'No Cutbacks, No Fees, No Fianna Fáil TD's!', images from Student Protest of 25,000 in Dublin

national | education | news report

Saturday February 07, 2009 21:38

by Paula Geraghty

mspgeraghty at yahoo dot ie

The day public servants discovered how much Cowan was taking from their take home pay to bail out the system , 25,000 students took to the streets of Dublin shouting
'No Cutbacks, No Fees, No Fianna Fáil TD's!'

It was big, it was loud. The march went to Merrion Square bypassing the gardaí protecting the back entrance to the Dáil. A worker from Waterford Crystal was the first to address the assembled crowds. He was warmly welcomed and quite overwhelmed with the amount of support.

Next up, Mike Jennings, General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), said, “Speaking as a representative of the generation that benefited from the decision of Donagh O’Malley to introduce free second-level education, I can testify to the very real difference that not having to pay fees makes to individuals and society alike.”
http://www.ifut.ie/wordpress/2009/02/04/ifut-general-se...fees/

Fine Gael had a few words while Ruairi Quinn, former Labour party leader seemed to trail off into another realm half way through. Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin received a good response and his talk can be seen here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/90996

Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party got a rapturous response when he called for a national day of action to shut down the colleges and a General Strike. He emphasised that students should protest with the road sweepers, the Nurses and that was the way to go. Richard Boyd Barret from People Before Profit got a similar response.

It was good to see workers and students on the platform- a marked shift from the usual only having politicians.

FEE, Free Education for Everyone had a break away protest rally, all very civilised on Kildare Street, outside the Dáil. The Gardaí, who were protecting the elected Government inside were in a rather sympathetic mood as those they were 'protecting' had robbed them of part of their wages ;-)

The assembled FEE group gathered and continued the protest right up to Aungier St. DIT where USI were continuing the discussion on strategy and tactics. It was more of a power point presentation on how to campaign. Cringingly bad, more painful than Peep Show and The Office combined. The kids weren't fooled by this. Think the pressure is on the Student Unions to shift the resistance to the government and escalate the protests.

images etc (c)
Video footage to follow!

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Comments (10 of 10)

@Brian

by Conall - UCD FEE

Wed Nov 24, 2010 13:00

The protest with the clashes on Merrion row is a different one from the one reported here.
This is from February 2009

Brian

by Caobhin

Sat Nov 06, 2010 13:34

I think Facebook own your photos now, its in the "agreement" everyone has to tick to open a Facepony account.

Photographer

by Brian O'Leary

Sat Nov 06, 2010 12:02

b-leary at hotmail dot com

I got some great shots from the frontline of the riot that followed,
click on this facebook link to see them.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000342129633#!/album.php?aid=31813&id=100000342129633

Let me know if you want to publish any

©Brian O'Leary , all rights reserved.

Whingers

by Sick-of-'Em

Thu Apr 30, 2009 16:14

"Don't forget...
Bailouts for bankers, while public service workers are hit with cuts!"

No mention of the meltdown in the private sector...whose taxes pay the wages of teachers.

Rather,used to pay their wages.

Nowadays teachers are paid by money largely borrowed abroad.

Economic oblivion beckons.

Not that the teachers notice such things.

Ireland is now officially worse than Iceland...the 6 months is up.

Almost 1-in5 (17%) of private sector will be out of work by years end.

See:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2009/0429/ireland/e...ojoj/

Who was it that said that the collective name for teachers should be "A Whinge of teachers."?

Some Protest Videos

by Spear Ireland

Thu Apr 30, 2009 14:54

Agree entirely about videos. Young people get so much information from videos these days (don't I sound old??) We must reach out to them and their inherent disgust at the state of the world we live in.

So good to see the student protests.

Anyhow, we're trying to collect videos of community-based struggles at this site. We are entirely open to work with anyone and any groups who share our vision of a better Ireland.

Everyone together, we can change it!

http://spearireland.com

Thanks for video

by Cian - SP

Thu Apr 30, 2009 02:04

Very good video. I think there need to be more video's of protests and speechs don, proper, proffesional ones. Maybe Indymedia could even have a way to have vids put on to there server (obviously selected ones only), so Indymedia can really become an alternative to theestablishment media.

Anyway, good video, for more check out the link below with other videos of joe.

Joe Higgins

by Paula G

Mon Apr 06, 2009 21:57

at the demonstration

Caption: Video Id: http://vimeo.com/387 Type: Vimeo
Embedded video Vimeo

protest over the pension levy

by JK - -

Sun Feb 08, 2009 13:03

teachersunited09 at gmail dot com

Great pics Paula.

Don't forget...
Bailouts for bankers, while public service workers are hit with cuts!

Protest this Monday Feb 9th, outside Anglo Irish Bank, Stephens Green at 4.30pm

Organised by Teachers United.
Spread the word.

teachersunited09@gmail.com

Join the facebook group:
"No Public Service Pension Levy! Oppose the Cuts!"

End of images

Sat Feb 07, 2009 21:57

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