Fuel Protests: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-14
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Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel

This is a very experienced Government with many years of governance under its belt, yet it has displayed unprecedented levels of incompetence and disregard for our international obligations. It is setting future generations up for an unsafe future through rowing back on action on climate, nature and water. We have been consistently told the carbon tax was sacrosanct. We will face a hell of a battle when the deferred increase has to be got over the line in October. How will the Government fund the warmer homes scheme?
Despite this, nobody in public life deserves to be treated in a way that threatens you or your family's home or denigrates your dignity. What we witnessed online over the course of the past week was disgusting. There are public representatives all over the country who should reflect on their complicity in such behaviour at the very least for not calling out the racism, incitement to hatred and utterly vile language that was used by a small but growing minority. It is clear that the protest was hijacked by outside forces. Gardaí were intimidated and threatened. It behoves all of us as policymakers to call this out and tackle it head-on. What is even more worrying is that a mechanism and means have now been tried and tested to grind this country to a halt. The security review must ensure that recommendations are made to future-proof critical infrastructure from being blockaded.
The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, proposed to task Coimisiún na Meán to review the media coverage of the protest. Our mainstream media outlets have acted impartially and in a balanced way, presenting the news as it unfolded, and like many others had to report on a very fast-evolving situation that was unfolding in multiple locations across the country. I commend them on this. The protests and blockades were organised in WhatsApp groups and fuelled by social media companies allowing hate speech and incitement to hatred to be shared freely. If the Minister has a gripe with how all of this unfolded, then he needs to haul in X and Meta.

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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