Hauliers to Shut Down Dublin

[Ribeye]

Well, if the people own this country, will you be there backing them?

Yep, I will support anyone who stands up to the corrupt status quo, I live in the city so I might even buy a pile of sausages and a load of sliced pans and make nice hot sambos for the lads!

The guards can have some too, as long as they are behaving themselves!

[brughahaha]

Actually, it's a democracy.

At least 74% of people voted for the parties that supported austerity.

A minority of the minority that didn't vote that way doesn't like that, so they want to make people's lives miserable.

Don't be fooled. This abuse of the public roads won't affect politicians more than anyone else in the general public. The target isn't politicians at all: it's ordinary people. It's simply a form of collective punishment because some whiners don't like democracy.

You're FG programmed brain has a (conveniently) short attention span ....we voted for our way not frankfurts, 100,000 jobs, burning junior bondholders, an end to overpaid advisors and not another red cent more for Anglo .....

[rockofcashel]

The one thing I could never understand with the hauliers, is why they have never pointed out to the Government, the inequity of Government policy allowing farmers to pay a lower price for Ag diesel, while they pay full whack for the same fuel. The farmers argument has always been that diesel is an essential input into their cost base, but surely it is just as essential part in a hauliers costs as well, unless someone can point me to petrol powered trucks.

As for the blockade.. it won't work. It'll be stopped on the outskirts, and a token convoy will be allowed into the city for a couple of hours, causing very little inconvenience, beause the Gardai will already have factored in the protest, and warned people appropriately.

If they really want to make a stand, then it can be done simply like this.

Pick a certain date on the calender, and advise all their members, that from that date, instead of filling up with road diesel, fill up with Ag diesel. Make sure every one of their members are on board, and then if the truckers are stopped, allow the State to sieze all the vehicles. It will be impossible for them to completely shut down the whole haulage transport system overnight.

[Spanner Island]

So people who voted - what - 74% for austerity when you add FF+FG+Lab+GP? - are going to endure a day of being held hostage by truckers who can't accept the democratic will of the people.

A minority seeking to impose its will through coercion.

Not that it will matter to politicians who make the decisions, they will plan around it. No, it'll only affect the poor ordinary sod on the street of Dublin who is trying to go about her business in a normal way.

I used to be a supporter of austerity (and I still am in ways), but the way it's been done hasn't and isn't working.

And it isn't working because it isn't being spread evenly, fairly or implemented intelligently. And it certainly hasn't and isn't tackling the things that should have been tackled from the outset.

Crude blanket austerity has been used instead of robust surgical strike austerity.

Various sectors, vested interests and citizens have and continue to be shielded from the worst of it at the expense of the rest. The result has and continues to be the systematic destruction of this country.

So I'll avoid Dublin on whatever day they select and good luck to them. The average haulier has undoubtedly been hit a lot harder than the average HSE manager.

[Astral Peaks]

It hits us all directly. The cost of transportation of good is a factor in the prices of most of the goods we purchase. Also this is a protest about this government and their disgraceful record of protecting the feudal elite while punishing everyone else.

Ah CS, "feudal elite"?

You can be such a good, reasoned poster at times, but then you ruin it all by reciting trite slogans and spurious sayings like this.

[Panopticon]

You're FG programmed brain has a (conveniently) short attention span ....we voted for our way not frankfurts, 100,000 jobs, burning junior bondholders, an end to overpaid advisors and not another red cent more for Anglo .....

That may be your subjective interpretation of some election campaign statements, but other election campaign statements, the manifestos of the governing parties and of the outgoing government, and media coverage of the election campaign as pro-austerity main parties v anti-austerity SF/Indos disagree with you.

More generally, this is an argument for ignoring any government policy when one person in the government has made a statement that can be interpreted in one way as contradictory to that policy. That is a dangerous argument.

[Astral Peaks]

I used to be a supporter of austerity (and I still am in ways), but the way it's been done hasn't and isn't working.

And it isn't working because it isn't being spread evenly, fairly or implemented intelligently. And it certainly hasn't and isn't tackling the things that should have been tackled from the outset.

Crude blanket austerity has been used instead of robust surgical strike austerity.

Various sectors, vested interests and citizens have and continue to be shielded from the worst of it at the expense of the rest. The result has and continues to be the systematic destruction of this country.

So I'll avoid Dublin on whatever day they select and good luck to them. The average haulier has undoubtedly been hit a lot harder than the average HSE manager.

Can I just say, I miss Munch?

V isn't quite the same..........

[Ulster-Lad]

So by that logic, you don't have to accept any democratic decision of the Oireachtas that you don't like, ever.

What's your alternative system of government, and will you stop accepting things the state gives you until we adopt that alternative?

That is some assumption on your part there. By your logic if the government decides to castrate all children then that is fine because we voted them in and it was a democratic decision.

[Astral Peaks]

The people may "own" this country, but the civil servants run it and have politicians as their spokespersons. Of course not to forget that the civil servants have been ousted for a temporary little arrangemement with the Troika.

I'm glad you feel it is temporary.

Funnily, that is precisely what FG and Lab have said that they are working on, eliminating the need for this "temporary" arrangement.

[Nemesiscorporation]

Hauliers from across the country have vote to bring Dublin to a standstill in protest of the austerity measures imposed. The hauliers have been soliciting the government for months on the issue of the cost of fuel and it has not improved and in fact worsened.

Hopefully they pick a good day for it.



DONEGAL HAULIERS VOTE TO BRING DUBLIN TO A STANDSTILL | Donegal Daily

I hope they shut all of Dublin down.

That would let the cute heurs in the Dail know that Donegal actually exists and is not some nightmare they only have nightmares about.