Trades Union protest.

They are reporting on RTE that 10,000 are marching in Dublin in the Trade Union day of protest.
That must be a very disappointing turnout for the organisers.

They've changed it to 70/80,000 now, that seems more like it.

Up to 100,000 is the latest figure.

Any other news on this ? I hope people are talking as well as walking ...

As I passed Leinster House, who should I hear but former TD Joe Higgins.

Joe: "Bertie Ahern told me 'go on back to Kerry with you, you're a failed politician with a failed ideology. Well who's ideology is failed now, tell me."

The crowd cheered.

CitiZenJon wrote:

Welcome to the site CitiZenJon, peruse the winter photography thread while you're here, you must have good photos to add...

Quote :

Welcome to the site CitiZenJon, peruse the winter photography site while you're here, you must have good photos to add...

Cheers TA ,

100000 here quite upset with the new reality. They havn't seen anything yet

Howdy CitizenJon.Great photos.
It would be good to see Beggs with the mouthpiece and Higgins with the platform.
In 1913 James Larkin wrote of the lack of vision of the TUC leadership in supporting the struggle of their Dublin comrades:

"They seem to think that round table conferences,nice language,beautiful phrases,conciliation boards and agreements are the be all and end all of life."

Beggs,McLoone,Geraghty,O'Connor et al,have a road to travel .
The liquid language will have to be backed up by an admittance to at the very least being slightly dazzled by the fuzziness that sloshed around Ahernian Sociable Partnership.
Were they press ganged and hood-winked?

A great turnout. I couldn't go myself today but was a bit worried when the first RTÉ report said only 10,000 turned out. I was expecting 50,000+. 100,000+ is a fantastic turnout. Hopefully it will get it into the heads of our thick government that the scam that is the pension levy will not be accepted.

If they want to cut people's pay, they should have the honesty to tell people the truth. People will accept a lot if told the truth. But they will accept nothing if continually lied to.

The pension levy is a scam. If it was a real pension levy, people in public service who are at the bottom end of the pay scale and aren't getting a pension wouldn't be paying the levy. But they are. If it was a real pension levy, it would differentiate between those on pre 1995 and post 1995 contracts who pay different pension contributions. But it doesn't. And people on contract who in effect will get a tiny pension (€5 per year or service) and who are on 2 or 3 year contracts and had to buy a private pension, would be excluded rather than pay an addition €30-€70 weekly to get a tenner of a weekly pension. But they aren't.

The truth is it isn't a pension levy, but a pay cut disguised as a pension levy. When the government cannot be honest with people, is it any wonder they are angry?

But that is this government all over - lie, lie and lie again. Bail out Anglo "in the national interest" when it is really in the interest of FF's builder friends who would lose if Anglo went to the wall. Let a free-for-all in banking for a decade that made its builder friends wealthy while pushing up house prices so much that ordinary people had to move to Meath, Louth, Cavan, Kildare, Carlow and elsewhere to find places they could afford. Remove price controls supposedly to let prices fall, only to see prices rocket, with those creaming off the profits then donating to FF. Push up the price of energy in Ireland to "encourage competition" on the basis that original prices were too low to bring in new market entrants, only for those new market entrants to fail to materialise because the small market in Ireland due to population left it still not worth entering. But the ordinary Joe and Mary Soap got stung with the bills.

The government played voters for fools for year and unfortunately voters fell for it, until now. Maybe that is why the government tried the 'pension levy' lie. They thought the voters would still fall for it - surely if they fell for all those other lies they would swallow that too? Some in the private sector did fall for it because they were spun lies about how everyone in the public sector were on generous gold-plated pensions. The government never mentioned that the pension rules were changed in the public sector back in 1995 and new staffers paid far more, while large numbers on contracts or at the bottom of heap either would get no pension or a pension that would just buy a couple of pints.

People out there are really angry, more angry than I have ever seen them. They have finally realised that the Celtic Tiger was a scam in which FF friends were looked after, and the less you had the less you got and the more likely you were to be ripped off by FF's friends. Today's 100,000+ (some reports say 120,000+) should send shudders down the spine of the government every bit as bad as seeing FF at 22% in the polls and still falling. If nothing else, the collapse of the Celtic Tiger had awoken the people to the extent to which they have been scammed for years. If FF itself and its business pals become victims of the collapse, then maybe the collapse may at least bring some good to the country.

If the government wants to get public support for its measures, it has to do one thing: tell the truth. But that will be the biggest culture shock of all for FF. For FF has spent the last decade or more lying, lying and lying again, and as they are showing with the so-called pension levy, old habit die hard. If the habit doesn't die soon, FF will find that it will be itself and is financial backers who do the dying, politically and financially.

Papal_knight Two wrote:

A great turnout. I couldn't go myself today...

you sure?

Papal_knight Two wrote:

A great turnout. I couldn't go myself today but was a bit worried when the first RTÉ report said only 10,000 turned out. I was expecting 50,000+. 100,000+ is a fantastic turnout. Hopefully it will get it into the heads of our thick government that the scam that is the pension levy will not be accepted.

If they want to cut people's pay, they should have the honesty to tell people the truth. People will accept a lot if told the truth. But they will accept nothing if continually lied to.

The pension levy is a scam. If it was a real pension levy, people in public service who are at the bottom end of the pay scale and aren't getting a pension wouldn't be paying the levy. But they are. If it was a real pension levy, it would differentiate between those on pre 1995 and post 1995 contracts who pay different pension contributions. But it doesn't. And people on contract who in effect will get a tiny pension (€5 per year or service) and who are on 2 or 3 year contracts and had to buy a private pension, would be excluded rather than pay an addition €30-€70 weekly to get a tenner of a weekly pension. But they aren't.

