Saturday, June 04, 2011
IT was a small but symbolic protest. Members of the community from the north Cork town of Ballyhea marched on the Dáil yesterday to demonstrate their anger at the bondholder bailout.
The march through Dublin city centre and onto Leinster House was the final leg of a four-day journey which began in Ballyhea.
Locals have been marching through their town in peaceful protest against the bailout every Sunday since the beginning of March.
In recent weeks they formed a plan to escalate the protest by bringing a petition to the Dáil.
They did so via a 150-mile run, walk and cycle which began on Tuesday and finished when they arrived at Leinster House at lunchtime yesterday.
Along the way, protest marches were held in Charleville, Nenagh, Moneygall, Portlaoise, Monasterevin and Newbridge, and signatures were gathered.
The group undertook the hike in relay teams, with some running, walking or cycling the route and others driving ahead to the towns to organise the protests.
Around 15 people gathered at the gates of Leinster House to complete the journey and deliver their petition.
Ballyhea native and Irish Examiner journalist Diarmuid O’Flynn, one of the organisers of the event, said the motivation for the march on the Dáil came partly from the failure of other towns across the country to rise up in protest at the bailout.
"It’s not Ballyhea we’re trying to get covered, it’s the idea. The only thing they’re (political leaders) all talking about in Europe is that they’re afraid of contagion.
"But what we want to have here is contagion — to spread the protest."
Mr O’Flynn said it was entirely wrong for private debt to have been foisted upon the public.
Mr O’Flynn said the (IMF/EU) bailout would continue unimpeded unless people made their voices clear.
- The protests continue in Ballyhea every Sunday. See thechatteringmagpie14.blogspot.com for further details.
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