May Day marchers rally against austerity

A MAY DAY march in Dublin against Government austerity measures was attended by some 500 people last evening.

Rain-soaked protesters waving gravestone-shaped cards bearing the names of community projects led the march from the Garden of Remembrance to Liberty Hall.

The event was organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions to coincide with International Labour Day. The protest included a range of groups marching under an anti-austerity banner: community, voluntary and youth sector representatives, Occupy activists, anti-household charge campaigners, Socialist Party activists and union representatives.

Separately, Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg insisted that the tide was turning against what he called “the austerity agenda” across Europe. Mr Begg said record levels of unemployment in several countries had made people feel “the full force of these bankrupt policies”.

“The imposition of austerity across Europe has proven economically toxic and socially corrosive. We have record unemployment across the European Union, with some 24 million people out of work, including 5.5 million young people.”

He cited an International Labour Organisation report predicting that global unemployment would top 200 million by the end of 2012, and criticising austerity policies being adopted by several EU countries, including Ireland.

“Austerity hasn’t worked and it won’t work, and many people have now woken up to that fact. Across Europe the tide is turning and we are beginning to see the emergence of a new jobs and growth agenda,” Mr Begg said. He called on the Government to implement trade union plans for pension fund investment. “We need to get people back to work and give them a sense of hope again.”

See Marking May Day gallery online at iti.ms/KsTgQI