The truth is it isn't a pension levy, but a pay cut disguised as a pension levy. When the government cannot be honest with people, is it any wonder they are angry?

But that is this government all over - lie, lie and lie again. Bail out Anglo "in the national interest" when it is really in the interest of FF's builder friends who would lose if Anglo went to the wall. Let a free-for-all in banking for a decade that made its builder friends wealthy while pushing up house prices so much that ordinary people had to move to Meath, Louth, Cavan, Kildare, Carlow and elsewhere to find places they could afford. Remove price controls supposedly to let prices fall, only to see prices rocket, with those creaming off the profits then donating to FF. Push up the price of energy in Ireland to "encourage competition" on the basis that original prices were too low to bring in new market entrants, only for those new market entrants to fail to materialise because the small market in Ireland due to population left it still not worth entering. But the ordinary Joe and Mary Soap got stung with the bills.

The government played voters for fools for year and unfortunately voters fell for it, until now. Maybe that is why the government tried the 'pension levy' lie. They thought the voters would still fall for it - surely if they fell for all those other lies they would swallow that too? Some in the private sector did fall for it because they were spun lies about how everyone in the public sector were on generous gold-plated pensions. The government never mentioned that the pension rules were changed in the public sector back in 1995 and new staffers paid far more, while large numbers on contracts or at the bottom of heap either would get no pension or a pension that would just buy a couple of pints.

People out there are really angry, more angry than I have ever seen them. They have finally realised that the Celtic Tiger was a scam in which FF friends were looked after, and the less you had the less you got and the more likely you were to be ripped off by FF's friends. Today's 100,000+ (some reports say 120,000+) should send shudders down the spine of the government every bit as bad as seeing FF at 22% in the polls and still falling. If nothing else, the collapse of the Celtic Tiger had awoken the people to the extent to which they have been scammed for years. If FF itself and its business pals become victims of the collapse, then maybe the collapse may at least bring some good to the country.

If the government wants to get public support for its measures, it has to do one thing: tell the truth. But that will be the biggest culture shock of all for FF. For FF has spent the last decade or more lying, lying and lying again, and as they are showing with the so-called pension levy, old habit die hard. If the habit doesn't die soon, FF will find that it will be itself and is financial backers who do the dying, politically and financially.

Bollox, damn near every word of it.

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

It won't matter a damn who people choose to vote for in 15 weeks time, what needs to be done, needs to be done and so long as the Government continue to do that, for me anyway, election results are a very long way down the priority list.

well hello tonys,
long time no flame.

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

Given the state of the economy, do we have 15 weeks to wait?

CitiZenJon wrote:

well hello tonys,
long time no flame.

how do CJ.

tonys wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

It won't matter a damn who people choose to vote for in 15 weeks time, what needs to be done, needs to be done and so long as the Government continue to do that, for me anyway, election results are a very long way down the priority list.

Oh, such as making sure the Independent stays on side? If my job in the private sector survives to 2010, let alone the next general election then there is an outside chance then even I will be grateful and your political masters will survive. If there's 500,000 on the dole by Christmas then people like me will have given up on politics in Ireland and there will be greater things than Fine Gael for FFers to deal with in this country.

Papal_knight Two wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

Given the state of the economy, do we have 15 weeks to wait?

Given the state of the constitution "we" don't have any choice, no matter how much self-serving bollox is printed.

Quote :

The truth is it isn't a pension levy, but a pay cut disguised as a pension levy.

Indeed it is. That is what I have been saying.

tonys wrote:

Papal_knight Two wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

Given the state of the economy, do we have 15 weeks to wait?

Given the state of the constitution "we" don't have any choice, no matter how much self-serving bollox is printed.

Cén fáth tonys?

powderfinger wrote:

Howdy CitizenJon.Great photos.
It would be good to see Beggs with the mouthpiece and Higgins with the platform.

thanks powderfinger though I like Mr Higgins as a person, I'm not completely sold on his political ideals.
Another year of this recession and I might just become a nihilist - Rousseau's contract be damned.

tonys wrote:

CitiZenJon wrote:

well hello tonys,
long time no flame.

how do CJ.

P.ie wasn't the same without you. I saw DC b& you, bad f*ckin' show.

Ronald Binge wrote:

tonys wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

It won't matter a damn who people choose to vote for in 15 weeks time, what needs to be done, needs to be done and so long as the Government continue to do that, for me anyway, election results are a very long way down the priority list.

Oh, such as making sure the Independent stays on side? If my job in the private sector survives to 2010, let alone the next general election then there is an outside chance then even I will be grateful and your political masters will survive. If there's 500,000 on the dole by Christmas then people like me will have given up on politics in Ireland and there will be greater things than Fine Gael for FFers to deal with in this country.

1) I don't have "political masters"
and
2) Who gives a damn what the Independent or the Times do and what has that to do with anything.

CitiZenJon wrote:

tonys wrote:

CitiZenJon wrote:

well hello tonys,
long time no flame.

how do CJ.

P.ie wasn't the same without you. I saw DC b& you, bad f*ckin' show.

DC said he has his reason, but like his string vest which holds about as much water, he keeps it close to his chest.

evercloserunion wrote:

tonys wrote:

Papal_knight Two wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Bollox it may be and I deliberately didn't take part today for lots of reasons but in less than fifteen weeks time there will be voting. Let's see who the people choose then.

Given the state of the economy, do we have 15 weeks to wait?

Given the state of the constitution "we" don't have any choice, no matter how much self-serving bollox is printed.

Cén fáth tonys?

Why what?