Anti-austerity protests in Ireland

Anti-austerity protests in Ireland
Part of the Eurozone debt crisis
Thousands of students marched down O'Connell Street (pictured above on a quieter day in 2008) in protest against the reintroduction of university fees after the fallout of the 2009 emergency budget.
Date	22 October 2008 – 23 February 2015
Location	Ireland
Caused by	Unemployment, corruption, austerity, social protection, financial crisis, banking crisis, arrival and presence of the IMF in the country, bipartidism, particracy, democracy deficit
Methods	Demonstrations, occupations, civil disobedience, Internet activism
Status	Continuing

Anti-austerity protests have taken place in Ireland since the 2008 Irish economic downturn. The protests began during October 2008 after the Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition of the 30th Dáil oversaw the implementation of the bank guarantee, and were given further impetus by the late 2010 intervention of the European Union/European Central Bank/International Monetary Fund troika and the collapse of that government early the following year. Protests continued during the Fine Gael-Labour coalition of the 31st Dáil.

The post-2008 Irish economic downturn, coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent property bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive, and an expansion in bank lending in the early 2000s. An initial slowdown in economic growth amid the international financial crisis of 2007–08 greatly intensified in late 2008 and the country fell into recession for the first time since the 1980s. Emigration, as did unemployment (particularly in the construction sector), escalated to levels not seen since that decade.

The (ISEQ) general index, which reached a peak of 10,000 points briefly in April 2007, fell to 1,987 points—a 14-year low—on 24 February 2009 (the last time it was under 2,000 being mid-1995). In September 2008, the Irish government—a Fianna Fáil-Green coalition—officially acknowledged the country's descent into recession; a massive jump in unemployment occurred in the following months. Ireland was the first state in the eurozone to enter recession, as declared by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). By January 2009, the number of people living on unemployment benefits had risen to 326,000—the highest monthly level since records began in 1967—and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in July 2008 to 14.8% in July 2012. The slumping economy drew 100,000 demonstrators onto the streets of Dublin on 21 February 2009, amid further talk of protests and industrial action.