As many as 10,000 labour union supporters marched through Dublin Saturday to protest upcoming steep budget cuts as Ireland negotiates a multi-billion-dollar bailout of its ailing banks.
Three years ago, Ireland was considered a Eurozone Tiger, an economy that was among the fastest growing in the continent. Today, it's unofficially, bankrupt, said CTV's Tom Kennedy from London. And it isn't alone. Among the 16 countries that use the Euro as their currency, two are on the verge of economic collapse and at least two others soon may need emergency assistance as well, he added.
One Irish protestor expressed her grave concern, saying, "I'm very worried about my grandchildren. Everything's collapsing."
The protestors appeared smaller than the tens of thousands that union organizers predicted would turn up to protest austerity measures that will combine deep cuts with higher taxes, which Prime Minister Brian Cowen has admitted will lower the living standards of many of Ireland's 4.5 million residents.
They paraded along the River Liffey to O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare, led by a traditional pipe band, carrying banners with slogans that read "It's not our fault, we must default," and "No country for young men."
Kennedy reports that Europe has offered emergency loans of $125 billion to save the country from collapse. Some 25,000 public sector jobs are expected to be slashed once cost-cutting measures are in place.
With the country's deficit at 32 per cent of GDP, the government announced a four-year plan to slash 15 billion euros from the deficit. The most severe spending cuts and tax cuts will take effect in the plan's first year. The 2011 budget calls for a 4.5 billion-euro spending cut, and aims to raise 1.5 billion euros from taxes.
Union leaders called for tax hikes to focus on the nation's banks and wealthiest citizens, rather than the poor and working classes who are struggling against high unemployment.
"People are very unhappy, and this is their last chance to protest before the budget," said Pat Kenny, a 45-year-old postal worker and labour union official.
"But today is just the start of a campaign against the plan. This government doesn't have a mandate to govern. They should allow for a general election and let the public say if they are in favour of the four-year plan."
The demands for Cowen to step down and call a national election have grown ever louder since the Irish government announced the loan.
Cowen has steadfastly refused to leave his post and has vowed to stay on the job until the Irish parliament votes on the 2011 budget, which is to be presented on December 7.
Cowen has vowed to dissolve parliament early next year to allow for an election in either February or March, after the budget is passed in its entirety.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the organizers of Saturday's march, said it would continue protesting the proposed cuts to welfare, pensions and other workers' benefits right up until next year's budget is unveiled.
"It's difficult to see any justification -- either economic, social, or indeed moral -- for what the government proposes to do, and we'll oppose them in every way we can," said David Begg, the group's general secretary.
Unions and opposition politicians are also outraged at word the EU-IMF loans could come with interest rates as high as 6.7 per cent. That is higher than the 5.2 per cent associated with Greece's 110 billion euro bailout, which was approved last May.
The government said interest rates have yet to be determined. However, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the reports of high rates show the Cowen-led coalition "cannot be trusted in any negotiations with the EU and IMF. They have no mandate to negotiate such terms and impose such a burden on ordinary Irish taxpayers."
With a reoprt from CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy and files from The Associated Press
