€12,000 extra to run three trucks due to fuel costs, says Laois fuel protester in Portlaoise
Laois timber haulier says fuel prices would mean job losses that would cost the Government
The stark, unsustainable cost of doing business was outlined at the fuel protest in Portlaoise on the day talks were taking place to end the blockades in Laois and elsewhere around Ireland.
Camross man Barry Cuddy was among the many and growing number of people at the M7 blockade in Portlaoise on Friday, April 10 where he outlined the Leinster Express / Laois Live the cost faced by his business.
"For one month, it cost us an extra €12,000 to run three trucks and two vans. I can't sustain that. It is as simple as that. I can't put my prices up.
"When you are running an already tight business, and you are suddenly landed with an extra €12,000 cost for the same volume of work, who do you justify that to?
"We are getting it hard to meet payments as things are, and the Government just takes, takes, takes...We are the working people who are on the ground, keeping this country going. We are grafters and all we want to do is work," he said.
He said nobody in the country can sustain the extra fuel costs. He said this is reflected by the variety of businesses taking part in the protest and the support they have received from the general public on the protest line at J17 Togher roundabout in Portlaoise.
By contrast, he accused the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris of being "up on their pedestals" and not being "in the real world". He argued that by describing protestors as "despicable", he portrayed them as "rogues".
He was also unhappy with how the talks had been convened to settle the dispute, with mixed messages on who would be allowed to attend. He said the Irish Road Haulage Association and the IFA were "not doing anything" for people like him.
He claimed that it is high prices and not protests that will bring the country to a standstill, giving his own business as an example of what will happen.
"What will happen is I will go out of business. I have three drivers, and they will lose their jobs, and they will go on the dole. Where is the good in that? It is going to cost the Government money," he said.
Mr Cuddy said the Government is already taking 65% of a litre of diesel sold in tax. He insisted that the price of the fuel is the cause of the protest, and the solution will be capping that cost. He said the price of green diesel should be capped at 80c litre and the price of white diesel capped at €1.60 a litre.
He did not believe there was an impact on the public.
"There is no bad impact. We haven't held up one vehicle," he said.
He said the protestors would not budge from blockades if fuel was not capped.
"There is no way that anyone in this country can continue if the Government doesn't do something. If the cost of diesel goes up and up then inflation will go up which will put everyone of jobs and we will all be on the dole" he said.
Mr said the country could be blocked more than it already is if the protestors want to. He concluded by saying that the protestors would stay in Portlaoise for "as long as it takes".