Mayo TD demands ‘swift action’ on fuel costs after IRHA pauses protest

Mayo TD Paul Lawless has spoken out on the Irish Road Haulage Association’s decision to pause their protest following a discussion between transport minister Darragh O’Brien and the association’s president, Ger Hyland. 

The Aontú politician has said that the Minister’s call is welcome, but it must now be matched with ‘swift and substantive action.’

“Hauliers are not protesting for the pleasure of it. They are sounding the alarm on a crisis that affects every household and every business in the country,” he said.

He further stated that hauliers, who move the heaviest goods across the longest distances, are ‘being squeezed from all sides.”

“Two-thirds of what drivers pay at the pump is swallowed by government taxes, and carbon tax has become the final straw threatening to break the back of rural Ireland.

“When the cost of diesel goes up, the weekly shop goes up. It is as simple and as serious as that,” he added. 

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The Mayo TD has also expressed that he ‘sincerely hopes’ that when the Minister returns, he will bring ‘not just warm words, but workable solutions.’ 

“This is not merely an IRHA issue; it is a national one. The government has the power to act quickly, suspending carbon tax during this fuel crisis, reducing the tax burden on petrol and diesel, and recognising that rural workers and businesses cannot be punished for driving when they have no alternative.”

Lawless further warned that carbon tax is an “ideological indulgence that rural Ireland cannot afford.”

“It is a profoundly regressive approach, a tax that lands hardest on those with the least choice, while Ministers speak of ‘just transitions’ from the comfort of a chauffeur-driven car.”

Concluding, the Mayo TD says the solution is simple.

“Pausing this charge is the simplest solution to a problem the government itself has not appeared to have considered.

“I call on the Minister, when he returns, to recognise the urgency of the moment and act accordingly, for the hauliers, for rural Ireland, and for every consumer who feels these rising costs in their pocket and pause the carbon charges while this conflict in Iran escalates oil prices.”

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