Anti-Austerity Mobilisations and Occupy in Ireland

In October 2011, Occupy camps were established in Ireland resulting from the economic crisis and its social impact on many people. The camps were spin-offs of the many union-organized, anti-austerity protests that had arisen since 2008. The campaigns were successful in generating some displays of public solidarity, but they remained essentially local protest events and had a very limited impact on national policy. This paper argues, however, that despite these drawbacks, the campaigns had key positive effects: the gathering of resource-poor people to protest against the austerity measures taken by Irish public authorities; a political training ground for many people who had never before engaged in political activities; the self-perception and public depictions of the occupiers themselves. I discuss Occupy’s emergence; review the make-up of the occupiers and their relationships with allies; and assess the implications of the campaigns for the mobilization of resource-poor people in times of economic hardship.