A man has appeared in court in Dublin today following a protest in which a crane was parked outside of Leinster House in advance of the budget.

Joe McNamara (41), of Dún na Carraige, Blackrock, Co Galway appeared in Dublin District Court this morning where he was charged with being in control of a vehicle which was deemed to be dangerous to the public.

Mr McNamara was remanded until December 14th to appear before Cloverhill District Court.

A cherry picker crane was driven by a man up to the Kildare Street gate at about 7.20am. It was covered with a number of slogans attacking politicians and the banking sector.

The control panel was sealed off, preventing gardai from bringing the protester back to the ground.

The crane arm was lowered at around 8.45am and the man was arrested and taken to Pearse Street Garda station.

Gardaí removed some of the slogans from the crane and moved it from the scene.

There was no disruption to pedestrian or vehicle access to Leinster House.