Central Bank's Occupy policy enrages local business owners

Occupy Dame Street protesters can stay put according to Central Bank boss

Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan angered business owners after saying last week that while he didn't welcome the Dame Street protesters, he had no plans to take action against them.

Now, local traders are accusing the bank of "side-stepping" the damage being done to them, reports the Irish Independent.

"A new development on Dame Street has been the arrival of the Occupy Movement," said Honohan.

"While not everyone is happy with their being there, several people have said to me that their presence symbolises, albeit in a rather ambiguous and even incoherent way, the feelings of a large part of society in regard to what has gone wrong in the financial sector and with the banks.

"We don't welcome their presence, but -- as long as no one is harmed or put in danger by them -- we are not at present inclined to take action to have them moved away."

The traders are enraged, saying that jobs are on the line.

"What's really irritating is the stand that the bank is taking on it, and the powers that be. It seems that they're all side-stepping it," said local business owner John Murphy.
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 "If I put a piece of cardboard outside that door I'd get a fine, yet in the capital city in the centre, in the main tourist area, that is permitted to take place. It doesn't make sense," he added.

"At the minute I think it's a protest of ego, as opposed to a protest of conscience. There's very few of them actually staying there. This is our capital city and the fact that they've set up a shanty town right across there really irritates me. Obviously there's the collateral damage that it's causing to the business as well. Then when the weather gets milder, what is it going to attract then?"

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Nster.com