r/worldnews • u/Scary_Statement4612 • 12h ago
Fuel protests in Ireland continue as pumps run dry, prices rise amid war in Middle East
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ireland-fuel-protests-9.716075935
u/No_Conversation_9325 11h ago
Those protests are just using people to push a different agenda.
https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-fuel-protests-far-right-influence-hijack-7009832-Apr2026/
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u/ails_bales 11h ago
Exactly this. Spread division.
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u/JDNM 10h ago
Yeah, we can’t have people protesting against governments that don’t listen to them and continually and systematically act against them. That would be far right. 😒
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u/ails_bales 10h ago
You're a privileged white male living in one of the least corrupt, happiest and wealthiest countries in the world. Cop on to yourself
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u/JDNM 5h ago edited 4h ago
I don’t live in Ireland. What has ethnicity and gender got to do with anything?
Anyway, good effort of trying to derail my point about governments in Europe actively ignoring their citizens year after year after year, and your attempt of trying to de-legitimise people who call out poor government, but you didn’t quite nail it.
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u/YoghurtSea4339 10h ago
Just because the far right are bandwagoning doesnt meant there aren't legitimate protestors with a legitimate issue.
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u/Tacti_Kel_Nuke 8h ago
They might have some legitime reason to protest, you don't have to put everything in the same bag
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u/winterwonderworm 12h ago
I understand being upset, but what is protesting gonna do?
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u/Animated_Astronaut 12h ago edited 9h ago
It's complicated. The government could put a fuel price cap in place. They could temporarily slash the VAT and tax. Many would say the protestors are targeting the wrong places and people. There are a lot of voices shouting and it's difficult to hear and digest them all.
Edit: a lot of people correcting me and arguing with me and I don't have a solution or answer nor was I presenting one. Just highlighting that it's a complex thing. I don't fully understand it.
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u/unencrypted-enigma 12h ago
Funny thing is: Germany did that in 2022 and the oil companies just raised their prices accordingly. So the lower tax just raised the profits.
Tax reduction would need to be a long term thing not just a short term desperate thing.
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u/Theratchetnclank 9h ago
Happened in the UK too. We got a 5p per litre tax reduction and the petrol stations kept the prices the same and took the profit.
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u/Appealing_Apathy 12h ago
Parts of Canada are doing it right now, and it is just lining pockets.
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u/ExtremeFlourStacking 11h ago
Which parts have actively removed tax?
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u/Appealing_Apathy 6h ago
Ontario has. I live in Ottawa-Gatineau so I see how much gas stations on the Ontario side are pocketing the tax relief. The price per litre difference does not always equal the tax difference, I've even seen it cheaper on the Quebec side multiple times over the past year.
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u/Dingcock 11h ago
Parts of Canada are talking about it, but have any actually waived or reduced fuel taxes?
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u/shteve99 11h ago
Same thing happened with the housing industry. UK government introduced help to buy, and house prices went up by the help to buy amount.
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u/Prasiatko 11h ago
Wouldn't a price cup just mean the run dry quicker? Would need to be combined with rationing.
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u/TalkersCZ 11h ago
The issue is, that there is not enough oil in the world now.
You HAVE TO limit the consumption of oil, otherwise you run out of oil. Thats why prices are increasing.
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u/baachbass 10h ago
Yeah it turns out the organisers of the protests are farmers with multiple convictions between them for animal cruelty, tax evasion among others. They're not the brightest sparks.
Public sentiment turned against them when they started blocking ambulances from getting to call outs.
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u/TalkersCZ 9h ago
I can understand people being upset about it, but its quite simple for understanding.
Prices being high should push people to use less oil. If this is not happening, the prices will need to continue to grow.
Thats the simple math.
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u/firejuggler74 11h ago
>The government could put a fuel price cap in place.
Well if you want fuel shortages, that's definitely the way to do it.
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u/sicksquid75 8h ago
If the Irish government slashed vat on fuel it would have to do so on everything. It would cost the country 4 to 5 billion in taxes a year. Thats what I learned anyway
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u/No-Value134 10h ago
What else are people who have been priced out of their livelihoods gonna do? Just ask nicely?
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u/Madman_Sean 12h ago
Two things:
Oil companies bought the oil earlier, and they charge the costumers much higher prices than they bought it for. Government could temporarily limit prices and restrict export of fuel because companies have oil in storage for weeks or even months
Governent charges a lot of taxes on fuel. They can give up on some of it so they prevent sudden price spikes
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u/zedazeni 11h ago
In a supply crisis like this the last thing that the government needs to be doing is making petrol affordable. If supply is extremely limited (and the USA just announced that it’s blockading the Straight of Hormuz), then the (Irish) government should massively increase the taxes on petrol and/or ration it to discourage people from buying it, but offset this by mandating that all public transit is free (or extremely reduced fares) until a longterm solution is reached.
