May Day was celebrated in Dublin with a colourful and musical march from the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, to Liberty Hall. Over 1,000 trade unionists and community activists attended the Dublin Council of Trade Unions march on Thursday, 1st May. The march was led by the Spectacle of Defiance of Hope, the community arts group, with posters showing the brutal effects of austerity of local communities. The SIPTU contingent carried colourful trade union banners and was led by the Fintan Lalor Pipe Band. Other unions marching included Unite, Mandate, the CWU and ASTI. Speaking outside Liberty Hall on behalf of the SIPTU Youth Workers Sector community worker, Lynda Scully, said: “We have the best workers in our youth centre, and how have we rewarded them? With pay cuts and redundancies. This is what austerity means for the community sector. “The Government is planning to privatise community programmes. We want community services delivered on the basis of need, not for the profit of some private company.” President of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, Mick O’Reilly, also addressed the rally calling on the Government to change economic course stating that, “under the cloak of austerity, Irish workers’ terms and conditions have been under attack since the beginning of the economic crisis”.
May Day celebrated in Dublin
