Gerry Nolan@RealGerryNolan
🇮🇪 Ireland’s farmers can’t afford to work their land. Their government sent the army.
The people who feed Ireland are being crushed migration and suicidal energy diktats from Brussels, by a war they didn’t vote for.
This is what the betrayal of the Irish people looks like. Armored personnel carriers sent to crush the popular will of the people.
Diesel is up 30% since mid-February. Home heating oil has surged almost 70%. Why? Because Ireland’s government is being predictablely squeezed in a vise along with its EU masters by both the Iran war and by suicidal sanctions on Russian energy — with Simon Harris declaring last month that any return to Russian fuel “would be utterly despicable.”
So Irish farmers pay the price. Irish hauliers pay the price. Irish families pay the price.
The protests have blockaded three of Ireland’s main refineries and terminals. Forecourts are running dry. Dublin is at a standstill for the fourth consecutive day.
The government’s response? Deploy the army. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan formally submitted the paperwork — a C70 request calling in the Defence Forces to forcibly remove farmer vehicles. He warned protesters “should not complain later about any damage caused.” An Irish minister threatening Irish farmers about damage to their own tractors. So much for consent of the governed?
Taoiseach Micheál Martin called the protests “an act of national sabotage.”
So feeding your country is sabotage? Blocking a refinery is terrorism. But destroying the rural economy with an 18% fuel tax hike, that’s just policy....
Taxes make up nearly 60% of fuel costs in Ireland. The government had months to act. They didn’t. They tossed out a €250 million package in March — pocket change against a 30% diesel spike and when the farmers finally said enough, they called a meeting and locked the protesters out of it.
James Geoghegan, one of the chief protest organisers, called it a breakthrough when the meeting was announced yesterday. Then spokesman Christopher Duffy told the crowd on O’Connell Street: “We’re not going home until we see what we get.”
The meeting came and went. It ended with no new offer from ministers. The actual protest leaders including spokesman John Dallon showed up at the doors of the Department of Agriculture alongside a Fine Gael TD and were turned away. Names not on the list.
Tánaiste Simon Harris called the talks “constructive” and promised a “substantial and significant” package with further “intensive engagement” needed over the weekend before anything is finalised. No numbers or timeline.
At Whitegate, talks between Gardaí and protesters broke down and the farmers responded by moving their trucks into tighter positions, hardening the blockade.
As of tonight (day four) the blockades at Whitegate refinery, Foynes, and Galway remain in place. Fire and ambulance services have been curtailed. Up to 500 forecourts could run dry by end of evening.
Duffy emerged from being refused entry and said the protesters had been treated like “a bunch of criminals and hooligans.” His words: “We are not criminals. We are Irish farmers and contractors and people in the transport industry.”
Geoghegan told RTÉ today: “This is a revolution. The Taoiseach is not in control... the people of Ireland are in control.”
You can send the army. You can bar the doors. But the men who built this republic with their bare hands never asked permission and neither will their grandchildren.