{"id":405986,"date":"2026-04-19T02:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405986\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T02:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:05:08","slug":"micheal-martin-acutely-aware-of-real-pain-and-fear-caused-by-rising-fuel-prices-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405986\/","title":{"rendered":"Miche\u00e1l Martin \u2018acutely aware\u2019 of \u2018real pain and fear\u2019 caused by rising fuel prices \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fianna Fail<\/a> and the coalition government are \u201cacutely aware\u201d of the \u201creal pain and fear\u201d caused by rising fuel prices, the Taoiseach has said.<\/p>\n

Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> assured party members the Government was \u201crelentlessly focused\u201d on action following a bruising week for his leadership that included criticism from Fianna Fail backbenchers.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, three of the party\u2019s youngest TDs<\/a> issued a letter criticising the handling of recent fuel price protests<\/a>, in which they said they viewed \u201cevents of the past few weeks with a real and deep concern\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was followed by other party members voicing their disquiet at the Government\u2019s handling of fuel protests and blockades, although on Friday Cabinet ministers gave their backing to the Taoiseach.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> leader Mary-Lou McDonald<\/a>, however, on Saturday cautioned the Taoiseach against self congratulation, and to \u201cget real\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin, addressing the Fianna F\u00e1il National Councillors\u2019 Conference at Mullingar Park Hotel, Co Westmeath, on Saturday, described \u201cliving through and governing in a quite remarkable time in world history\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said since returning to Government in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic, war, massive displacement in Europe, the migratory pressure caused by conflict in Africa, and trouble in the Middle East that has culminated in war between Iran<\/a> and the United States<\/a> and Israel<\/a>, had all needed to be navigated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis latest chapter has caused a disruption to global energy supplies greater even than the 1970s oil shock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of it has created a situation where inflationary pressures are causing very real pain and very real fear in people all across our society.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how aggressively our opponents try to claim otherwise, I and the Fianna F\u00e1il party are acutely aware of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the rest of Government, we have been relentlessly focused on a) using our resources in a sustainable way to help people through it, but also b) making sure that our economy stays strong, stays stable and continues to give us the scope to provide that help.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause through all these shocks, we have managed to maintain a positive sentiment towards Ireland and the Irish economy. Investment continues to come into our country. Our businesses continue to grow and reinvest.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust recently I visited mid-Cork and was invited to open new facilities at three enterprises \u2013 all of them well-established businesses that are expanding their operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fianna F\u00e1il leader told the party gathering it was \u201cimportant to understand this and to acknowledge\u201d successes because \u201cour political opponents refuse to\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur opponents give no thought to how we marshal the resources needed to support the people who need support,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I like to point out to them in the D\u00e1il, the opposition in this country love to talk about the idea of \u2018the workers\u2019, but when it comes to the actual working people and protecting the jobs they rely on, they are not so keen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have said, I understand the pressure people are under and the fear that many feel as the war continues to threaten livelihoods, of course I do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why we have introduced some of the most extensive fuel supports in Europe over the last few weeks \u2013 a \u20ac750 million package.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin emphasised the Government had been \u201clistening and responding since this cost-of-living crisis began\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy credits, reduction in VAT on gas and electricity, extension and increase of the fuel allowance (now paid to more than a quarter of all households), the largest-ever budget for retrofitting, free school books for children at primary and secondary level, free hot school meals, the new National Childcare Scheme, sustained increases in social protection and child support payments, extension of access to free GP care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are just some of the measures we have introduced to ease the burden on people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But speaking to reporters in Dublin, McDonald said Martin \u201cneeds to stop the self congratulation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he needs to get real. Just remember, six months ago, Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael were telling us that the cost-of-living crisis was over, and they introduced a budget that actually made people worse off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he needs to start listening now properly, and he needs to get real, and we need measures and delivery so ordinary people can go about their lives, so they\u2019re not fretting day in, and day out as to how they\u2019re going to heat their homes or fill the tank of their car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that because I live in the real world, it seems now increasingly apparent to me that Miche\u00e1l Martin is completely out of touch with the reality of people\u2019s lives, and worse than that, he doesn\u2019t even want to listen when people come and tell him that his approach is wrong.\u201d \u2013 Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fianna Fail and the coalition government are \u201cacutely aware\u201d of the \u201creal pain and fear\u201d caused by rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[943,895,171749,61,11829,60,3410,150432,3658,1843,43,3415,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-405986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-cost-of-living","9":"tag-fianna-fail","10":"tag-fuel-protests","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","16":"tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","17":"tag-micheal-martin","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-sinn-fein","20":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}