Call to support union debt protest march

WHILE Saturday’s Lift the Burden, Jobs not Debt march in Limerick is being organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, all are welcome to attend.

 

Mike McNamara of the Limerick Council of Trade Unions said people from all sections of society who are concerned about the debt burden borne by Ireland are welcome.

“It’s for everybody, it’s for families, it’s for community groups and it’s for workers. It’s not just about the debt burden that the Irish state is being asked to carry for a couple of generations to come, its for our children’s future and it is to try to make sure the economy is improved so that our children don’t have to emigrate. It is to make sure that people can retire in the knowledge that they will have pensions to sustain them in life. It’s also against the austerity measures in relation to health cuts, cuts in the children’s allowance, all of those have come about because of the Government’s need to pay this big, hefty bill.”

He feels that the protest, which is one of six taking place around the country, is important to get the message out about the Irish situation.

“A successful march would help us to get a writedown on the debt, to have the repayments restructured and bring about a change in the interest rate, which would make it a more pliable type of a loan to pay back. The Irish people obviously need a writedown on it because every other country in Europe isn’t carrying the same level of debt as us and, if our banks weren’t recapitalised to the extent that they were, the euro would have collapsed by now.”

He says he is expecting thousands to turn out but finds it hard to give a precise estimate.

“Realistically, it’s hard to put a number on it. We’ve asked community groups to come and for people to bring their families. We would have been expecting maybe 5,000 to 8,000 but now we believe that could even swell up to about 10,000.”

Mr McNamara said that people in other European countries need to be shown the disillusionment of the Irish people and he said that Greece secured improvements as a result of protest.

“I think we have to demonstrate to Europe that we’re not just like an Alsatian in the back window of a Mini, we’re not just going to nod along with the Government as we go through this journey.

“The Greek people have been making noises and have got concessions, we’re not saying we want to do anything like that, we just want European countries to know that their obstinance at European level is not going to help our economy.”