About 4,000 lower paid civil servants took part in the first large-scale union demonstration against the Government's new pension levy this afternoon.
The protest was organised by the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), which represents about 13,000 lower paid staff in the civil service.
The CPSU said the levy would not work and it would not put up with it.
The Government hopes the levy will reduce €1.4 billion from the public sector pay bill in 2009.
The legislation providing for the introduction of the levy was published this morning. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan is expected to bring it before the Dáil this afternoon.
CPSU general secretary Blair Horan said the pension levy was actually a pay cut and that it was "unfair, unwarranted and unjust".
He said there was no denying the depths of the economic crisis and that the CPSU supported the concept of a social solidarity pact under which those who had gained the most would shoulder the bulk of the burden.
"We will pay our part but lower paid civil servants are not prepared to be targeted by this Government for savage pay cuts while top bankers bemoan the fact that their salary with be a mere €2 million next year and get off scot-free," he said.
Mr Horan said CPSU members had not received any bonanza from the Celtic Tiger boom years. He said the reality was that his members suffered badly because the boom drove up house prices and rent and massively increased childcare costs.
Mr Horan said members of the CPSU had seen their last pay increase largely overtaken by rising inflation while the Government had now reneged on the six per cent deal agreed last September. He said that in addition to this the Government was now seeking an average six per cent pay cut for his members as part of the pension levy.
"You can't solve the country's economic problems by cutting pay and defering modest pay increases for lower paid workers," he said.
CPSU president Dennis Walsh said the Government would have to think again with regard to the levy.
This was the largest demonstration today against the levy to date.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents rank and file members of the force, also staged a two-hour protest this morning. The event marked the first time members of the force have held a demonstration since the so called "Blue Flu" in 1998.
Separately, Siptu members of Dublin Bus protested outside the Dáil over planned cutbacks to services.
