A PROTEST IS being held in Dublin this afternoon to demonstrate against any further austerity measures.

Thousands of people are expected to descend on the city centre to call on the government to re-think its policy of austerity ahead of next month’s Budget.

Organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, the March Against Austerity has also been backed by Siptu, Mandate, Unite and the Irish Council of Trade Unions.

The pre-budget demonstration will begin at the Garden of Remembrance at Parnell Square at noon. The march will leave the meeting point at 12.30pm and proceed down O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street and around College Green. The rally will finish in front of a platform outside the GPO.

Attendees will be calling for a reversal of spending cuts and a tax on the “wealthy rather than the needy”.

President of the ICTU Eugene McGlone will be the main speaker at the event.

Mick O’Reilly, vice-chairman of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions said the march is the “beginning of a grassroots mobilisation to convince the government that it must turn away from austerity and towards a programme of intelligent investment based on jobs and growth”.

The group also plans to hold a demonstration outside the Dáil on Budget night.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin is holding a “day of action” today.

Members will be communicating the party’s pre-budget submission through stalls, leaflet drops and protests.

Sinn Féin social protection spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh will also be joining the DCTU march in the city.