Protesters chant as Enda Kenny addresses FG party in Limerick

Fine Gael members and party supporters had to have gardaí walk them to their cars as they left a meeting with Enda Kenny at a hotel in Limerick on Monday night.

Around 200 anti water charge protestors gathered outside The Greenhills hotel in Limerick for over four hours while the Taoiseach addressed a regional gathering of the party faithful.

Angry demonstrators carrying placards reading ‘Bury Irish Water before they bury us’ chanted ‘Enda Kenny not a penny’ and ‘No way, we won’t pay’ as members left the meeting.

Protestors from across the wider mid west region were outside the hotel with some groups carrying a banners reading ‘Nenagh says no’ and ‘Shannon says No’.

Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway who recently said “water just doesn’t fall from the sky’” was booed as he arrived for the meeting and walked through the crowd.

Protestors circled around Nenagh Councillor Noel Coonan’s car as he left the hotel car park.

Large crowds shouted “shame on you” at local public representatives and party supporters as they left the meeting, many of whom had to be walked to their cars by gardaí.

Barricades were erected outside the hotel where more than 50 uniformed Gardai and many plain clothes officers who cordoned off the entrance to the hotel, with entry restricted to those attending the Fine Gael meeting and residents only.

“I have three children and a grand child living with me. I’m not going to stop protesting,” said Sharon Creagh who travelled from Nenagh, Co Tipperary with five others for the protest.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald were also in attendance.

The Taoiseach left the hotel after the meeting via a back exit avoiding the large gathering of protestors who remained outside.