Occupy Dame Street activists today blocked two entrances to the Department of Finance in Dublin in protest at the repayment of €1.25 billion to unsecured bondholders of the defunct Anglo Irish Bank.
Several protesters linked their arms through barrels of concrete at the entrance to the department’s new annex on Merrion Row in an attempt to obstruct access to the building.
Further along the street, at another entrance to the department's offices, protesters chained themselves together with special locking devices.
Steven Bennett, spokesman for the movement, warned that it could take hours to cut through the locks.
He said the building could be shut down all day. “We have been here since 6.30am this morning and we have a crowd of about 40 protesters,” said Mr Bennett.
“We’ve used special locks that are kind of half-bells filled with concrete and other additives so it’s going to take hours and hours, and special cutters to get through them.”
Gardaí are at the scene, but there has been no attempt to move the protesters.
Liam Mac An Bháird, also of the Occupy Dame Street, said the protesters were staging an “act of civil disobedience” in protest at the Government’s willingness to pay-off unsecured bondholders of the bank.
A Department of Finance spokeswoman denied the protest had obstructed the operation of the department but admitted staff in one of the department’s buildings had been “inconvenienced”.
The nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, now part of the newly formed Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, is costing the State €29.3 billion.
Despite the bank's massive cost to the State, the State is repaying senior unsecured bondholders the full face value of the debt.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore hit out at critics of the Government’s policy, claiming they had never recognised the consequences of a default. “Those who make the call for not repaying have never spelled out what those consequences are,” he said.
