Fuel Protest (Read MOD NOTE on first post)

I've been thinking about this quite a lot for the past few days. It feels like most of these recent populist movements (water protests, anti-immigration movements, the road blockades) all boil down to the same principle: an anti-taxation movement.

Governments can be inefficient and because of the large sums involved in public finances, it's attention grabbing when mistakes like the children's hospital, the bike sheds, printers etc. happen. People seem to forget that private sector organisations can waste money too: the sums wasted by Mark Zuckerburg on The Metaverse, or by Elon Musk on The Boring Company would make any government wince.

Nobody enjoys seeing tax deductions on their payslip, cutting cheques to revenue or handing over money for road tax, property tax etc but it seems to me that society seems to have forgotten that this taxation is necessary to provide the services we expect government to provide in civilised society (construction and maintenance of the road network and public transport infrastructure, schools, public transport, a national grid, water services, healthcare etc. etc. etc.)

Of course, when we look at this globally, it's quite obvious that Trump was elected because he promised enormous tax breaks to the ultra wealthy who, in turn, weaponised the media empires (both social and traditional) they control to lobby on his behalf. We can see this locally too: we massively under-tax capital gains and profit by comparison to the taxation we apply to wages, half our economy is based on being a tax haven for MNCs.

The wealthy benefit most from low taxation on profits generated from capital rather than taxation on income and so, of course the wealthiest in our society (those that own the social media platforms people are getting their "news" from and the newsprint media where we read about the sports teams that same group of oligarchs own) are going to promote content that rails against taxation and points towards various minority groups as the cause (LGBTQ+, Immigrants etc.): because if we, the great unwashed, can be convinced that taxation is theft and that society is falling apart because of "woke" socially progressive politics or immigrants instead of underfunded public services, we can be convinced to vote for the populists they put on our ballot papers: those that promise tax cuts and spending increases, that rail against progressive societal changes and stoke hatred of various minority groups (again, helped by the social media they own promoting this in our algorithms). Those same populist that then turn around and impose austerity measures on the public sector, hike income taxes and ratchet up public debt in order to fund tax cuts that are heavily weighted towards their oligarch backers while siphoning off as much public money as they can to their families, friends, financial backers and their own offshore (or crypto) accounts.

It's not an easy thing to fight against. Americans (who have a virtual stranglehold on social and entertainment media) have almost all already swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker and are quick to tell you that the centre right politicians of their Democratic party are left wing (the right wing among them appending this with "extremists" or "communists") and have managed to turn the word "socialist" into an insult. They've so consistently voted against their own best interests that a healtcare crisis in your 50s can leave you destitute even after having lived a relatively successful life until that point.

The social contract of the 20th century (Go to school, work hard, pay your taxes and you can buy your own home, educate your children, be treated by a doctor when you're sick, maybe have a holiday every now and then, retire in your mid sixties etc.) has been broken and these "protestors" are a symptom of that: they feel hard done by global fuel price increases despite all evidence showing that they actually pay quite low prices for their diesel when compared to European averages, they've been radicalised online and no longer trust their own represenative groups such as the IFA or the Road Hauliers Association.

Political arties of the left need to find a way to convince these people that, despite the fact they're independent businessmen and entrepeneurs, they have far, far more in common with ordinary PAYE workers than they do with the oligarchs and that any social contract requires fair and equitable taxation. Globally, we need to start forcing the ultra wealthy to pay their share and, to do that, we need to work together. We need a world with lots of millionaires, not one with 3000 billionaires and a handful of parasites nearing the trillionaire mark.

I'd say it's a safe bet that most of those that turned out for the blockades aren't in the same bracket as that fella. I saw quite a lot of the blockades during the 5 hours it took me each way to Carrigaline this weekend and most looked like ordinary enough lads.

I'd actually agree that rural dwellers get far more than their fair share of public expenditure but some of that is a necessary cost of our country having good food security. That planning has allowed ribbon developments of McMansions for people who have often have no connection to agriculture beyond the fact their grandfather farmed the acre they live on is a scandal though and they have no right to demand increased rural services when they have no intention of paying for them.

That said, most of the protestors have far more in common with the average PAYE worker than the likes of the Collisons, Denis O' Brien, Dermot Desmonds and the like.

I do recall the opposition saying the planning bill took years but then was rushed out before the election.

A quick Google

Planning and Development Bill 2023: From the Seanad – Dáil Éireann (33rd Dáil) – Wednesday, 9 Oct 2024 – Houses of the Oireachtas

Bacik: I know others have already spoken in general about the process. Indeed I spoke about it this morning. It is really concerning to see that we have only three hours to debate 177 pages (of amendments). I am just looking at the groupings we have been given. Even if we just look at the groupings, we can see 31 groupings of amendments and we are still only on the first grouping 45 minutes into what is only a three-hour guillotined debate.

Pringle: The reason planning applications end up in court is that there is a legal problem with the implementation by An Bord Pleanála, the council and so on because the judicial review is actually a review of the legality of the case and the procedures used and not on the decision itself. Therefore, if the planning Act was sufficiently robust and An Bord Pleanála and the county councils applied the law as it stands, then there would be no need for judicial reviews. That is the problem we see across the board. It is a failure on the Minister’s part and on that of his Department that this is being rushed through on this Stage without any proper debate.

It was Eoin O'Broin who originally highlighted the problem of judicial reviews following an FOI.

Not sure where you're getting that from?

They still have a majority of 5