This article is from page 10 of the 2008-11-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
WHEN the Saw Doctors waxed lyri- cal about the rain “splish-splashing”’ on the streets of Galway, surely they weren’t talking about days like this. Yet despite driving wind and a rain Storm that threatened, on more than one occasion, to turn into hail, a mas- sive crowd turned out in Galway City on Saturday for the first in a series of regional education protests.
The Irish National Teachers Organ- isation (INTO) had set out a target of 5,000 men, women and children
for this rally. But when the morn- ing opened in a cloud of grey and cold, this target was quickly revised down.
They shouldn’t have worried how- ever, such is the anger of the people of Clare and the west of Ireland that a massive troupe, somewhere in the re- gion of 8,000, turned out to vent their annoyance and frustration.
With signs like “As Blind As A Batt” and “Leave Our Kids Alone Brian’, the Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe, and Taoiseach Brian Cowen can have been left with little
doubt about the seriousness of these cuts.
The anger was real, these people are desperate and are becoming in- creasingly doubtful that “the Batt- man” will somehow come in and save the day.
There were many voices joining the march from Eyre Square to the Galway Cathedral, and even more joined once the brigade had stopped for their main rally at the Galway GT itereree
Among those to speak were INTO General Secretary John Carr and
Sean Holian of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network while Corofin’s Declan Kelleher also addressed the crowd.
Of the many threads which ran through each speech – the increase in class sizes, the end to substitute cover and the loss of more than 1,000 teachers in the primary sector – the most common one was the equating of money to education and the notion of selling out future generations.
The potential for creating econom- ic troubles for the next generation as a result of these cuts was lost on no-
oy iter
Like Dublin, Christmas decora- tions (and the hope of Christmas shoppers) has come early to Galway this year. And after the protest Shop Street had it’s busiest day since the CFE Na e-leroe
The downturn is cutting everyone deep.
Further demonstrations are expect- ed to take in Offaly, Cork and Don- egal, finishing with a mass rally in Dublin on December 6.
The “Batt signal” is clearly lit, but is anybody watching?