Protesting in Dublin will *surely* fix the Middle East oil crisis.
70
Fluffy-Republic86102 days ago
+62
It's a protest to demand the Irish govt drop it's taxes on fuels which double the cost to consumers.
62
NutsyFlamingo2 days ago
+40
100%
Not everything is a global issue, global stuff may be out of everyone’s hands, but local gov can either help or exacerbate the problem in real time. No excuse if not acting in what you can control.
40
pat_the_tree2 days ago
+5
problem is that means either a shortfall in funding for services, or increased borrowing to make up for it
5
stunts0022 days ago
+5
"Why are they protesting for the government to address a problem when they could just shut up and accept it"
No wonder America is in the state it's in now.
5
Enoch-Of-Nod2 days ago
+2
Because of a drunk Russian?
2
syklemil2 days ago
+16
It's simply astonishing that cutting taxes to keep demand up wouldn't solve a huge supply shortfall. Same thing happened here in Norway, and we are just _stumped_ at how cutting taxes didn't increase the supply. /s
More seriously: Is there any country where the population in general wouldn't be fine with restricting diesel sales to private cars, especially in the cities, and some rules to ensure that that fuel rather goes towards tractors, trucks, etc?
It'd suck for the diesel car owners, but they are a minority, and rising food and hauling costs sucks for _everybody_.
16
_HIST2 days ago
+6
It's obviously the right and logical thing to do, just that populace when in masse becomes stupid and illogical group.
"a person is smart, but people are dumb and panicky"
6
cionn2 days ago
+10
Though the proests are valid as the majority of the cost of pertol and diesel is tax. Its dissapointing that we're not protesting the american embassy and the Dail to shut Irish airspace to us warplanes. And i include disapointment in myself in that. Before the Iraq war we had demos with over 100k people on it
10
Accomplished-Moose502 days ago
+1
Did they gather there by car?
Here's an idea, protest that you want more renewables and less cars
1
dysphoric-foresight2 days ago
+8
We have a lot of renewables - wind and solar - but farm machinery and HGVs are diesel powered.
So are most work vans, agricultural 4x4s etc.
Most taxis are electric now but there are still a lot of diesels on the road.
The reason that they are protesting is that half of the cost of a litre of diesel is tax. Something that they actually directly control.
The states tax take is actually up because of the increasing cost of diesel and petrol because it is a percentage of the price. They reduced VAT by about 20c per litre last month but stated that it will be applied again in May. The government also plan to apply even more carbon tax to fossil fuels in a few months and have said that they will be applying them regardless of the oil markets.
This is an unpopular position.
8
Enoch-Of-Nod2 days ago
I can't account for your time in ireland, but I couldn't help but notice all the public transit options and pedestrian options, as a car bound American.
It was almost like they DIDN'T build the cities around requiring a vehicle.
Crazy.
12 Comments