Thousands march against Irish cuts

[Joanne98]

Source: Aljazeera

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are protesting against the Irish government's proposed cutbacks, aimed at slashing the country's budget deficit to meet the terms of a bailout for its devastated economy.

The rally on Saturday follows an announcement from Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, of a four-year package to cut spending, raise taxes and axe thousands of state jobs, the toughest budget measures in the nation's history.

Cowen acknowledged that living standards will fall, but insisted action is needed to tackle a 2010 deficit running at 32 per cent of GDP, the highest in Europe since World War II.

His government will unveil an emergency annual budget on December 7, which must be passed to allow an €85bn <$113bn> loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.



Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/20101127131744265944.html

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[lib2DaBone]

2. The Bankers and Politicians steal and ruin the economy...

.. and then its the workers and elderly who must pay. (Ireland is cutting its minimum wage $2 an hour).

I guess it's the same the world over.

[CountAllVotes]

3. Bankers and politicians have also ruined the environment

They have managed to bulldoze down about 1/2 of the countryside leaving ancient archaeological sites forever forgotten and finally destroyed!

It is sickening what they have done to the Emerald Isle!

:kick:

[jerseyjack]

4. Ireland, after cutting its minimum wage by $2.00 per hour

will be left with a minimum wage that is still higher than that in the U.S.

[CountAllVotes]

5. and the costs of things in Ireland

are a lot more than $2.00 an hr. compared to the USA fyi.

Four percent of the population of Ireland earns minimum wage. What good is cutting their salaries by ~$2.00 an hour going to do other than make the working poor even poorer?

:dem:

[provis99]

6. yet all this protesting is achieving nothing.

They protested in Greece, they protested in France, they protested in Portugal, they are protesting in England, yet nothing has changed. Democracy is a fraud.