Fuel protestors block Monaghan bypass

Both sides of Monaghan bypass remained blocked this morning, as fuel protestors, who congregated yesterday evening at Circle K Monaghan on the Emyvale Road, make their presence felt.

The bypass and Coolshannagh roundabout from all sides is also completely impassible this morning, but emergency services will be accommodated in getting through.

A couple of hundred protesters gathered last night and it took 15 minutes for the cavalcade of agricultural vehicles, lorries and cars to leave the carpark and head for the bypass where they remain.

Everyone we spoke to at the protest was singing from the same hymn sheet, they want the Government to reduce the taxes on all fuels because their businesses and the cost of living are becoming unsustainable as a result.

Stuart Waller, a dairy farmer from the Emyvale area, spoke on behalf of the group who organised the peaceful protest at short notice, he said, addressing the crowd: “I appreciate everybody turning up. It's for us all, so it is. We're going to head out then to in past Bogues and down through Monaghan. We're going to come back out through the N2 and we're going to sit and we'll have a chat and see what we're going to do from then on.”

Speaking to this reporter on-site, when asked why he and others felt compelled to take this action, Stuart added: “Well, the price of diesel not just for farmers or hauliers, but your average person is out working … whenever the wage comes in, it's hard to make ends meet. All we want is the carbon tax off the diesel until this whole thing surfaces out. It's affecting everybody. Everybody with a 9-to-5 job and anybody who drives a car.”

Jerome Savage from Clontibret told The Anglo-Celt on Thursday evening: “I'm just here in support of those who have organised this. Fair play to them. It’s time we made our presence felt. There’s far too much tax, there’s talk of carbon tax, climate tax etc. and where's that money going? It's totally wasted. Fifty-five percent of each litre of diesel that’s sold is gone in tax to the Government, and the more expensive the fuel gets, the more tax intake. I can't say anything positive about this State. I'd like to see the fuel tax cut. We need to start making serious political moves to get the country out of the EU, and that has to start somewhere.”