150,000 people, one message
"What is Bertie going to do? Sweet FA for me and you," they sang to the familiar tune of the US Marine Corps marching chant.
Despite the seriousness of the issues at the heart of the Irish Ferries crisis, there is always a little room for humour at all the best trade union marches.
"Sorry we couldn't be there," came the message from the four ship's officers barricaded inside the control room of the Isle of Inishmore in the Welsh port of Pembroke.
To widespread laughter and cheers, the message was relayed to the 100,000 snaked around Dublin's Merrion Square and alongside Government buildings by SIPTU marine branch official Paul Smyth.
But, with a turnout approaching 150,000 nationwide, this was primarily a day for tough talking and there was much of it.
After four intensive, but fruitless, days of Labour Relations Commission talks, Mr Smyth had only one simple message for the Government.
"We are saying to you and we are saying to the Irish Government, there is something they can do and there is something they must do. The minimum wage is a minimum standard and the Irish flag is the only thing that is going to protect that," he said.
SIPTU's Patricia King, who is also involved in the LRC talks, had another message for those at the helm of Irish Ferries.
"I have a message for Eamonn Rothwell. You might want to change your flag, but our colours are nailed to the mast. This movement will never sink," she roared to loud approval.
Nearby, a banner wasn't so optimistic. "Hear the one about the island nation with no seafarers just stick around," it read.
The final speaker, SIPTU president Jack O'Connor, hammered home his union's bottom line.
"No one who comes to work in that company in future, regardless as to what part of the world they are from, should be expected to work on conditions which are below the threshold of these seas."
Similar scenes were replicated across the country as up to another 50,000 joined simultaneous protests in Cork (10,000), Waterford (15,000), Limerick (10,000), Galway (2,500), Sligo (2,000), Athlone (3,000) and Rosslare (1,000).
With overall numbers pushing the 150,000 mark, yesterday was also a day for trade union leaders to renew their own relevance.
It is not often, these past two decades, that any union march attracts more than a few thousand. As a result, yesterday's event was seen by many union leaders as a crucial mandate.
"The great thing is that as I look out here today and see the thousands of you assembled here and many of you can't even make it into the square that I am very confident about our future," said Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg.
"It's a long time since any demonstration was applauded through the streets as this demonstration has been applauded at every turn today... the trade union movement is here to stay."
But reacting to the marches, Tánaiste Mary Harney said they had been "very disruptive" and should have been held at the weekend.
Ms Harney said anybody in the public service, including health workers, who took part in yesterday's protest, should not be paid for the time spent away from work.
Private companies should decide for themselves whether to dock pay from their workers who took time off for the protest, she added.
Unless Ireland was flexible, globalisation would result in India and China outracing us to the top, not to the bottom, added Ms Harney.
During the week, Education Minister Mary Hanafin said that teachers absenting themselves from their classes can expect to have their pay cut.
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