Economist: Protests do not make sense
on 06/11/2009 14:23:13
Tens of thousands of workers are preparing to take part in a series of country-wide demonstrations this afternoon in opposition to planned Budget cutbacks.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has organised marches in eight locations across the country.
But the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has appealed to workers not to march - and has told civil servants there needs to be a seismic change in their attitudes towards the level of Government spending on public sector pay.
Chief Economist with Friends First Jim Power said the march will achieve nothing.
Mr Power said: "People taking to the streets in the middle of the deepest economic crisis we've ever had is absolutely mad - it does not make sense.
"I think it's a recipe just to make things an awful lot worse. What will they achieve? I don't think they're going to achieve anything.
"The Government has got to do what the Government has got to do. The country is effectively bankrupt," he added.