An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-14
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I, too, will talk about the fuel protests. I welcome the comments by Senators O'Donovan and Byrne. I commend the people right across the country who stood up last week and said that they just cannot do it any more. I was in Dublin and Cavan and all the people I spoke to were hard-working, honest and decent people fighting to save their livelihoods and their families' incomes. People were rightly shocked at the Government's decision to deploy the Defence Forces. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Ministers chose not to engage with people to hear them out before jumping to send the Army against their own people. Gardaí had to clear up a mess created by the arrogance of a Government that was not listening. How can we have confidence in a Government that does not have the confidence in its ability to engage with its own people without the threat of force?
Before I came into the Chamber today, I was in my office listening to the contributions by TDs in the Dáil. They were talking about people delayed for three or four hours in traffic. Those people were merely inconvenienced. The people who were protesting were fighting for their livelihoods, for their ability to survive and to keep their businesses afloat. I went to Dublin on Wednesday after listening to "The Tonight Show" on Virgin Media and I thought, "What kinds of thugs are they talking about?" When I went up to Dublin, I got an awful shock - I knew every one of them. I knew every one of them from Cavan, from Monaghan, from Kells and from Meath. Not one of them would have been on O'Connell Street if they had the choice of being in a field. That is the truth. I thought to myself these are people I know and who my kids were reared with. They were reared in my kitchen. Fellows were pulled off tractors who have been in fields driving tractors since they were seven years of age. They were up to try to be listened to.
My neighbour was on the radio on "Liveline" yesterday.
It would do everyone good to listen to him. He pulled the pin on his business and spoke on the radio about how he cried leaving Dublin, escorted like he was some kind of a criminal. The young lads who were there never caused a problem in their lives. They were trying to give their message and they were treated like criminals. These are men who slept in their tractors not for the hell of it but because they are losing their jobs and businesses. I do not want to hear the Government talk about keeping our young people here because all those lads will be out of a job and will go to Australia and Canada like three of my four sons had to in 2008. They are agricultural contractors in Canada. We are losing good people because our Government does not understand what they are trying to tell it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-14