The protests over fuel costs

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I support them ..they seem like decent, hard working people who are at the end of their tether. Threatening them (as the Guards Representative did earlier) is not the way forward.

There seem to be chip vans at a lot of protests. I don't think I have heard about portaloos.

Ridiculous and not going to do any good, just harm. I had to drive from one end of the country to the other on Monday so I missed them by a da y. I would have been fuming had I been caught up in it as it would probably have taken the whole day.
The usual sheep are agreeing with them, selfish aholes. Some people have life & death situations going on and they are cribbing about fuel costs. Unable to look at the bigger picture. We may not get any oil at all soon.

Oglaigh na hEireann have this on their fb page assume in relation to the rumours about them being brought in to deal with protesters:

PUBLIC NOTICE: Today, there will be a convoy of MOWAG Armoured Personnel Carriers travelling from Cork City to the Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare.
We can confirm that this convoy is the 128th Infantry Battalion conducting mission readiness exercises ahead of deployment to UNIFIL next month.
Mission Readiness Exercises are critical activities to train and prepare our personnel for conducting duties in Southern Lebanon.

My daughter is a student nurse who starts working at 7.30am in the morning and finishes at 8.30pm. She should be able to get a bus to work in Dublin City Centre! They are disrupting people like her who depend on public transport! I would be depending on the bus too to get to work this week only I had major surgery recently in England (as the so called expert surgeon in Ireland wasn’t an expert) and am recovering at home. Over the last few weeks I’ve had 7 hospital appointments and luckily I was able to get to them as the LUAS was running. They’ve made their point now.

I have empathy for haulage etc being hit by very high fuel costs. And I’m mindful that people are being hit from all sides - housing crises, lack of medical appointments, rising costs etc. There is a building frustration there I’d wager.

But that’s not to say I agree with this.

Its hard to know what to believe, are we a poor nation again or not? Im sure many small businesses are struggling, my kids school bus providers have put up their costs by an extra €1 a week to cover costs til the end of the school year. But the IT had this headline earlier (its hidden at the end of the money section now). There's plenty of money somewhere (sadly not in my savings account)
Irish households saved an estimated €24 billion in 2025.

I hope they’ll be safe out there 🙏

DS has been driving all over the backroads today and is well fed up of the protests

And we have a tanker offshore that can't be unloaded. In a month's time we could be very much regretting that oil not getting in to the country.

To be honest, I'm on the fence on this one. I do believe we need to take a stand, we pay far to much in tax on fuel.
It started as a peaceful protest but now seems like a blockade, especially the fuel depots.
I have seen some disgusting posts on social media regarding people panicking about sick (dying) relatives in hospital and people telling them, well the protest is for a good cause..... they are not even saying this in a nice way.
The racism in some comments even if non Irish are saying well done to the protesters, they are lashed and told to go back to their counties.

I know my colleagues in work (medical) are getting in late to work so it is stressful for those involved.
My daughter got a billy can of diesel last night as she's worried she/I/her dad will have no fuel for cars. We live very rural so definitely need our own transport.
My return journey to work is 123 km so I am watching whats going on.
I hope this resolves soon.
Taz.

No we aren’t poor. The economy is booming,

But the gap between the have’s and the have nots is getting bigger. And the far right are ready to exploit situations like this for their own benefit

As are the far left.

I don’t see this. Far right activists some from Britian are putting their mark on the protests and giving them an anti immigrant slant. This is an issue. This is what I mean by “exploit for their own benefit “ they don’t actually have a plan to make life better for ordinary folk. They are bad actors and agitators.

Although I don’t support parties like the people before profit. They do have a plan for a more equitable society. Whether the plan could work or not is another question but I don’t think they pose a risk in the same way.

Ah, I see what you mean. I was referring more to our homegrown extremists.

I would consider the likes of PBP jumping on the bandwagon as exploiting it for their own benefit in the same way Ireland First etc are. They all have a plan for what they believe is a better society but neither is an acceptable approach to me. PBP would bankrupt the country. Ireland First are racist bigots.

But this is a key issue for PBP - they believe in in spreading wealth and supporting local businesses. It makes complete sense for them to be involved. It would be weird if they weren’t.

It is completely different from this far right crowd who are trying to shoe horn their main - anti immigrant issue into it and are encouraging the protestors to do things that are against all of our interests, like blockading the oil refinery.

They’ve been blockading since day 1. They didn’t need any encouragement from the far right.

PBP are most definitely not on the side of big farmers and haulier companies. They’re the very people they want to tax into oblivion. So joining in is very much exploiting the situation for their own ends.

Like I just don’t think you can equate brid smyth and Paul Murphy with the likes of Tommy Robinson and Conor McGregor. PBP are idealists, and although I wouldn’t want to see them in power, I think they have value in the conversation.

Do you honestly think Conor McGregor gives two craps about how much a farmer is paying for fuel? They are liars and agitators. They don’t want to actually improve the country.

Most farmers in Ireland are small to medium size businesses not big farmers that would be taxed into oblivion.

Of course he doesn’t. He’s a scumbag but so is Paul Murphy. His involvement in the jobstown incident with Joan Burton was nothing short of thuggery.

Far right accounts, all over Europe, are using videos of other protests and AI generated images to suggest that “the people of Ireland are rising up” or that the government is using violence against peaceful protestors.

The goal of the misinformation is to gain more support for their anti immigrant issue into, anti government agenda. And you can not honestly say that the PBP or any such far left movements are doing the same.

Yes I know that but there are large farmers and hauliers involved in the protests. James Geoghegan being a case in point.

Anyway, I don’t want to derail the thread with politics so I’ll leave it there.

He was cleared of any criminal charges. He sat down on a road. I don’t think he is on a level with Conor McGregor who has actually been convicted of assault and found guilty of rape.

I’m not his biggest fan but he doesn’t pose the same risk as Conor McGregor and his ilk.

I disagree. They are exploiting it for their own aims. They just happen to be different ones.

I really mean it this time. I’m stopping political talk in this thread😁.

Anyone have any idea how the talks are going?

Protests are political.

Not going well. Not loving the two spokespeople. They have the country by the balls apparently.

Ok. I’m stopping engaging in irrelevant political sidebars. Though I suspect you knew what I meant…

I have Stage 4 cancer and have an important oncology appointment on Monday morning. If this protest is still going by then I will have to take a 40 minute train journey and then a bus journey to get to my appointment. Due to the train time table I will have to get the train three hours before my appointment. If my partner was driving me this would be a 30 minute drive door to door. I really can do without this.