Michael Fitzmaurice: 'Writing was on the wall' on diesel
Michael Fitzmaurice warns that the first measures revealed the inevitable: when white diesel sells within three cents of green diesel, trouble follows. He says officials ignored warnings from farmers and the IFA, leaving contractors under severe financial pressure.
Key accusation: Fitzmaurice accuses decision-makers and civil servants of not listening to those in the sector when diesel pricing shifted, arguing the policy made green diesel unaffordable for contractors and farmworkers.
Local impact and reaction: He recounts overwhelming public anger, many emails of disgust, and meetings with voters in Galway who felt betrayed. Fitzmaurice emphasises the IFA had warned a week earlier and stresses the real economic strain on agricultural contractors and rural communities.
Key accusation: Fitzmaurice accuses decision-makers and civil servants of not listening to those in the sector when diesel pricing shifted, arguing the policy made green diesel unaffordable for contractors and farmworkers.
Local impact and reaction: He recounts overwhelming public anger, many emails of disgust, and meetings with voters in Galway who felt betrayed. Fitzmaurice emphasises the IFA had warned a week earlier and stresses the real economic strain on agricultural contractors and rural communities.
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Transcript
The night that the first measures were announced here, a blind man would know that when you could buy white diesel within three cents of green diesel, the writing was on the wall. I'd done a speech in here, but no one had listened. The usual stuff, don't even be on your phones, don't listen to someone that comes from the sector. I have done those black ends all my life, with grease, with oil. I know what it is to be an agricultural contractor. And you turn round, and your civil servants and the people in here thought they knew more. To pay 1.70 for green diesel, when you're missing in cost to cut a meda, the price of a house in Dublin, the financial pressure that's on those contractors. But no, we won't listen. The IFA warned you a week before it. The dog on the street knew there was discontent. How was the difference in measures in the Sunday before, to try and solve this? But no, we won't listen to the people that elected us. I never in my life, and I've been here for a lot of debates, I never in my life got more emails of people disgusted. And do you know what? I went up to the people in Galway, people that voted for ye, every time, for ye. I went up to the people in Galway, people that voted for ye, decent people, and let no one say that those people are far right either.