Republican News · Thursday 5 December 2002

Leinster House shaken

The chants of the protestors outside were clearly audible in the Sinn Féin offices in the most distant part of the Leinster House complex and echoed through halls full of scurrying government officials preparing for the so-called first chapter in McCreevy's second book. It was Budget Day 2003 and in advance of the expected cuts, the people had come to warn McCreevy.

The crowd was a mix of two different protests coming together. An anti-cuts demonstration of over 300 h people were addressed by left wing TDs including Sinn Féin's Martin Ferris, Joe Higgins and Seamus Healy as well as a representative of the Monaghan Hospital Action Group and the CPSU.

They were joined by a large group of students demanding that the government commit to not introducing fees during the lifetime of this government and looking for increased grant support for less well-off students.

Little did any of these groups know that not only would all of these demands be ignored by McCreevy, but his Budget would mean another year of inequality and injustice.