‘No appetite’ for renewed fuel protests in North-West as national protest cancelled
A local councillor who helped organise April's fuel protests, says there is little appetite for a repeat of the demonstrations right now.
Fuel protests in the North-West will not go ahead after an online campaign calling for widespread demonstrations across Ireland was called off on Wednesday.
The online campaign calling for events across the North-West was called off, with the group claiming that participation could put people's “livelihoods at risk”.
A protest hosted by "People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices" is still expected to take place in Dublin on Friday, according to the group, but planned actions elsewhere in the country will not go ahead.
Speaking to the Observer before the cancellation, Michael Clarke, a Sligo councillor who helped organise the fuel protests in Sligo and Leitrim earlier this year, said he felt there was “no appetite” for a fuel protest at the moment, with people already under financial pressure.
There is “plenty of discontent” among the public heading into the winter, he says, citing fuel prices and the planned reduction in CAP payments at EU level.
However, he believes that large-scale protests like those seen in April are not attractive to people at this moment in time.
“I don't think the general public want to see a return of widespread protest to the North-West at this stage,” Councillor Clarke told the Observer on Wednesday morning, before the cancellation was announced.
The campaign, run by an online group called "People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices", had sought to replicate the widespread protests that took place earlier this year, which saw major roads across the country blocked by convoys of vehicles.
However, the leaders of those protests – John Dallon, Christopher Duffy and James Geoghegan – have stated that they are not involved in organising any events this week.
Clarke organised a public meeting in Manorhamilton ahead of April's national fuel protests, which saw the national protest leaders travel to Leitrim to rally support.
Clarke says he has been contacted by locals asking about this week's proposed events in the North-West. However, he stresses that he has not been contacted by any official organisers and has no information about potential events.
He believes in and supports peaceful protest but adds that this is not the same fuel protest movement seen earlier in the year, and it is unclear who the leaders are or what their demands are.
The calls for protests this week were part of a campaign seeking to organise actions across the country on Friday the 13th.
Posts about the protests have been shared online by far-right Facebook pages, although it remains unclear who is behind the campaign and what exactly its demands are.