Army called in as fuel protests cripple Ireland
Escalating disruption has now ‘crossed into criminal behaviour’, warns defence minister
Ireland has called in the army to deal with farmers and truckers who have blocked major roads in protest at sky-high fuel prices.
Helen McEntee, the defence minister, said the use of soldiers to support the police was “not the norm”, but claimed that escalating disruption had now “crossed into criminal behaviour”.
The army will deploy four heavy-lift recovery trucks to help the police remove vehicles involved in blockades, which have been in place for three days.
Jim O’Callaghan, the justice minister, said the owners of those vehicles “should not complain later about any damage caused during removal”.
It comes after Ireland was hit with the same punishing squeeze on diesel and petrol as Britain and mainland Europe after the war in Iran, with motorists paying up to €2.20 (£1.91) a litre for diesel and as much as €2 for petrol.
Unlike elsewhere, though, the fuel crisis has boiled over into widespread unrest. Protest organisers have used Facebook and TikTok to rally farmers and hauliers on to the streets, in a campaign for more government action.
“This is our third day now, and it’s going to keep continuing and escalating, because the rest of the country wants to get involved,” Sonny Boyd, a tow truck driver and protest organiser, told The Telegraph.
“There are more towns and counties that want to have protests. The level of support we’re getting is unbelievable.”
The government last month cut fuel duty by 20 cents on a litre of diesel and by 15 cents for petrol until the end of May, but protesters are demanding more. Excise and carbon taxes comprise more than half the price of Irish fuel.
“We want the carbon tax to be gone, and we need the fuel to be capped at a realistic price,” Mr Boyd said.
The army is likely to target the blockade at Ireland’s only oil refinery, at Whitegate in County Cork, as well as the country’s import terminals. Tanker trucks are unable to load, which could trigger fuel shortages across the country.
Mr Boyd said the Defence Forces’ deployment “doesn’t worry us one bit”.
“One of our tractors that’s sitting here in front of me has a gross weight of probably 26 tonnes, with a trailer and a digger on the back,” he says. “They’re not going to move that very easily.
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I stand with the fuel protesters
The despicable Irish government takes aim at farmers
LAURA PERRINS
(With sincere thanks to my paid subscribers who keep this Substack free to read. You can become a paid subscriber here)
Good morning from Ireland, where the government is trying to crush ‘fuel protesters,’ who are farmers and hauliers. These farmers and hauliers have been absolutely hammered by fall-out from Operation Epic Stupid. They have also been hammered by the Irish government’s insane fuel policy which amounts to punishment taxes on hard working citizens.
The Government currently takes over 65% of the price of a litre of petrol and over 60% of the price of a litre of diesel in tax.
Ireland is also one of just a handful of member states in the EU that charges a carbon tax of 18.4 cents per litre – set to rise to 26.8 cents by 2030. The real price gougers are the Irish government as I explain here. The government has taken some steps to reduce the price of fuel including a cut to excise duty but it is not enough.
So the desperate farmers and hauliers have done what desperate people do – they have taken to the streets causing major disruption. The main bodies representing their interests have not officially supported the protests but they did warn that protests would be inevitable if the government failed to negotiate. And that’s what’s happened.
Nationwide fuel price protests are set to enter a third day, today, Thursday and protesters continue to block O’Connell Street and O’Connell Bridge in Dublin city centre.
Dublin Bus has warned customers that road closures are likely to result in delays and disruptions to morning services. The Luas Green line is currently not operating between St Stephen’s Green and Dominick St due to protesters blocking the tracks at O’Connell Bridge
On Wednesday demonstrations closed off parts of the M50, M7, M11, N18, M8 and N28 routes. Protesters blocked the entrance to the State’s only oil refinery in Co Cork on Wednesday as well as other fuel depots in counties Galway and Limerick on Wednesday
Protests are annoying. They can disrupt very important medical appointments and day to day business, my husband has a minor operation today and I hope we can get there. But this is entirely on the Irish government.
The Irish government has started threatening the fuel protesters. The people who have never done a decent days work in their life have calculated that the PR battle is to be won by calling farmers who get up at the crack of dawn to farm the land so we can eat, and hauliers who make the food magically turn up on the supermarket shelves as engaging in a ‘sinister and despicable attack’ on society. They are gambling that the protesters have overreached by blocking the State’s only oil refinery. The Taoiseach condemned it as an “act of national sabotage.”
No, what is an act of national sabotage is this government’s policy of punishing the consumption of fossil fuels. They have been engaging in a policy of national sabotage for years. How fucking dare they put this on the farmers. This is a disgusting attack on hard working people.
We all know that if this was some group such as Extinction Rebellion or Black Lives Matter, the Taoiseach and Ministers would be quite literally falling over themselves to support them, or at least say they ‘understood their concerns.’ These people do not give access to emergency services, but the fuel protesters have kept hard shoulders clear for emergency groups.
Simon Harris TD, who unbelievably is the equivalent of Ireland’s Chancellor of Exchequer (if you think Rachel Reeves is bad, Harris is the guy who would be bringing spreadsheet Rachel her tea) said the following: “The blocking of the distribution of fuel is a sinister and despicable attack on our economy and our society. This is not a lawless country. The laws of the land must and will be applied without fear.”
Has Harris no shame? What is despicable is the way this government has refused to help farmers and hauliers. This group can’t just avoid the fuel energy disaster by doing a little retrofit on their south Dublin home. They are totally dependent on green diesel to farm the land – that we depend on – and that has seen huge price increases.
What is sinister is how much revenue the government will have already banked due to the increase on fuel prices. This government takes more tax from the sale of fuel than it costs to produce it. If you pay 20 euro for diesel, 12 euros are taken by the government. And then they are set to go ahead with the increase in carbon tax in April. How fucking dare they?
It is a bit rich for Simon Harris TD to talk about a lawless country when this government is more than happy to push through emergency legislation to exempt the government from planning permission, that the rest of us mere citizens must secure, when they wish to plonk the asylum seekers in IPAS centres in your local town. They are a disgrace.
This government think that they will win the airwaves war, and that the public will turn on the protesters. When choosing your side it is worth asking yourself just what have Simon Harris TD the Taoiseach ever done to get oil out of the ground, food from the land, or the finished product on your table?
It is no coincidence that those who do make all this happen work long hours, often outdoors and in dangerous conditions. Farm accidents are still all too common, and you wouldn’t catch me out in an oil rig. These aren’t cushy white collar jobs, These men and some women are the real deal.
I stand with the fuel protesters. So should you.
This article (I stand with the fuel protesters) was created and published by Laura Perrins and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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