Fuel protesters have warned that they will take to the roads again if the Government does not cut carbon tax from the upcoming budget.
More than 1,000 people attended a public meeting in Moate, Co. Westmeath, on Sunday, where organisers warned of renewed street protests if the Budget does not bring fuel prices down. The event was organised by those associated with April’s large-scale fuel protests, and was attended by farmers, contractors and people from the fishing industry.
Organiser John Dallon said the group wanted the tax lifted from the sector that feeds the country. “We want carbon tax scrapped from all food production,” he told the meeting, adding that he believed the Government had a €9 billion surplus yet claimed it could not help those who he said are struggling. Speaking afterwards, he said carbon tax was “the main thing” in a document organisers gave to Tánaiste Simon Harris at a meeting in Navan last Friday.
Fellow organiser Christopher Duffy said the rebates and the 32 cent diesel cut introduced in April were welcome but would not rescue struggling businesses, and warned that protesters would not be easily pushed off the roads a second time.
Duffy encouraged those present to hold strong, telling them, “Together we can achieve anything”.
Organiser James Geoghegan told the meeting of a woman from Donegal who was spending €320 on fuel to attend hospital in Sligo and had to ask her father for money.
Several politicians addressed the crowd. Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy and Senator Paraic Brady spoke, with Mr Carrigy telling the meeting he had come to listen. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín argued that the Government could cut all taxes if it stopped wasting money, and Independent Ireland’s Michael Fitzmaurice, Richard O’Donoghue and Michael Collins also spoke, as did Sinn Féin Senator Joanne Collins.
Speakers also raised issues beyond fuel, including immigration, data centres, the health service and the ban on oil and gas exploration.
Shouts of “Get them out” – directed at the current government – echoed through the hall.
The meeting comes ahead of the Budget on 6 October. Farmers have criticised a carbon tax increase due on 14 October, which will bring all other fuels up to the €71 per tonne already set for petrol and diesel.
Organisers’ warnings of a return to the roads carry weight because of how April’s protests ended. Six days after the demonstrations began, tractor and truck drivers were escorted away from O’Connell Street by hundreds of gardaí in an overnight operation.
Around 200 uniformed gardaí locked down the street just after 3.30 am before the Public Order Unit moved in, backed by mounted units and a helicopter.
Elsewhere, gardaí in shields and protective gear clashed with protesters at Galway docks, while the POU were deployed in Cork, Galway and Dublin.
At the time, Christopher Duffy said at the time that protesters had been “absolutely ambushed” and accused gardaí of denying them due process. Mr Geoghegan strongly criticised gardaí and the Government and claimed gardaí had told him the night before that the protest was “grand”. Gardaí said blockaders had to comply with directions, and stated that they have no role in permitting protests.