ANTI-austerity campaigners from across Co Donegal will converge on Letterkenny tonight to lay on a noisy ‘welcome’ for Fine Gael cabinet minister Leo Varadkar.
The Transport Minister is due to address party members at a dinner at the Station House Hotel in the town at around 9pm.
However a host of different groups have been using Twitter and Facebook in the past 24 hours in a bid to organise a protest.
Groups opposed to water charges, septic tank taxes, the household tax as well as those opposed to Vehicle Registration Tax and increased fuel prices are all planning to turn up.
Mr Varadkar is a guest of Milford and Letterkenny Fine Gael.
The dinner is planned as a fundraiser for the party in the area with TD Joe McHugh and Mayor Noel McBride hosting the reception.
Protestors are also discussing a protest at the Gartan Winter School on Saturday where Varadkar will also make a speech.
One of those hoping for a massive turn-out told us: “We want as many people at the hotel as possible. This is our chance to get our message across to one of the chief architects of the austerity measures and a cheerleader for the bondholders.”
Ryan Stewart, one of those involved in Donegal Action Against Austerity, told us: “We plan to line the streets around the hotel in a peaceful protest.”
A senior Garda in the town said already stretched resources for a Friday night in Letterkenny will be stretched even further.
Last weekend the local division was the second biggest in the county.
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