[BITList] Dublin Demanding Irish Default

[CT's]

"We can't pay that money and we won't pay that money,"

very responsible attitude!

we’ve spent it – but we are just not paying it back..............................so there!

ct

Thousands March In Dublin Demanding Irish Default, Election 
  a.. 
     By Nicholas Winning 
     Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 

DUBLIN (Dow Jones)--Thousands of people marched through Dublin Saturday, demanding the Irish government default on the country's debts, call an immediate election, and reverse plans for tough budget cuts and financial support from the International Monetary Fund. 

Police said about 45,000 took part in the demonstration organized by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, an umbrella group for unions representing some 800,000 workers across the island of Ireland that wants the government to do more to generate growth and jobs. 

Blowing whistles, and to the sound of a marching band and drummers, the protesters chanted "Burn the bondholders" and "They say cut back, we say fight back," as they made their way to a gathering at the city's General Post Office, the site of an uprising in 1916 that served as a catalyst to events that led to Irish independence. 

"We should be having an immediate election. I think they [the government] should default on the bonds," said Valerie Whelan, a 58-year-old writer holding a placard saying "I don't want my daughter to emigrate." 

"We are suffering so the bondholders don't suffer--it's capitalism gone mad," she said. 

Faced with a debt crisis following the collapse of the country's banking system, Ireland's government has announced severe budget cuts and is negotiating a multibillion euro support package with the International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank, which is expected Sunday. 

On Thursday, it announced details of a four-year plan including EUR10 billion in expenditure cuts and EUR5 billion in tax measures to slash the country's budget deficit to below the EU limit of 3% of gross domestic product by 2014 from an expected 32% this year. The government is due to outline EUR6 billion of the cuts in a budget Dec. 7. 

The measures include lowering the minimum wage, cutting public-sector jobs, salaries and pensions, reducing social-welfare spending, increasing the sales tax to 23% by 2014 from 21%, and widening the income-tax base. 

David Begg, the general secretary of the ICTU, told demonstrators that the country couldn't afford to pay billions of euros to bail out Europe's banking system. 

"We can't pay that money and we won't pay that money," he said. 

Impact, Ireland's largest public-sector union, has said the government's four-year plan is driven by an obsession to bail out "zombie banks" rather than the need to stimulate economic activity. 

But despite some of the harshest budget consolidation measures in Europe, the ICTU appears to have little appetite for industrial action of the kind seen in countries like Spain, Portugal, and Greece that have also been subjected to tough austerity measures. 

"I don't think the right focus at the moment will be on industrial action, it is on political action looking at the forthcoming general election," Sally Anne Kinahan, ICTU assistant general secretary, said ahead of the march. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen has said a general election will be called in the New Year. 

Nevertheless, some left-leaning groups and many of the marchers demanded the Irish unions go further. 

"They need to escalate and do strike action rather than just marching people around the town," said Brid Smith, a local government official in a working class suburb west of Dublin for People Before Profit, a small left-wing grassroots political grouping. 

She said bondholders should bare a greater share of the losses, and the government should reverse its austerity measures and introduce heavier taxes on the wealthy people who profited most during the boom years that earned Ireland the name as the Celtic Tiger. 

Martin Bonney, a 60-year-old taxi driver, said the usually mild-mannered Irish have almost run out of patience with the government. 

"It's not fair. Wait until the budget comes out--it's going to blow," he said. "If I was a few years younger I would be off to Australia for a couple of years." 

Evan O'Gorman, a 15-year-old secondary school student holding two placards that said "Free Eire" and "Everyone hates Cowen," said he wouldn't leave the country but he could understand why some would. 

"The budget and the four-year plan is a disgrace," he said. 

Des Devine, a 40-year-old who traveled from Galway on the west coast of Ireland to take part in the march, suggested the government emigrate and go into exile. 

Bringing up the rear of the march, Eddie Glackin, a 64-year-old retired union worker, held aloft cut-out pictures of Cowen and two main opposition leaders with "Puppet of EU and IMF" stamped across them. 

"We should default--the idea that the workers of this country should pay for the gambling of the billionaires is disgusting," he said. 

Tim O'Donovan, a 34-year-old student, held a placard with an uncompromising message to those running the country--"You useless bastards." 

Surveying the crowd of protesters, he said he was surprised at the turnout, particularly given the snowfall overnight. ""This is very unlike Irish people--they like being told what to do." 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20101127/107f09d5/attachment-0001.shtml