly” outside the GPO.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, an organiser of the march, said the campaign was about mobilising mass opposition to the austerity programme and bringing the spirit of Greek, Spanish and Egyptian-style resistance to Ireland.
“This day, it’s not just going to be about speeches – we have had too much of that stuff where it is a few speeches and everybody goes home and that’s the end of it,” he told protesters. “This has to be the beginning of building a movement.
“We reject any claims that we don’t understand the problem, we reject the advice of experts and economists who say that we don’t understand they don’t understand, they are delusional.”
The protest continued until shortly before 4pm when heavy rain forced the marchers, many of whom had their children with them, to disperse.
Some of the groups that took part included the Socialist Party, Free Education for Everybody, Unite, the Special Needs Action Group, the Waterford Council of Trade Unions, Justice for Rachel Peavoy, the Sligo Workers Alliance and the Save Wexford General Hospital Campaign.
Regional secretary of Unite Jimmy Kelly said: “The key strategy has to be to unite. Unless we unite all those campaigns, we will be picked off one by one.”
Organisers encouraged those in attendance to rally support for what they hope will be a much larger demonstration on September 14th, when the Dáil resumes after summer recess.
Earlier last week, the troika said Ireland was on track after a review of the €85 billion bailout.
“The problems that Ireland faces are not just an Irish problem,” said IMF deputy director Ajai Chopra.
“They’re a shared European problem. What we need and what’s lacking so far is a European solution to a European problem.”