{"id":638231,"date":"2026-09-28T05:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/638231\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T05:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:46:10","slug":"fuel-protesters-warn-of-further-action-if-budget-does-not-slash-taxes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/638231\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel protesters warn of further action if budget does not slash taxes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organisers of a public meeting on fuel costs warned that if budget<\/a> measures were not taken to reduce prices, protesters would be \u201chitting the road\u201d with further action. <\/p>\n

The meeting of more than 1,000 people concerned about the rising cost of living<\/a> heard demands that the carbon tax<\/a> on fuel be abolished entirely. <\/p>\n

The event at Moate, Co Westmeath<\/a>, on Sunday heard that Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> and Fine Gael<\/a> did not listen to concerns \u201cbut if fuel does not come down in the budget, we are hitting the road\u201d with renewed public protests.<\/p>\n

Organised by those associated with large-scale protests<\/a> against fuel costs last April, the meeting also called for cuts to other fuel taxes and assistance for people who were struggling. <\/p>\n

A number of those who spoke also expressed concern about immigration, data centres, the state of the health service and the ban on the exploration of oil and gas in Irish waters, as well as money provided to Ukraine and taxation of the family home. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Majority of voters who expressed preference see immigration as a positive thing, but it\u2019s a tighter call than beforeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0How Ireland feels about data-centre construction revealed in new Irish Times pollOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One of the organisers, John Dallon, said Ireland was a rip off in terms of taxes. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople cannot exist any more,\u201d he said, adding that people wanted change. \u201cWe want carbon tax scrapped from all food production.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"AA group calling itself ‘The People Of Ireland Against Fuel Prices Protest’ at a meeting in the Well in Moate. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

He said the Government<\/a> had a surplus of \u20ac9 billion but maintained it could not provide assistance for those struggling. <\/p>\n

Another organiser, Christopher Duffy, told the meeting that \u201cas for those of us in business, I don\u2019t know where it is going\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said rebates introduced by the Government last April, as well as the reduction of 32 cent on diesel, were \u201csomething\u201d but were not going to \u201csave anyone\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is money for everyone, but it seems there is no money for the Irish,\u201d he said, adding that if protesters were forced to take to the road again, they would not be \u201cbullied\u201d into ceasing their activity so easily. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fuel protesters meet Simon Harris after buying table at Meath Fine Gael eventOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by farmers, contractors, people from the fishing industry as well as political parties such as Aont\u00fa, Independent Ireland and Sinn F\u00e9in. Two Fine Gael politicians, TD Miche\u00e1l Carrigy and Senator Paraic Brady, also addressed the meeting. <\/p>\n

Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn of Aont\u00fa said if the Government stopped wasting money, it could cut all taxes and \u201cstill be quids in\u201d. <\/p>\n

Another meeting organiser, James Geoghegan, told the meeting he had been approached by a woman in Donegal who was paying \u20ac320 in fuel costs to attend hospital in Sligo. He said she had maintained that she had to go to her father for money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Organisers of a public meeting on fuel costs warned that if budget measures were not taken to reduce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5168,121361,943,171749,1523,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-638231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-budget","tag-carbon-tax","tag-cost-of-living","tag-fuel-protests","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638231","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=638231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}