Students occupy Government building to protest cuts

A GROUP of university students occupied a room in the Department of Finance for three hours in protest at education cutbacks yesterday morning.

Their peaceful protest came as thousands of students plan to take the streets of Dublin today for one of the largest demonstrations in years. The students entered Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s department at around 8.30am yesterday, and locked themselves into a ground floor office in the Merrion Square building. After three hours, gardaí entered the room and brought them out.

Simon Meehan-Gray, a student at Maynooth NUI, said they were trying to highlight a number of issues. “We want the Government to implement the report of the Action Group on Third Level Education, which recommended a massive rise in grants and free fees,” he said. “Our other demands are that tuition fees should not be introduced and that Education Minister Noel Dempsey should reverse the 69% increase in college registration fees.”