Quinn forgets pledge, but protesters have their say

DEMONSTRATORS demanded an end to election lies — and in response Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore showed them their collective rear end.

Students were taught a short, sharp lesson in what democracy means under the new regime as they were barred from protesting in front of the Dáil.

Dog units and mass ranks of gardaí were all that could be seen in the otherwise eerily empty streets heading toward Leinster House, as 20,000 students were herded largely out of sight — but not out of earshot — at the back of the parliamentary complex.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn was the lightning conductor for much of the anger as he had signed a pledge just days before the general election that there would be no fees increases or cuts in student support if Labour went into Government.

Labour now insists we are “in another place” as that pledge clearly is not worth the paper Quinn put his vote-seeking signature on.

To the students massing at the back side of the Dáil that “other place” for ministers is safely in the soft leather seats of a sleek limo as the Mercedes wheels crush the promises made last February.

As the USI president shouted out ministers’ names from the podium, the expected response from the crowd should have been “keep your promise”, but when Mr Quinn’s name was uttered some students ab-libbed with even more heartfelt and colourful soundings. Anger at the billions being poured into Anglo and other banks fuelled the sense of injustice and let down at a Government that was felt to have cynically exploited support to get elected and carry on largely with the agenda of the old regime.

Students, many marching with their hard pressed parents, railed against Quinn for his post-pledge posturing, pointing out that as the scale of the economic collapse was quite clear in February, either Labour and Fine Gael were fools, or happy to treat voters as such by making promises on higher education they knew they could never keep.

Sinn Féin and the independent TDs flocked to the demo in the hope of being invited on stage but none of them were.

Student protests last year had spilled over into some ugliness outside the gates of Leinster House, but that was no reason to keep demonstrators away, with the agreement of USI stewards, from the front of the Dáil.

For an hour or so in Merrion Row at the back of the building it appeared Ireland had temporarily awakened from an apathetic acceptance of everything that has been slapped down on it over three years.