Irish students take to streets over fees threat

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Thousands of students marched through central Dublin on Wednesday to protest against the threat of rising fees and shrinking grants in Ireland's latest austerity budget under an EU-IMF bailout.

The coalition government's large majority should ensure it can pass the December budget, its first since being swept to power in March, but the political pressure is beginning to show with a junior minister resigning on Tuesday over the closure of an army barracks.

Students focused their ire on Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, who during the election campaign pledged not to raise student fees or cut student grants.

"Less than nine months on, we have a government in hiding, a government that has failed to live up to its promises and today we are sending a message to that government, 'Shame on You'," Gary Redmond, the president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), told a crowd of over 10,000 cheering protesters.

Large demonstrations are relatively rare in Ireland despite the country's financial crisis. This year's student protest was peaceful in comparison to last year when scuffles broke out and glass bottles and eggs were thrown at police.

In parliament, Quinn defended the government's expected u-turn.

"We don't control either our chequebook or our policy in relation to a whole range of public items of expenditure. We have to work within that constraint."

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; editing by Andrew Roche)