Picket plea: Don’t punish poor in budget

ANTI-POVERTY campaigners picketed the Dáil yesterday urging Finance Minister Brian Lenihan not to punish the poor in next week’s budget.

Demonstrators representing carers, and groups such as The Poor Can’t Pay and the People’s Movement made their presence felt at the gates of Leinster House.

Sinn Féin TDs Arthur Morgan and Aengus O Snodaigh joined party activists to sing Christmas carols specially re-written to get their message across that they wanted Mr Lenihan to restore the Christmas bonus to welfare recipients.