Ictu will recruit and train up to 250 stewards to ensure its national demonstration next Saturday in Dublin against the government's planned €6bn cuts in the budget passes off peacefully.

The arrival of the IMF and the consequential swell of public anger against the government and the banks has raised fears among some trade union leaders that the march could be hijacked by extreme left-wing militant groups intent on causing trouble.

But an Ictu spokesman said that, in addition to recruiting and training its own stewards to police the march, it is closely liaising with gardaí to ensure what Ictu is calling a "national mobilisation" does not degenerate into violence.

"Ictu has organised several such major demonstrations in the past and there never has been any trouble whatsoever. The gardaí have never had any problems with an Ictu march and while we have to prepare, we do not anticipate any trouble on Saturday," a union spokesman said last week.

The route of the relatively short march from Wood Quay to the GPO on O'Connell Street should also help ensure a peaceful march as it avoids the Dáil and all the major banks such as Anglo Irish Bank on St Stephen's Green, which have proven to be flashpoints in the past.

Ictu also believes that a large turnout on the day will help to smother any potential troublemakers and has invited student, community and social groups to participate.

There are varying degrees of enthusiasm among trade union leaders for such marches. Some see them as ineffective, costly and given their potential to be hijacked by extreme groups, potentially counter-productive for the trade-union movement.