On Sunday, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced that the Irish government would cut fuel taxes in an effort to suppress protests that have brought the country to a standstill over the past six days. A package worth 505 million euros ($592 million) was declared to ease fuel prices that have been straining Irish drivers.
The package would include a ten cent reduction for each liter of diesel and petroleum, a fuel subsidy for farmers and a postponement of the planned carbon tax increase to a later date.
Protests began last Tuesday in response to the global rising of fuel prices, a consequence of the US-Israel war on Iran that has disrupted use of the Strait of Hormuz—a vital point in the distribution of much of the world’s oil.
Truckers, farmers and taxi and bus drivers have been worried about prices driving people out of business, pushing them to form blockades in front of Ireland’s only oil refinery, several depots and roads across the country.
These blockades have caused traffic congestion on major highways and forced people to travel everywhere on foot. They also stopped tanker trucks from reaching service stations around the country, meaning that over a third of Ireland’s fuel pumps ran dry.
Earlier in the week, Dublin’s city center was so obstructed that the capital was in complete gridlock. Due to police intervention over the weekend, it is now clear.
Police forces were able to break up blockades outside the Whitegate refinery in County Cork, as well as protests on O’Connell Street in Dublin, Foynes Port in County Limerick and Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford. The altercations have been mostly peaceful, though pepper spray was used during Whitegate refinery’s clearing on Saturday. Most remaining protests are now limited to road blockades.
The public has shown strong support for the protests. In a poll for the Sunday Independent conducted by Ireland Thinks, 56% of voters backed the protesters’ actions. This solidarity suggests that issues regarding fuel prices have been affecting everyone, not just the farmers and truckers that have been heading the blockades.
While some are relieved to be free from days-long traffic jams, others are unhappy with police actions. Spokesperson James Geoghegan told RTÉ, Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster, “This protest does not end until the cost of living is dropped to a level that we can stay in business.” It is unclear whether protests will persist after the government’s intervention, though it appears that the public would remain supportive if they did.
Martin, however, has expressed his disapproval of protesters’ tactics. “They have explicitly rejected the right to democratic representative groups to speak for them and have gone well beyond simply expressing their point,” he said in yesterday’s statement, “Nobody has the right to blockade our country.”