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Protesters outside the Dail this morning. Christina Finn/TheJournal.ie

Crowd gathering at 'Lock the government out of the Dáil' protest

The plan had been to form a human chain around the entrance to stop TDs getting in but gardaí have pushed the demonstration back.

A SMALL CROWD has already gathered outside the Dáil this morning for a protest against austerity, as TDs get back to work.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, one of the organisers, former hunger striker Tony Rochford said the ultimate aim of the demonstration is to get TDs to step down.

A livestream of the protest shows about 50 people are already there this morning but larger crowds are expected later, to greet TDs as they return to the Dáil. Over five thousand people have joined the protest Facebook page. Originally, the plan was to form a human chain around the entrance but this is proving difficult as protesters have been moved away by gardaí.

“The main message is for them to look at the country and look at what’s going on,” he said. “They’re walking all over people, increasing our bills when they haven’t cut their own wages.”

He said protesters will not be using physical force to lock TDs out of the Dáil but added that left-wing politicians who walk by will “show their true colours”.

A garda spokesperson said there is a “sufficient presence” today to deal with the crowd which is expected to reach up to a thousand.

It is understood that an extra garda unit has been detailed to work. Rochford said that protesters have already been pushed back, off Kildare Street  onto Molesworth Street, and claimed gardaí had been heavy-handed with some people.

Read: Three thousand sign up to ‘lock the Government out of the Dáil’>

Read: Tony Rochford ends hunger strike>

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214 Comments
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    Mute booby sandwiches
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    May 20th 2017, 8:07 PM

    fantastic news, the economy is booming. a shinner will be along shortly now with doom and gloom LOL

    148
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    Mute cholly appleseed
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    May 20th 2017, 10:27 PM

    @Jayo Breathneach: the property crash wasn’t caused by outside investors. It was by people taking out too big mortgages. Maybe you move in the wrong circles if you can’t afford a house

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    Mute John Clair
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    May 20th 2017, 9:29 PM

    the issue i have is that the SDZ rules have been thrown at the window…I live in Adamstown and I am happy to see development start again Im dissaappointed that the amenities like the parks and town centre are on hold. It worries me that they will never be built. Even the PR piece about the community centre is kind of false…what is being built is a sports hall for the secondary school which can act as a community center.
    It worries me that Adamstown will turn into another Lucan where people have to travel to do things as all that was built in Lucan was houses.

    Adamstown was supposed to be a self contained town where all amenties would be near by and within walking distance. Now Its just going to become another Housing estate

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    Mute Jarlath Murphy
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    May 20th 2017, 9:24 PM

    No housing for 10 yrs, creates a drought! Available housing gifted to vulture funds at exchequers expense. Housing shortage creates property price bubble, banks balance sheets improves exponentially! Cheerleaders of austerity clap themselves on the back, while young people forced to rent for extended period to gather sufficient funds for a deposit! Same aul Fianna Gael, keep pretending the recovery is going! Check out the debt clock, 200 billions and counting!

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    Mute Gerry Glynn
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    May 20th 2017, 8:16 PM

    All the lost money is back in play .who lifted the flooring boards

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    Mute Dark Knight
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    May 20th 2017, 10:08 PM

    @Jayo Breathneach: so many people just comment for the sake of making noise. You will be preaching again shortly about the lack of available houses. There is no bubble, we are well short of peak price of the boom and if we’re to going into a bubble we would be adding another 10% to that due to population increase.
    The problem isn’t housing, we have plenty of empty houses in this country. The problem is the total failure by the government to build sustainable economies outside of Dublin. If you talk to most people who moved from different parts of the island to Dublin for work, they would love to move back home but there are no jobs in their field outside Dublin. Invest in areas outside Dublin, people can start moving into empty homes down the country and puts less pressure on rents and the price of houses in Dublin

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    Mute kevin
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    May 20th 2017, 11:24 PM

    @Dark Knight: move the capital to the midlands?

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    May 21st 2017, 1:27 PM

    @kevin: They did that in Oz actually.

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    Mute Negan
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    May 20th 2017, 8:05 PM

    Great to see the economy back in action !

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    May 20th 2017, 10:22 PM

    Thnks to Noonan???

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    Mute Gary Dorrian
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    May 21st 2017, 9:35 AM

    There is a lot of comments that would be getting red thumped today.

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