Some 5,000 people marched through the Irish capital on Saturday protesting against a new 100-euro household tax the government is struggling to collect - one of the first signs of resistance to Dublin's austerity drive. Carrying anti-austerity placards, the crowd of trade unionists, opposition members of parliament and recession-weary homeowners from across the country marched to the national conference of senior coalition party Fine Gael, elected with a record majority just over a year ago.
They were supporting a call to boycott the tax, imposed as part of the latest austerity budget. Just over one-third of homeowners had paid the charge before the deadline on Saturday. "It seems to me that the working-class people of this country are being asked to pay for everything," said 46-year-old electrician Brian Murray, whose Dublin home, bought for 455,000 euros ($605,900) in 2007 at the height of Ireland's property boom, is now worth just 170,000 euros.