The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), renewed its support for Irish journalists in their fight against the austerity measures imposed by the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the country.

"We have closely followed this long struggle by our Irish colleagues who joined the demonstrations in the recent days" said EFJ President  Arne König. "There is grave concern at the government's austerity measures and especially by the political consensus which is being challenged by the trade union movement. We are convinced that there is a fairer, better way to handle the crisis than penalising the workforce. Journalists and media workers are massively affected by the economic downturn through cuts in salaries, devaluation of pensions, editorial budgets and redundancies. The Irish society in these times of financial crisis needs good and fair working conditions for journalists more than ever, if they are to provide quality reporting for a society in deep turmoil."

Support to the National Union of Journalists in Ireland can be sent to [email protected]
More information: http://www.ictu.ie/ and www.nuj.org.uk