Laois Fine Gael councillors stand with fuel protestors in Portlaoise
Councillor with ambition to be a Laois Fine Gael TD calls for cap on fuel prices after meeting
Laois Fine Gael councillors have stood shoulder to shoulder with protestors near a Portlaoise motorway blockade their Government wants to use the Irish defence forces to dismantle.
One of the councillors, aspiring Laois TD Conor Bergin, also said fuel prices must be capped on the day his party colleague and Government minister Martin Heydon argued strongly against such a move.
Cllr Bergin gave his opinion on the protest after he and fellow Laois Fine Gael party colleagues Cllr John King and Cllr Paddy Buggy attended the Laois fuel protest at Junction 17, Portlaoise.
"I fully support the call for a cap on fuel prices, and we are calling on the Government to act now to deliver real relief. We stand with workers, families and businesses who are being hit hard by rising fuel costs.
"People need to be able to afford to get to work and go about their daily lives — right now, too many simply cannot," said Cllr Bergin.
Cllr Bergin, who is also a solictor, made the call for a cap on social media on the same day as his party colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, insisted that aid requests for fuel price caps or a pause to carbon tax increases would undermine the overall economy and are not "in the best interest of the public".
He is not the only Laois public representative to call for a cap on fuel prices, which is one of the demands made by the fuel protestors who have crippled road travel and transport around Ireland.
Laois Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming believes the cap could be covered by what he said was a windfall tax the Government has received due to the rise in fuel tax revenue.
Blockade on M7 Portlaoise. Pic: Denis Byrne
Meanwhile, the M7 continues to be closed around Portlaoise due to a blockade that has been mounted by fuel protestors in teh county.