9th February Protests Cork

Am Chile

IM surprised no one has posted this yet, a week on saturday on the 9th of february there is set to be national anti austerity protests over the bank debt, property tax etc,trade unions,cahwt and other groups will be taking part, protests are set to take to place in many different towns that saturday including cork, how many on the cork forum plan to take part in the cork protest on the 9th february ?

Judes

"LIFT THE BURDEN" is the title of this Rally and I will be attending.

The rally will be held in 6 locations throughout Ireland: Dublin / Cork / Limerick / Waterford /Sligo / Galway

Cork assembly point - SIPTU Offices, Connolly Hall, Lapps Quay, Cork - 13.30.

I've lifted the following statement from ICTU Posters/Flyers "So far, the average EU citizen has paid €192 to cover the cost of their bust banks. But our bank bailout has cost every Irish citizen almost €9,000 - nearly 50 times the EU average! And we are expected to pay more!

Our bank bailout prevented the collapse of the European banking system and probably saved the Euro.

The whole EU benefitted but we are expected to foot the €64 billion bill alone. The bank debt burden is unsustainable and will cripple us for generations"

We all need to attend these rallies to send a clear message across Europe.

Hope to march alongside loads of other boardsies - as this is our future! J

Milly33

sounds interesting will mark it in the diary

tenton

Nobody in Europe cares a fig about a few thousand people marching in Cork or anywhere else.

The real reason for the trade union march is to send a message to the parties involved in negotiating Croke Park 2 that public sector pay and platinum pensions should not be touched. Average public sector pay in Ireland is only €49,000 a year according to www.cso.ie

Come to the march and support public sector pay and pensions.

Judes

Sorry Tenton but "average" public sector pay is a lot lower than you quote. The average you are going by is probably a figure/sum taken from dividing higher Managerial pay levels to get the so called average the media like to quote.

But your "average" therapy grade worker, social worker, social care worker, technicians, clerical/administrative workers and a lot of other front-line workers would be on a much lower salary than that.

This march is about ALL OF US. Private and Public Sector - Employed and Unemployed - Families of children having to emigrate and future children who will have to continue to leave Ireland as we'll have nothing to offer.

The attitude that nobody in Europe cares about a few thousand people marching in Cork is incorrect!!! And we will be marching in 6 major Cities in Ireland - so that is more than a few thousand in Cork.

I would think that most Irish people took note of those protesting in Greece and other European countries. It's time we stopped mouthing off on Boards, mouthing off in the local pub and actually marched to show solidarity as a nation. That we the people of Ireland are not happy and will not be used as scapegoats any more. Maybe you can afford more cuts and austerity Tenton but I personally can't - and will march/protest/write to Councillors, TD's and newspapers until we can start to improve our nation.

I urge you all - please attend this rally on the 9th. It is important to be seen. J

murphym7

I wish you well Judes as you clearly do believe this will make some sort of difference, I believe it won't - Tenton is right - nobody is going to care over in Europe. Ireland will never get the kind of numbers marching that Greece did, won't even hit the back pages of European papers.

Judes

We won't get the numbers marching if people don't come out and march! But thank you for support. If any of you are out there on Saturday please don't stand at the side of the road looking, please join in !

Am Chile

tenton wrote: »

Nobody in Europe cares a fig about a few thousand people marching in Cork or anywhere else.

The real reason for the trade union march is to send a message to the parties involved in negotiating Croke Park 2 that public sector pay and platinum pensions should not be touched. Average public sector pay in Ireland is only €49,000 a year according to www.cso.ie

Come to the march and support public sector pay and pensions.

The planned protests/rallies won,t be just a few thousand people protesting in cork alone there will be other protests in other towns that day also which will hopefully draw thousands out onto the streets, next weeks protests is nothing to do with croke park or public sector pay, its being held over the bank debt/incoming property taxes, the Cahwt will be attending as will other community groups hit by austerity measures, next weeks protests should only be the start of wider protests to come, I know some people think ah sure what will protests do ? whos gonna care ?bear in mind some comments from a fine gael minister a few months ago.

a senior Fine Gael minister, warned Mr Kenny that middle Ireland is at the brink and needs to "see light at the end of the tunnel.

"If we bring middle Ireland onto the streets then it will be 'Goodbye Fine Gael'," the Minister said.

One senior Fine Gael minister said that unless a bank deal is secured, middle Ireland could be forced on to the streets in protest.

"The people are sick of austerity and not fit for it anymore. The people who are suffering are the people of middle Ireland. They want to see some light at the end of the tunnel," the minister said.