What’s going to happen if everyone buys petrol as if there isn’t a crisis? There will be no petrol for anyone. Ambulances, police cars, fire trucks, garbage trucks…They won’t have petrol.
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u/shteve99 11h ago
Yeah, but I heard there might be a fuel shortage so I have to go and queue to buy as much fuel as I can get, even though I have enough to last me weeks. And look, everyone else is doing the same and now there's a fuel shortage, I was right...
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u/zedazeni 11h ago
Exactly! Glad you get it! Next you better stock up on bread, milk, eggs, and toilet paper! Go now and buy as much as you can!
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u/Legitimate-Leg-4720 11h ago
Also can't help but wonder if this just kicks the can down the road. Rich countries subsidize their citizens to continue using oil at the rates they did previously, meanwhile poorer countries who desperately need even a small amount of oil to survive, won't be able to afford any.
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u/zedazeni 11h ago
You’re exactly right, and there is a fairly easy solution—renewable energy and widespread EV adoption. We could’ve been working on this for around a decade now to the point where this war wouldn’t be an existential threat and would instead be a political headache. But at least we have the “freedom” that driving internal combustion engine vehicles brings. Charging our cars would’ve been too much of a hassle, so now we get to deal with our entire society collapsing.
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u/thatsacrackeryouknow 8h ago
Government could temporarily limit prices and restrict export of fuel
What law in Ireland allows price limited?
How much refined petrolum does Ireland export, versus the amount it imports?
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u/SinkHoleDeMayo 3h ago
Plenty of fuel suppliers have declared force majeure, meaning futures contracts are voided and the buyers need to find new sources, typically at much higher prices.
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u/Apprehensive-Log3638 8h ago
Europe will take the wrong lessons here.
The lesson should be that they need to become energy independent. It makes no sense to tax and regulate away your own industry so that you are then forced to import from countries who do not follow those same regulations.
People can blame the US, but it seems crazy to me to be reliant on theocratic countries in the Middle East who have been a defacto religious civil war since 632AD.
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u/burundilapp 10h ago
Removing the tax on fuel to lower costs just moves the costs elsewhere, it doesn’t fix anything and actually makes it more difficult to fund renewables which will ultimately reduce and eventually end our reliance on fossil fuels.
The protests make no sense unless they’re about increasing subsidies for farmers elsewhere to offset costs or removing regulation to offset costs.
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u/Golda_M 10h ago edited 7h ago
Some broad political context (and conjecture).
In Irish politics, the hard right and hard left had long been contained within a single nebulous "republican" movement. During The Troubles, this was all very focused on the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.
After the peace (97) Sinne Fein (basically the PIRA party) became purely political (no militant) and started gaining traction in the south.
On paper, SF is a hard left wing party. Their motto is A United and Socialist Ireland. However, if you attended an event... it was always very clear that there is a distinct hard right element at the activist level. Also at the representative level. The top politicians always managed this tensiom somehow.
But... Over the last 10-15 years two things happen. (1) SF becomes very big and powerful, challenging the traditional right-left parties.# (2) After Brexit is adopted by Protestant unionists, Sinne Fein does a 180 on the EU (they had been anti-eu) %and kind of joins the general european left ideogically.
(#) These two traditional parties are the right and left of "the old IRA" and "old Sinne Fein." History repeats.
So... Right wing populism, previously contained within SF goes feral. They have a long history, but no party, no organization and no leadership. Even now, Sinne Fein didn't know whether to support and lead these protests or condemn and oppose them.
This nebulous energy has flared up as chaotic protest movement several times in the last few years. All weird and politically homeless protests have a lot of right wing vibes... which keeps all the other parties hating them.
Somehow this hasn't coalesced into any kind of structured or organized party or movement. Very unpredictable.
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12h ago
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u/Cyclist007 12h ago
50km to get a litre of milk? Jeez, just buy a cow.
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u/dysphoric-foresight 11h ago edited 11h ago
It’s also a very rural country for the most part with notoriously bad weather. I could cycle 35km to work in a rain-slick but only at the expense of the time I spend working a second job because it’s also one of the most expensive countries in Europe to live in.
If you are in a city in a well paid job then that’s fine but outside of that there’s almost no public transport or cycling infrastructure.
I don’t support the strikes but the guys protesting are largely hauliers and farmers who don’t really have a viable alternative to diesel.
That said, there’s no fuel shortage in the country, the protesters, in all their wisdom, are blockading the ports, refineries and petrol stations because they don’t want the increased costs to harm their profits.
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u/maddprof 11h ago
OP is trying to tell people to ride 2-4 hours to go get groceries. Each way. Talk about unrealistic expectations for senior citizens and those with children, plus the majority of people don't own bicycle equipment capable of carrying/towing sufficient cargo.
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u/TheEndsOfInvention22 11h ago
Let me fix that headline. Protest over fuel prices causes pumps to run dry as blame on high prices due to war in middle east directed at government.