Thousands march in Dublin against spending cuts and tax hikes

Thousands of people have gathered in Dublin and marched against the austerity measures announced during the week by Brian Cowen.

Bad weather may have kept some from marching, but numbers attending were still high. Gardaí initially estimated numbers at around the 10,000. However, as the crowd made its way towards O'Connell Street the number swelled to around 50,000.

The 'family friendly' protest has been organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). The Congress believes that the proposed austerity measures outlined by the government are too harsh.In a statement, ICTU said that "if they go ahead with their plans, they will do irreparable damage and turn this country into a social and economic wasteland".

It's been a noisy protest, but so far there are no reports of trouble, although there is a lot of grouping in the centre of O'Connell Street, with organisers trying to spread people along the whole road.

Union leaders Jack O'Connor and David Begg were joined by singer Christie Moore.

There is a strong international media presence at the march, as attention relating to the current global crisis is squarely turned to our small island at this time. What happens here over the coming days and weeks will have major implications for the EU (and, in particular, struggling States such as Portugal and Spain), the Euro and global financial markets.

There's also a heavy garda presence following a recent student protest that ended in injury and arrests.