The minster also warned that if Ireland does not obtain a deal, the consequences for Fine Gael could be disastrous.

"If we bring middle Ireland on to the streets then it will be goodbye Fine Gael. We will go the same way as Fianna Fail

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/appeasing-merkel-has-cost-us-the-bank-deal-3266330.html

They re more scared of large scale protests then what people might think.

pwurple

Judes wrote: »

Sorry Tenton but "average" public sector pay is a lot lower than you quote. The average you are going by is probably a figure/sum taken from dividing higher Managerial pay levels to get the so called average the media like to quote.

Um Judes.... that is what an average is. The average of EVERYONE. The average of the rest of us is 35k. Even including the big shots.

tenton

I am all for protesting about tax increases and the property tax etc. However to put things in context, the household charge property tax will only bring in about half a billion a year. Public service pay and pensions however are still about double what they were 10 years ago. Approx 18 billion versus 9 billion.
Thats the elephant in the room. How about cutting the pay and pensions of the partners of the "social partners"?
Government spending should be cut to bring it in line with other countries...thats the elephant in the room.
SIPTU just want to preserve the pay and pensions of their buddies i.e. the top public servants. It was the top public servants ( e.g the government, the central bank, the dept. of finance, the regulator ) who caused the mess / allowed it to happen.
Its ironic they are organising a march to protect the pay and pensions of these very people. The people have had enough. There should be a counter march.

Xantia

Change if it is to happen will only happen slowly.
Get out and protest - you dont have to be under the union banner if that is your thing.
There are other groups also that will be there.

Xantia

Am Chile wrote: »

IM surprised no one has posted this yet, a week on saturday on the 9th of february there is set to be national anti austerity protests over the bank debt, property tax etc,trade unions,cahwt and other groups will be taking part, protests are set to take to place in many different towns that saturday including cork, how many on the cork forum plan to take part in the cork protest on the 9th february ?

It has been posted in other areas of boards as well.
I am currently handing out leaflets about it.
I see the fence sitters are here as well - with the 'whats the point' etc.
Well a lot of people have been going on and on about everything for months now - at least go to one protest and march peacefully. Let yourself be counted.
You don't have to be a member of SIPTU or any other union to go.
If you feel strongly enough to be posting here then please turn up at Lapps Quay at 1:30 pm next Saturday - this day week.
See you there....
http://www.ictu.ie/jobsnotdebt/

Judes

I personally am a member of a Union - don't forget that Unions represent the Private Sector, Public Sector, Voluntary Organisations, Retail, Hospitality i.e. every Sector of Irish Life. I myself will be marching under my Union banner. (And those who seem to be anti Union out there just remember that if it had not been for the Unions in 1913, well, who knows....................).

But a lot of my friends from different walks of life will be marching under different organisations and banners and some of my friends and family are walking alongside me.

We Irish are a great nation of Moaners - it's about time we showed we're a nation of Movers - and I'm not talking "moving over-seas".

So please join in - that's all I can plea...............

Spindle

Will this protest also include the Union leaders earning 125k a year who loved bench marking so much :rolleyes:

I suppose they will be pedaling the line Ireland is paying for the bank bail out of Europe line :rolleyes: Look at all the figures you might see we are not.

This country is bankrupt, the tax take has fallen off a cliff, and we can't afford to run the country at the current over inflated levels caused by years of benchmarking. If the amount of tax had fallen as much, even without the bank debt we would be faced with similar measures.

If you want to protest about something, protest about the level of corruption and lack of transparency in public office in Ireland, especially in higher ranks.

At the moment protests just follow the lines of saying 'NO', but without a credible plan on solving the problems, saying 'NO' doesn't really cut it.

mackg

Am Chile wrote: »

IM surprised no one has posted this yet, a week on saturday on the 9th of february there is set to be national anti austerity protests over the bank debt, property tax etc,trade unions,cahwt and other groups will be taking part, protests are set to take to place in many different towns that saturday including cork, how many on the cork forum plan to take part in the cork protest on the 9th february ?

Are you somehow involved in organising this?

Spindle

mackg wrote: »

Are you somehow involved in organising this?

Looking at all the other posts the leave, it would be a safe bet to assume they might have a hand in it.

Nonoperational

Am I the only one that thinks things are actually going as well as we could expect? I know it's hard for people in certain circumstances, but I don't see the alternatives. It's all well and good to say to burn the bondholders and slash the pay of people earning 100k per year, but that's much easier say from a position where you can't possibly implement it.

