The President of the Irish Road Haulage Association has said there could well be fuel protests later this year, saying “it'll depend” on what supports the Government keeps in place.
The fuel protests erupted this spring, following a spike in petrol and diesel prices precipitated by the Iran War.
For days, roads across Ireland were blockaded by protestors, furious at spiralling business costs.
The Government responded with a €750 million package of tax cuts and sectoral support, but warned that such measures were temporary.
Fuel protestors. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.This week, Cabinet will consider extending the measures beyond July, but civil servants have noted that the price of fossil fuels has dropped since the end of the conflict.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Road Haulage Association President Ger Hyland described the spring package as “very helpful” but argued the road haulage sector needs “further supports”.
“We need this extended,” he said.
“Fuel, again, is up this morning after what went on in the Middle East over the weekend.
“We have a very volatile peace agreement in the Middle East at the minute - and there is a problem there still.”
Fuel protestors. Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie.Mr Hyland continued that the end of any supports should only be rolled back “very much incrementally”.
“Our industry, we suffered a huge price shock in the spring,” he said.
“We still haven't recovered that in a lot of cases and we need further help.
“We need breathing space here for some of our members to survive this.”
Future protests?
When asked about the prospect of future fuel protests, Mr Hyland said “it’ll depend” on what supports the Government keeps in place.
“I said at the time, it's up to every member to try and safeguard their own business in whatever way they have to do to safeguard their business, whether that's with price increases or whether they saw fit to take to the road,” he said.
“I'm very much of that opinion again today that every member of our association has to look after their own business.
“We certainly were at the table with Government; we did negotiate with them, we got what we got, we didn't get everything we looked for, but we got support enough.”
Main image: The fuel protest in spring. Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie.
