Editorial: The fuel crisis - where do we go from here? Kilkenny Live
Government needs to handle things better: engage with people on issues that matter to them, and tackle inflation in a meaningful way
A week is a long time in politics, and with all the turmoil, the past few days have certainly felt like an age.
Public opinion on the fuel protests is divided: There is broad sympathy for the cause — we all want lower fuel prices, nobody wants to see people out of work. The blockades are another matter.
We cannot lose sight of the fact that this is a global energy crisis, caused by an unjustified war in the Middle East. With no ceasefire and the future of the Strait of Hormuz uncertain, the situation is going to continue for many months. In fact, it is quite likely going to get worse.
Its effects are going to continue to be felt at the petrol pump, and in many other knock-on areas. We are entitled to seek supports from the Government, and this newspaper has called for such on multiple occasions. But economic brinksmanship is another matter.
It is not for a local haulier to decide which roads are open, and to whom. It is not up to protesters to determine what can come in and out of our national ports. That is holding the economy hostage. Blocking oil refineries and ports during a global fuel shortage is akin to protesting to a famine by blockading soup kitchens.
And what is the victory? No help with home heating oil. At a cost of half a billion euros borne by the taxpayer, we have marginal decreases at the pump which may well be negated by the market before long. As Trade Union groups have pointed out, the fuel supports announced will do little to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis.
And while many of those involved in protests are decent, well-meaning people, some of the rhetoric points to involvement of bad faith actors. We have seen in other countries where people with legitimate grievances were manipulated and radicalised by social media algorithms and agitators with their own agendas, destablising social cohesion.
What’s needed is the opposite; more cohesion, more cooperation to prepare and cope with external threats in this time of global crisis. The Government also needs to handle things much better: actuallly engage with people on the issues that matter to them, and tackle inflation in a meaningful way.