Protesters call for Cowen to quit, IMF to leave and a national strike

A SMALL but vocal protest was held outside the Department of Finance in Dublin yesterday in advance of the release of the Government’s four-year plan.

Up to 50 people, vastly outnumbered by the international media, chanted and waved signs under the banner of the People Before Profit Alliance.

They called for the resignation of Brian Cowen and his Government, the expulsion of the International Monetary Fund from the State, and a national strike.

They also appealed to the public to participate in the protest march organised for Saturday by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).

A further handful of Sinn Féin protesters, including TDs Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Martin Ferris, unfurled Tricolours outside the gates of Government Buildings and stood silently calling for a public demonstration on December 4th.

Eight taxis also briefly participated in the protest, driving slowly down Merrion Street with a tombstone on the roof of the lead car.

One man, David Weafer, from Clontarf, who had saved a collection of posters from the Lisbon referendum campaign, also attended the protest.

The posters included slogans such as “Good for Ireland, Good for Europe”, from Fianna Fáil and “Yes to Recovery, Yes to Europe” from Fine Gael.

Mr Weafer said he knew the posters would come in useful one day. He wanted to show how the politicians had lied and deceived the Irish people, he said.

For a short time, the People Before Profit protest moved across the street to the steps of the five-star Merrion Hotel, where the team from the IMF is believed to be staying.

“IMF, can you hear? We don’t want your cutbacks here,” they chanted.

People Before Profit councillor from Dún Laoghaire Richard Boyd Barrett said the Government had been following the dictates of the international banking system for the last 10 years, along with the neo-liberal policies of the European Union.

The policy had to be ditched and people needed to come out on the streets to enforce that alternative, he said.

Mr Ó Snodaigh said there was a way “out of the hole we are in” without bringing in the IMF or the European Central Bank.

“We in Ireland have the wealth; it is a matter of taxing it properly and investing it properly so that you have people back to work,” he said.

He also said Sinn Féin would be participating in the Ictu march, as well as organising a march of its own on December 4th.