Thousands march in Dublin
Dubliners protest against economy
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Saturday, 21, Feb 2009 08:02
Up to 120,000 people took to Dublin's streets this afternoon to protest at the Irish government's handling of the economy.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) organised the demonstration as part of a "rolling campaign of action" against government measures to tackle the recession.
Plans to impose a pension levy on public sector workers have been rejected by unions, who have complained workers did not start the economic crisis but are expected to pay for it.
Congress general secretary, David Begg, said: "We will not take any self-defeating actions, but we cannot walk away and see a major reduction in peoples' standard of living."
One protester told the BBC: "I've worked all my life, I've never broke the law, never walked out on strike. Instead I've went to work and done my job.
"I've a mortgage to pay, I've children to put through school, and now I'm being told I have to take cutback, after cutback, after cutback."
The government said it recognised "the measures which it is taking are difficult and, in some cases, painful," but added "they are both necessary and fair".
Ireland fell into recession in September 2008, and in January unemployment rose to 326,000, the highest monthly level since records began in 1967.