We were in an awful place and we are slowly digging ourselves out of it. Our social welfare rates are still decent and hopefully in another few years we will be back to some sort of normality.

I won't be joining this protest.

Milly33

Best of luck at the march today. Sorry was planning to go in but somethings come up...I hope there is a good turnout and the voices get heard...

Hibernian17

Todays protest was a great success Nationwide.Though previous posts are starting to 'divide' opinion again about being ICTU led (bringing up CP2 etc) - it's just a start & it has to be led by some entity.Remember that the Union is not David Begg/Jack O Connor et all (who probably 'gravied' it all the way).
The Union is the Union of People and todays protest was a strong message to the politicians here (& hopefully in the eu) that this State is not a pushover.
I hope that people realize that the recent 'deal' is a reshuffled deck of cards - and theres 52 cards still in the pack - and a 'feta cheese finance minister' (Noonan) attempting to justify this 'deal' as 'it will be awright'.
I don't normally post my views & have no political party affiliation or a vested interests but call me eu sceptic ,but I believe all this State's problems occurred with the eu & the euro.This State has plenty of resources (including many untapped).We had our own currency - it took us long enough to get it (800 yrs!).Year upon year,since we became more 'at the heart of Europe',all these resources are being slowly 'raped' from us and nothing in return for them (a bypass or two - which we still pay).
If there is not more rallies like this one and hopefully it will escalate into work stoppages,this State will - put it mildly - deteriorate.The people of this State did not vote for the eurocrats that are demanding every cent be payed back.Remember also that all deals are negotiable and re-negotiable.

goldie fish

"Hopefully it will escalate into work stoppages"

What planet are you on?

Spindle

goldie fish wrote: »

"Hopefully it will escalate into work stoppages"

What planet are you on?

Planet troll perhaps?? :rolleyes:

bogman

Brilliant turnout, Garda are saying 15-16 thousand attended

goldie fish

Not in Cork. I'm hearing 4-5k in cork.

Hibernian17

goldie fish wrote: »

"Hopefully it will escalate into work stoppages"

What planet are you on?

This one

im invisible

I'm no good at judging the size of crowds, but i'd say theres around seventeen million of them out there

goldie fish

Hibernian17 wrote: »

This one

Clearly not, if you are looking forward to seeing people out on the streets, because they have no other option. It displays a failure of government, unions and progress.
We were on the streets before, do you know what we achieved? NOTHING!

Except losing wages for the days we were out even though the unions assured us that strike pay would cover such an eventuality.

So we lost wages, and then they cut our pay.


What's worth looking forward to about that. Please enlighten me.

Judes

I joined the protest in Cork yesterday and was surprised to hear the chanting of a day's work stoppage. The protest was not about that - the ICTU was not looking for that, neither were the majority of those in attendance. The protest was about "Lifting the Burden" - BUT certain political parties and others with an alternative agenda tried to hijack the protest and turn it into a party policitcal broadcast and it was them with their own PA systems shouting for that.

Why these groups don't organise their own protests I can't understand - I've seen some of these individuals/parties try and take over other protests in the past. They are entitled to speak but why do they always try "to ride on the crest of the wave" that others have organised. And remember most organisers of such events are volunteers who give up their own personal time!

Those marching and the speakers represented students, workers, unemployed and the people of Ireland of all generations. You would have seen a lot of families/young children. It was peaceful, it was safe and the rain didn't dampen the spirits of those attending. When the hecklers got loud and aggressive, the performers/bands played louder!

I'm glad I got out their yesterday.

the beer revolu

goldie fish wrote: »

"Hopefully it will escalate into work stoppages"

What planet are you on?

It was this bit that made me stop taking the post seriously.

Hibernian17 wrote: »

a 'feta cheese finance minister' (Noonan)

I mean, WTF is that about.

And this

Hibernian17 wrote: »

This State has plenty of resources (including many untapped).We had our own currency - it took us long enough to get it (800 yrs!).Year upon year,since we became more 'at the heart of Europe',all these resources are being slowly 'raped' from us and nothing in return for them (a bypass or two - which we still pay).

Especially the 800 years bit - always makes me switch off, that one.

And if successive dopey governments sell off our resources to mulitnational companies, how is the EU to blame?

bogman

Sample of the 15000+ crowd taking part in Cork yesterday.

bogman

Friends having a cuppa in Pana afterwards








Not even one overpaid Politician to be seen anywhere in the crowd

evilivor

bogman wrote: »

Sample of the 15000+ crowd taking part in Cork yesterday.

5 to 6,000 max according to the Gardai.