Fuel Protest (Read MOD NOTE on first post)

You're trying too hard now

Fintan needs to have another Green Tea and calm down.

So the taxpayer has spent 750 million quid over the last 2 weeks trying to make fuel cheaper for everyone in the country.

What happens now if the crisis continues and the price of oil rises on the market again, as it will likely do since there is no end in sight to this war?

Do the protests restart? More blocking roads and refineries until the taxpayer hands over another 500 million? Another billion?

Well a bit of both.

As well as rebate schemes, the prices at the pumps were targeted too, so it should apply to general public as well, except price rises will soon negate any cut.

Weirdly you don't seem to hold an ounce of outrage for the likes of Trump and Putin who are responsible for all the crises affecting fuel. Whatever cuts in fuel prices will be negated by more increases as this war continues.

So the taxpayer has spent 750 million quid over the last 2 weeks

The taxpayer hasn't spent 750 million over the past 2 weeks.

It's an estimation based on sales over the next 4 odd months and includes a Carbon Tax that hasn't even kicked in yet.

The Exchequer will still be taking in significant taxes on Petrol and Diesel.

It's a trick of governance to make you think they are handing out 100s of millions, they aren't.

Fuel prices is one of the key drivers of inflation. There is very real economic benefits to the measures, not mention social benefits.

People as they always do just look at costs and not value.

But that's what exactly what they want.

The poor contractor who has become lionised online after posting about having to close his ag contracting business doesnt blame Trump or Putin. No he retweets messages in support of them both (along with Gavin Pepper, Michael McCarthy, Elon Musk, Conor McGregor, Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins) regularly over the past couple of years

There's SO mamy more.

He's well in with Christopher Duffy and has retweeted several msgs about James Geoghegan over the past 24months

This 'movement' didnt get hijacked by anything imo

Yes, Gardai did excellent work shifting these ‘paper tigers’ and barstool revolutionaries off the country’s roads.

Not suggesting that all protestors were of that ilk…far from it ,however it would appear that the ‘leadership’ were quickly infiltrated by activists with other agendas.

Certainly from the coverage it would appear that was a valid scenario.

You can say we haven't spent 750mill, but we will over the next few months

I thought it was over 2 weeks?

You are looking at a estimate figure, which I imagine was the high end estimate.

You are not factoring in the economic benefits of what is essentially an anti inflationary measure, even disregarding the societal benefits.

That is done purely to paint a narrative.

The AI slop is dreadful.

Part of me is glad to see FFG get absolutely slapped by their traditional grassroots, the other part fears FFG are incapable of getting this internet mob energy back in its box.

There is a lot of snobbery towards those those who work with their hands. Events of recent days has allowed polite society to vent the vitriol they have been bottling up.

I got banned on one group for criticising all the fawning over this man that was going on. Most of those groups are now just AI slop and racism. It's desperately sad as it was nice to be able to chat to other Irish people in London but we are where we are.

There may well have been far-right agitators and authoritarians involved in the fuel protests, but this last week has shown that the cabinet is filled with such people as well.

In a democratic society, the Minister for Justice’s response to protests should not be threatening to deploy the army. And now we have the Media Minister threatening to send Comissiun na Mean to investigate journalists for covering the protests in a manner that he doesn’t like.

If we’re going to judge the protesters by the antics of one or two gobshites, then we must do the same for the government.