15,000 students marched on the government buildings in Merrion Square, according to Garda estimates, last Wednesday to protest the re-introduction of fees for third-level education, which has become a real possibility in the present economic crisis.
15,000 students marched on the government buildings in Merrion Square, according to Garda estimates, last Wednesday to protest the re-introduction of fees for third-level education, which has become a real possibility in the present economic crisis.
Students from many colleges in the Dublin area and beyond marched from the Garden of Remembrance to Leinster House, where they were addressed from a platform by Brian Hayes and Ruairí Quinn, the Fine Gael and Labour spokesmen on education, Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty, former Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and the general secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers Mike Jennings.
Not all students were willing to listen to the speakers however. One group broke off from the rest, marched against traffic down Leinster St., turn on to Kildare St. and staged a sit-in in front of the Daíl. The group was lead by Free Education for Everyone (FEE), who have been present at USI and Student Union rallies across the country. Armed with a megaphone and a sound system on wheels pumping electro music, FEE lead about 100 students to the Daíl, where they chanted slogans, demanded, at one point, for Brian Cowen to come out and speak to them, and gave speeches through the megaphone to the crowd. The gates of the Daíl were protected by at least a dozen Gardaí on foot, and two on horseback. The student halted traffic from Kildare and Molesworth St.
Aiden Beatty, a fourth-year Law student at Trinity, is one of the co-organisers of FEE in Trinity, and one of the two delegates from Trinity on FEE’s national council. He explained that the group had decided that the break-off march had been planned in the event that “there was a sufficient mood to go a little further than USI.” In regards to FEE’s relationship with the USI, Mr. Beatty said: “We’ve met with Dave Curren a number of times, there’s definitely a difference of opinion, we are all members of USI and our position is to push USI in a more activist direction.”
Students from Trinity marched from Front Square at around 1 p.m., on to Westmoreland St., up O’Connell St., and west around Parnell Square, where they met up with the rest of the college’s students. A TCD security guard estimated that there were “well over a thousand” Trinity students gathered in Front Square, taking up about half the square and making a racket with the whistles handed out by members of the Student’s Union. Many were clad in either Trinity Student’s Union or USI anti-fees T-shirts, and still more were holding the “No to Fees!” posters that were given out, while some had fashioned their own placards.
At one point, the Trinity procession stretched from the Front Gate to the Liffey. The vast majority of on-lookers seemed to support the protest, and many cars and buses beeped approval at the students. Two older men were jumping up and down, applauding the students; “Education is a benefit to all of society, I support them 100%. Education shouldn’t just be for the rich”, one of them said.
Another woman waiting for a bus on O’Connell St. said the government were “ruining this country” with the cutbacks. As for her bus, which would be quite delayed by the procession, she said good-naturedly, “what the hell, as long as they get their rights. It’s a disgrace”.
As the Trinity students passed the Rotunda Hospital on Parnell Square West, one woman dressed in scrubs ran out of the front doors of the hospital, fist pumping in the air, screaming “Power to the people!” She said she was very happy to see the students marching, and that she had a vested interest in the protest as a post-graduate student at the Royal College of Students in Ireland, before running back into work.
The noise was deafening at the Garden of Remembrance, as the students were packed thickly on one street, as the traffic had not yet been blocked at Parnell St. The march was held up for about half an hour after the Trinity contingent joined the rest, with rumours that the representatives from first University College Cork, then National University Ireland, Galway, were late because of traffic (Trinity News saw students from each institution in the march). There were approximately two dozen Gardaí at the front of the crowd at Parnell St. During the delay, Trinity News overheard one guard tell another that “there’s no one in charge here, it’s an embarrassment”. When Trinity News photographer Dave Malloy asked the guard what he meant, he declined to comment.
Also during the delay, a disagreement between USI education officer Bartley Rock and TCD student Dillan Haskins broke out over an email allegedly sent to the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), telling their Student’s Union to make sure that no joke signs were taken to the protest (Trinity News was unable to obtain a copy of the email). Mr. Haskins was visibly upset, saying that “the USI have no right to tell students what they can have on their signs, it’s our protest”. Despite this, humourous signs abounded: “Biffo don’t be acting the maggot”, “Shove your fees up yer Gees”, “Careful Now” and “Down with that Sort of Thing” (of Father Ted fame) were among the more inventive signs.
When the march did get going, it proceeded swiftly down Parnell and O’Connell St., around Trinity and towards Merrion Square to Leinster House. Despite being described by some media as “the student army” and “an emotional crowd”, the march was non-violent, and no arrests were made.
