ICTU Day of Protest – Updated with video of march and speeches

Videos of todays Events are below the fold.

You can get the twitter stream here

The protests are due to kick of today at 2.30 in Dublin and elsewhere around the country – we will be keeping an eye out for flickr, twitter and qik coverage. I am curious as to how many of our readers will venture out to say they don’t approve of the government’s handling of the budget and fiscal position.

Today’s speeches:

You will be familiar with Michael Taft’s breakdown of the current position and his calls for measures to alleviate economic hardship while today the debate is joined again by Jim O Leary making the claim that public pay was already at a premium to the private sector before benchmarking in 2003.

What is interesting about today is that the protest takes place in the middle of delicate social partnership talks – with fractures already visible between the union leaders. Today might see large numbers on the streets – but in support of which faction? And how long can the govt string it out before they get to play one side of the other?

It is also worth noting that Fintan O’Toole has a point – the issue of public pay (€1.3bn out of €4bn of measures) has overshadowed all other issues. There is plenty of discussion needed on community cuts ahead of Dec 9 as well as cuts to services and efforts to get the economy going.