HAULIERS, plant hire operators and farmers in West Cork have vowed to continue their protests until the government reduces taxation on fuel.

Traffic throughout West Cork, including Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen, was disrupted on Tuesday morning as large convoys mirrored the demonstrations taking place on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.

‘Fuel is costing us a fortune every day,’ said Sean Casey of Casey’s Plant Hire, who believes the tax on fuel should be set at a rate of 50 pence a litre.

Speaking at the large gathering at Cork Marts in Skibbereen, Sean said the government has made €250 million on the sale of fuel since the bombing of Iran began.

He said the figure just about covers the government’s recently announced incentives to businesses, such as cuts to excise and the expansion of the diesel rebate scheme.

In short, he said: ‘It means nothing – a further 20 cent reduction is warranted.’

The plant hire operator said businesses that rely on green diesel to fuel their business did stock up before the bombings began but time is against them.

He said they are between a rock and a hard place in that they cannot, at this stage, pass on the price hikes to their customers, and neither can they continue to cover the inflated cost of fuel.

Sean said it was no exaggeration to say that operators are ‘being bled dry by the cost of diesel’ and some protestors on site explained how ancillary businesses, and jobs, have dried up because meeting the cost of fuel takes precedence over everything.

Sean Casey cited an example of a machine that burns 500 litres a day. With a green diesel price increase from €1 to €1.60, that is an extra €300 just to fill one tank on one machine.

If an operator fills that machine every day for five days that is €1,500 extra, or €6,000 a month. And many companies, including plant hire operators, hauliers, and farmers, operate more than one machine per day.

‘It adds an astronomical figure on to the whole thing,’ said Sean, who pointed out that the government is taking up to 65% per litre in various taxes

Until that is reduced, he said the protests are set to continue, or hauliers could go off the road, which could lead to a massive disruption in the sale and distribution of every industrial and retail good imaginable.

‘If nothing is done to reduce the taxes on fuel,’ Sean Casey said, ‘the protests could be stepped up to block towns completely, every town in the country.’

Mr Casey described the level of support for the protest in Skibbereen, which included the building firm of Murnane and O’Shea and Drimoleague Concrete Works to name but two, as significant.

A nationwide protest took place over the rising cost of fuel. In Skibbereen, hauliers, tractor drivers, business owners and private car drivers descended on the Mart before driving around the town in convoy. The convoy parked on Skibbereen bypass for an hour to cause as much disruption as possible. Picture: Andy Gibson.

He said the government has to do something, including a reassessment of carbon taxes. ‘Why are we paying carbon taxes?’ he asked, ‘when they are blowing up the world.’

Another local protestor, David Hurley from Baltimore, made the point: ‘Most people don’t realise that everything coming out of distributor centres is costed by fuel, whether it is a loaf of bread, plaster board, sand or gravel, everything has to be carried to a place.’

Mr Hurley also warned of the impact the fuel crisis will have on jobs. On a personal note, he said he has moved away from his trade doing auto wiring repairs because there is no work.

He summarised the situation saying: ‘Hauliers will put diesel in their truck before they get their lights done. And it’s the same with farmers, who will have no choice but to pass on costs.’