2009 Irish budget
The budget, labelled "the toughest in many years",[1] included a number of controversial measures such as a proposed income levy and the withdrawal of previously promised HPV vaccines for schoolgirls.
Other results of the budget included a new income levy being imposed on all workers above a specified threshold and the closure of a number of Irish Army barracks near the border with Northern Ireland.
A series of demonstrations ensued amongst teachers and farmers, whilst on 22 October 2008, at least 25,000 pensioners and students descended in solidarity on government buildings at Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin.
[2] Changes to education led to a ministerial meeting with three Church of Ireland bishops over what was viewed as a disproportionate level of cuts to be suffered by Protestant secondary schools.
[3] Separately, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church were assured by Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe that it would continue to be able to provide religious instruction to pupils in primary schools not under its patronage.
On 17 October, County Wicklow Deputy Joe Behan resigned his position citing his discomfort with the medical card changes and the proposals to increase school class sizes.
[11] Independent Deputy Finian McGrath then threatened to withdraw his support for the government unless the plan to remove the overs 70s automatic right to a medical card was withdrawn completely.
[12] Taoiseach Brian Cowen postponed a planned trip to China, sending Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe ahead to lead the delegation.
[13] Despite a government promise to retain medical cards for 95% of over-70s, an estimated 15,000 pensioners joined in a demonstration organised by the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament on 22 October.
[14] Later that evening, a motion put forward by the opposition party Fine Gael seeking a reversal of the government's decision was defeated by 81–74 in a vote which took place in Dáil Éireann.
On 11 August 2008, Ireland's Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe, had indicated that fees for university students were back on the agenda in a move which contravened prior government policy.
With university presidents putting pressure on the government to approve this proposal, Brian Lenihan announced an increase in the annual college registration fee by €600 on budget day.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe was said to have responded to a request to meet student leaders but later cancelled this "due to commitments arising following the budget".
Three people were arrested for breaches of the peace following two minor scuffles as 100 students took part in a banner-bearing protest at the Clinton Institute on the Belfield campus of UCD on 20 October 2008.
[29] Meanwhile, at NUI Galway on the evening of 9 December 2008, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív became involved in a violent student demonstration which made national headlines.
Ó Cuív was on the campus for the official launch of a new €50 million engineering building in place of the Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe, who had pulled out over fears that he would be met with violent action.
[31] On 2 February 2009, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was blockaded and jostled out of NUI Galway by a group of angry students protesting over the reintroduction of fees as he attempted to lecture the Literary and Debating Society.
[38] The Protestant community in return accepted that they could not expect the State to provide a "free" secondary school in every locality, and that they would have to pay a level of fees to educate their children.
Fine Gael spokesperson Olwyn Enright objected because of the Minister's intention "to bring in amendments on Committee Stage two days after the Bill's publication", to abolish the Combat Poverty Agency.
[45] Over 7,000 farmers from counties Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Cork, Kerry, Galway, Offaly, Roscommon and Wexford were involved in a mass demonstration in Ennis on 30 November 2008.
[47] Four barracks and a military hospital located along the border with Northern Ireland were deemed suitable for closure as the British Army had withdrawn a number of years previously.
