Fuel Protests - Dublin 11 April

Funny people on here talking about the negatives

If they were so upset why didn't any of them join a counter protest

Says it all doesn't it

Water falls from the sky here. Quite a lot of it at times. It does cost some money to get it ready for use though. Oil comes out of the ground in (mostly) corrupt and autocratic countries a long way away from Ireland.

The govt. (or a private company) must pay to get hold of it at all, as well as pay to get it ready for use as fuel. Oil is a somewhat scarce, and very valuable commodity.

Unfortunately, one of those corrupt oil producers is Putin's Russia (a large % of the entire world's oil production capacity is in Russia - 10 % https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/10/infographic-how-much-of-your-countrys-oil-comes-from-russia-interactive) . It is currently waging the largest war in Europe since WW2 sending several million refugees flooding into the EU, devastating cities etc.

The EU (and Ireland) are, while not direct participants, certainly not neutral here. They are supporting Ukraine very strongly and also fighting an economic battle of sorts against Russia. Fuel costs (and therefore inflation) are rising because of all that and there's nothing the govt. can do to make all this go away entirely (seems to be what protesters want?, price caps etc.) in the short term.

As well as the cost rises, it is not impossible that there could be fuel shortages later this year or next year, given the EU could stop importation of Russian oil and turning away from such a big producer and finding alternatives is not easy. What will the protesters be seekng at that point I wonder? Maybe request govt. to evade the EU sanctions and get the oil off Mr. Putin anyway, or perhaps request the govt. to use the Irish army to invade some unfortunate oil producing country to rob their oil...(joke)

I think you've hit the nail on the head there tbh.

Its the fuel but yeah by extension the greens want a fleet change from ICE trucks to electric.

And that will probably happen in time, but that won't be tomorrow or even next year imho.

I've no skin in the game, but where fuel prices rise then so do the costs of transport of all the goods Ireland needs to import.

And we're all going to increasingly feel the impacts of that over the next year or so.

All of which though had nothing to do with today's pathetic list of delusional demands, combined with the derisory support, which is where the disdain came from in this thread.

Nothing to do with the fact they drive diesel powered trucks.

What I read was that they were going to protest in Dublin like most protests do - as its the seat of government. And yeah they said that traffic would be impacted afaik

Any group can make demands - like asking for the resignation of a minister - it certainly doesn't mean they'll get that.

Such protest groups by definition are generally poorly organised ime. Its like what they say that a camel is an animal designed by a committee.

And like most such protests in Ireland turnouts tend to be small so yeah so was any significant effect on the city overall

Thing is though, increases in the price of fuel and associated price increases in the cost of living are going to get a lot worse over the coming year

And with that many people who are now just getting on with trying to manage will get increasingly pissed of with how things are shaping up. I'd reckon we'll certainly see more protests in the next year or so. Maybe those will be better organised and or attended but who knows

Not really imo. Why should Dublin voters make their political choices subject to rural voters approval or something? Think we're told to go and get lost if we dare offer any opinions on the arcana of rural matters, but of course it doesn't go the other way. We regularly get to hear lectures from people all over about what Dublin "needs" or what's "wrong" with it and the people who live there. We've a very rural focussed parliament (that is natural given they are the majority, and Dublin is the only large city really), no local govt., a completely centralised govt. that gives short shrift to Dublin and its problems, views it as a sort of cash cow to be milked very hard for the state and that's it. So forgive me if I don't give a hoot that Rural Ireland apparently hates some Green minister Dubliners (but not me!) voted for + think he's clueless.

Ah I thought I copied the bit I was referring to. No worries

It was nothing particularly to do with any urban or rural divide rather this line

he isn't fit for the job

And I think that hits the nail on the head imho. That said I reckon plenty of Dubs don't particularly like him either 🤨

Fair enough! That puts a different complexion on it. edit: the other bit of that comment you quoted irritated a bit when I read it, and was thinking of replying. I generally do agree with "Green" ideas and policies but would not be a big fan of the Irish Green party. Did hear the man speak at something last year, thought he was well prepared and spoke + answered questions well but I suppose what actually gets done or not done in govt. in their tenure is of course more important.

No matter what we do we will end up subsidizing them anyway.

Are they? Carbon taxes were first introduced in 2010, were not ring fenced and they've funded fcek all from what I've seen. Fuel allowance payments have been around for a lot longer than that etc and come from general taxation.

Carbon taxes in their present form are just another boot in the bolloxs to people in Ireland. The same people who shouldn't be taxed to death to finance policies especially when that level of tax increases year on year is simply not sustainable

Nah don't agree. There's nothing delusional about looking to keep a lid on rising costs of living. One of the issues there is the increasing amounts of tax and tariffs placed on fuel in this country. I posted some detail on that in a previous comment

Atm lots of countries are looking at a cap on the price a fuel whether that's through reduced taxation and or other temporary measures. The aim as far as I understand it is to put a brake on increasing costs of living arising from the costs of transportation.

I already covered much of what you said in addition to that. To sum it up like most protests in Ireland they tend to be badly organised and attended. What's new?

That said I noted little evidence of anti lockdown or freeman "lunatics" being involved. But maybe I was reading the wrong stuff. Unless you're suggesting that the similarity is that these groups also protested at various times in the recent past? Anyway not to go into a diatribe about the protest- the main point I made is whilst this protest may not have gone anywhere - its highly unlikely to be the last protest on this issue