'Crisis' meetings to discuss fuel protests & cost of living
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What sparked the “crisis meeting” on fuel protests in Moate?
First though, hundreds of people gathered in Moat, County Westmead, last night for what was billed as a crisis meeting about the cost of living and fuel, arranged by those who led the fuel protests in April. Earlier on morning, Ireland speakers warned they would protest again if calls to remove carbon tax and reduce excise duty and VAT on fuel are not met.
I hope. You want the you want the carbon tax abolished across the ball. When we do that, we'll send that in the document. No, we have them to the budget, we put in our requests to our demands, if I'm not made in the budget, are we meeting on the roads? Is everyone here gonna come out?
Ashley Maloney, political reporter with the Irish Independent, was at that meeting. She joins me on the line now. Good morning, Ashley.
Good morning, David.
Uh as I say you were in moat last night. What was the mood like in the room?
I think you could hear from that clip there and certainly it was a charged and tense atmosphere in the room for the majority of the nearly three hours that it went on for last night. Um it was also, you know, i at the at the outset it was a welcoming enough um atmosphere in the terms that I suppose there were a number of media and journalists present. Um there was a A country singer singing at the start, um singing uh some country music, but then also some ABBA I suppose to get the crowd going uh with a kind of a an expectant atmosphere for what was to come. But then I suppose as the fuel protesters um as who organized the um meeting began to speak, it was quite charged. There was a lot of anger, very much frustration with the government around particularly the cost of fuel.
At the moment and the general cost of living as that you know reverberates.
How did attendees describe the mood and atmosphere inside the hall?
Um and and and uh that that was kind of shared throughout the room. There was that anger throughout. There were two government representatives, I suppose, that were there, the FENA Gael T D Mihal Carraghi, the Longford Westmeads TD, and um uh Porick Brady, the senator for FENA Gael, they got up and spoke and it was very tense. Um when they went up to spo speak, there was a lot of hecklers, people who were cutting across them, shouting out um uh various things about their frustrations and that the government were listening to them, or that the Irish people in general were being disrespected in these kind of very charged terms. Both um Fine Gael uh politicians appealed, you know, to say, 'I'm here to listen.' Um Senator
Caurick Brady quite impassionately said, I'm a farmer, I put diesel in my tractor and I farm the land just like you. I have a family. Um and and, you know, trying to make people understand that there's actually not that much difference between those who are in power and those in this meeting who, you know, claim to not be listened to by the government. Um but the fuel protesters, you know, the three who were leading the meeting, you had James Gagan, Christopher Duffy, and John Dallin. They actually spoke about how they met the Tornisha only a couple of days ago. They paid to go to a Phenegale business breakfast, I think in Navin. Now Christopher Duffy had much to say about the breakfast, not wanting to pay thirty euro for it, but they did and they met the Tornister and they pr they gave him a document with proposals.
So In that way they are being listened to. They did have the year of the Tonishan that way. And I suppose back in April, you know, their protests brought the country to a standstill and um you know did result in fuel pro f f the excise being cut further and a diesel rebate scheme and an agricultural contractor scheme um being set up. So again we heard a lot of the government aren't listening to us, but the government representatives were there to say we are listening.
Yeah. Now uh there we just heard there are calls to remove carbon tax entirely, reduce excise duty and Vat on fuel. Are are those the main demands that were aired last night?
There wasn't any vote taken as such. You heard in the clip there a show of hands, but this wasn't an official meeting.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What sparked the “crisis meeting” on fuel protests in Moate?
0:00–1:54
2
How did attendees describe the mood and atmosphere inside the hall?
1:54–4:12
3
What were the reactions of the government representatives when they spoke?
4:12–6:44
4
Which specific demands (carbon tax, excise duty, VAT) dominated the discussion?
6:44–8:56
5
What range of community concerns emerged during the open‑mic session?
8:56–9:53
6
How did personal stories illustrate the cost‑of‑living crisis for locals?
9:53–10:19
7
What conclusions did the reporters draw about the protest’s future and its impact on policy?
10:19–10:30
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Today with David McCullagh
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