A SERIES of demonstrations are to be held outside the constituency offices of Ministers this weekend as part of a Sinn Féin anti-Budget cuts campaign.
The party has said that it will picket the offices of 15 Ministers to keep up the pressure on the Government to reverse its decisions to means test the medical card for over-70s and to cut back on teachers.
Those to be picketed include Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, who has a constituency office in Donegal Town; Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan in Castleknock, Dublin; and Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea in Limerick, whose offices were picketed last week by unhappy pensioners.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen will not be picketed because he is out of the country.
Minister for Health Mary Harney will also be excluded from the protests because her weekend constituency clinics are held in pubs in Clondalkin and Lucan, and Sinn Féin does not wish to disrupt trade at these businesses.
Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald said yesterday that they were demanding the Government row back on the very savage attack on education and older people.
“It is inconceivable that the very young and the very old would be asked to carry the can for the Government’s economic illiteracy.”
She said the cuts were not only indefensible but were also unnecessary because funding could have been sourced elsewhere, such as through examining discretionary tax reliefs and getting rid of the PRSI ceiling, which could have raised €334 million.
With the cutback on teacher numbers, Ireland would have “the largest class sizes in Europe”.
She said this would have a detrimental impact on children’s education.
She defended the party’s stance on medical cards for wealthy over-70s, saying Sinn Féin promoted universal healthcare which should be paid for through taxation.
She rejected allegations that the protests could be intimidatory.
“When the older people of Ireland came together to protest for their health rights, some chose to depict that as intimidatory; it was nothing of the sort.
“People not only have a right to raise their voices, they have an absolute responsibility to do so at this time.”
