'Absolutely crazy': Longford Fianna Fáil Senator slams 'half hearted' fuel crisis supports

Longford Senator Joe Flaherty has praised farmers for their recent protests and he offered an apology to them and the wider public for the Government’s 'half-hearted measures' to tackle the fuel crisis as he called for a mini-budget.

The Lanesboro native also candidly admitted they failed to react effectively 'in real time' to the fuel crisis, he said the 2026 budget failed middle Ireland and he criticised the Government and his party leader, Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Senator Flaherty slammed the response and the initial €250 million package of fuel supports, including the 3c reduction in green diesel, announced on March 24 during a Seanad speech last Tuesday.

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The Government announced their second suite of measures worth €505 million on Sunday, April 12 following six days of protests where fuel distribution sites and many major motorways and roads were blocked.

Senator Flaherty described it as being 'hugely difficult', but he added how 'proud' he was of the farmers and how 'strong a force’ they can be.

"They are willing to go to jail and have gone to jail in the past.

"They are a powerful force and a force for good."On a personal level, I am sorry and I apologise to them wholeheartedly that they had to do what they felt they had to do.

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"As a Government, we did not react conclusively or effectively in real time to the situation.

"In fact, I would go so far as to say that the dial on this issue went back as far as the budget we brought in last year.

"It was compounded then when we brought out half-hearted measures a number of weeks ago, when we reduced the cost of green diesel by three cent."

Senator Flaherty said virtually every rural TD contacted the Government and said that it 'was absolutely crazy and would inflame farmers', and he added it did exactly that.

"There was no reason to do that.

"We should have held back on it and introduced the all-encompassing suite of measures that we introduced this week which addressed the issues facing hauliers and farmers.

"We could have been a lot more successful and we could have taken a lot of the heat out of the market.

"I must say, and I have said it several times to my party leader, whether he likes it or not, that we delivered a flawed budget in 2026.

"It was a budget that very simply forgot the people of middle Ireland.

"It forgot the people who, as my former boss Eugene McGee once said, get up early and eat their dinner in the middle of the day. "

Senator Flaherty said they are the people who are the 'benchmark' of the country.

"Our mandarins overlooked the suffering of the people who are most marginalised in this country because they are immune to it and they do not hear about it in Dublin 4.

"They ignored the suffering and isolation of the elderly because they thought it was a myth. "

Senator Flaherty said they 'cobbled' together a 2026 budget that 'failed our most vulnerable' as he apologised for that budget.

"Having single-handedly championed the cost of living in the previous Government, Fianna Fáil as a party shamelessly forgot the pain and suffering in the delivery of that budget."

"I spoke at length with An Taoiseach yesterday on this issue and I have left him under no illusion as to where my future loyalties will lie in the absence of a cast-iron and soon-to-be-announced commitment to a raft of cost-of-living supports and indeed, if needs be, a mini-budget.

"We need to be contrite at this point in our history and we need to show empathy. "

Senator Flaherty said he had told the Taoiseach they need three energy credits and a 'cast-iron guarantee' from the energy providers that they are not going to increase their prices for the next two years.