Aontú Galway West by-election candidate Orla Nugent has said she was with the recent fuel protesters “nearly every day”, while also calling for the carbon tax to be scrapped for the duration of the cost-of-living crisis.
Speaking in an interview with Gript
this week, Nugent said she had spent “hours” with protesters at Galway docks, describing those involved as “really decent, run-of-the-mill people.”
“I was at the fuel protests at 7:00 am on Easter Tuesday,” she said.
“I’d been there nearly every day since, spending hours. I was there Saturday night as well.”
Nugent said she believed many of those participating in the demonstrations felt ignored by government.
“Somebody actually said to me it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, really,” she remarked.
“They feel like for so long they’ve just been existing and trying to exist.”
She also said she was “really upset” to see protesters removed from the area on the Sunday morning, adding that the protest had been “very peaceful.”
“Everyone who I met down there were really decent, run-of-the-mill people,” Nugent continued.
“A farmer said down there to me, ‘We’re not just doing it for ourselves, we’re not doing it for the hauliers, we’re not doing it just for the farmers. We’re doing it for everybody. Everybody is struggling.’”
The Aontú candidate also criticised the Government’s handling of the cost-of-living crisis and said people should not face further increases in carbon taxation during the current economic climate.
Discussing the issue of carbon tax, Nugent said Aontú had opposed the Climate Action Bill on those grounds.
“People should not have to be put up with another rising carbon tax when people actually just can’t afford to live at the minute,” she said.
Asked whether she believed the tax should be abolished entirely, Nugent said it should at least be removed during the current crisis.
“I think during this current time we should get rid of it completely,” she said.
“During the cost-of-living crisis, during this time.”
Nugent also claimed that money raised through carbon taxation was not being adequately directed towards climate measures.
“A large portion of that we have found out has gone back to the exchequer to just sit there,” she said.
“So, that’s not good enough when people are struggling.”
The Galway West candidate said Aontú approached issues such as climate policy and immigration from what she described as a “very practical point of view.”
In relation to immigration, Nugent argued that the Government had “done a very bad job of accommodating people”, while also stating that Ireland lacked the infrastructure required to cope with current pressures.
“There’s people struggling in Ireland today and we don’t have the infrastructure,” she said.
“We don’t actually feel like it’s good for the people living there and it’s not good for the children experiencing trauma in those centres either.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nugent spoke about her background as a primary school teacher and her work in the special needs sector, saying families of children with additional needs often had to “fight for every service.”
She also raised concerns about what she described as the increasing move towards a cashless society, citing parking systems in Galway which require online payment methods.
“I really think for the older generation, for the people that actually don’t want to always have an app on their phone or carry their phone around… I think we’re really pushing people out,” Nugent said.
“There should be cashless options.”
The Galway West by-election was triggered following the election of Catherine Connolly to the presidency, which created a vacancy in the constituency. The contest is taking place alongside a by-election in Dublin Central and comes amid continuing political debate over fuel prices, the cost of living, immigration, and climate policy.