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Donal O'Driscoll ✍ Now that the dust has settled on the fuel protests, we can look at it with perhaps more semblance of calm and reason than was possible during the week. 

However, the question of whether or not I supported the protests, as if it were a binary choice, remains problematic for me to answer without doing a deep dive into the nuances. So I will attempt to do that now.

One of the easier questions to answer is if I support the original stated aims of tackling fuel costs and the cost of living Crisis that it has created. I don't drive so petrol and diesel doesn't affect me, but I did recently have to top up our oil, paying almost double what I normally pay. Even if I hadn't, supporting people taking a stand on such fundamental issues is a no brainer.

Indeed, after initial confusion about the scale of this and the effects on the public, disruption became less of a concern. Effective mass protests do cause disruption and after the first day I think planning around things became easier.

Here is where things become murkier. The issue of organisation and leadership. It was clear from day one that this protest was a bit 'higgledy piggledy' to say the least. The lack of direct involvement from the IRHA and farmers' organisations meant it was hard to see where the buck stopped. The idea of protests being organised through WhatsApp and social media does leave me feeling a bit uneasy.

Then more and more information emerged about the so called leaders of this. Christopher Duffy, was already known to me through social media as an appalling bigot who used his social media to spread lies and hatred against Muslims and migrants. A horrible excuse of a human being that I couldn't even begin to get on board with, even before I heard of his deplorable post saying he didn't care if the IDF raped Greta Thunberg. There is so much shit on Geoghegan, it's a case of take your pick, but again, a notorious spreader of anti-immigrant propaganda. 

John Dallon's drink driving offences again make him an unsuitable spokesperson for Hauliers, but as someone with alcohol issues myself, I don't know enough about the man to know if maybe there were addiction issues he'd since overcome. He's certainly the least objectionable of the three, but that is a low bar.

Again, leadership issues don't mean you can't support the broad movement, but it was clear there was very little attempt to disassociate from the loathsome Duffy in particular. In fact many people insist still that this swamp dweller is some sort of hero. Indeed, even many of the so called 'ordinary people' interviewed, kept bringing up stuff like 'looking after our own'. I don't think I need to explain what this is usually code for. In fairness, I don't think the disgusting attacks on the Muslim Sisters of Eire can be blamed directly on the protests. The plastic patriots may well have attacked them anyway, the protests merely gave them more reason to be in town.

Now we come to the really disappointing thing for me as a socialist, the whitewashing by some on the left of the very real issues with the leaders of this. I don't have a problem with individual parties like SF or PBP supporting the protests, as I say, I get the central issues and they weren't the main gaslighters. But some of the 'left wing' influencers online who were so quick to paint this as some sort of 'glorious revolution' that they instantly shot down any mention of the involvement of people like Duffy, left a sour taste in my mouth.

So when you ask me 'did you support the protesters? ', the honest answer is, it depends. I was certainly sympathetic to the aims and acknowledge most protesters were voicing genuine grievances. Nonetheless, there was a dodgy element, especially at leadership level, which made it very hard for me as a socialist, to get fully behind them.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

It Depends

Donal O'Driscoll ✍ Now that the dust has settled on the fuel protests, we can look at it with perhaps more semblance of calm and reason than was possible during the week. 

However, the question of whether or not I supported the protests, as if it were a binary choice, remains problematic for me to answer without doing a deep dive into the nuances. So I will attempt to do that now.

One of the easier questions to answer is if I support the original stated aims of tackling fuel costs and the cost of living Crisis that it has created. I don't drive so petrol and diesel doesn't affect me, but I did recently have to top up our oil, paying almost double what I normally pay. Even if I hadn't, supporting people taking a stand on such fundamental issues is a no brainer.

Indeed, after initial confusion about the scale of this and the effects on the public, disruption became less of a concern. Effective mass protests do cause disruption and after the first day I think planning around things became easier.

Here is where things become murkier. The issue of organisation and leadership. It was clear from day one that this protest was a bit 'higgledy piggledy' to say the least. The lack of direct involvement from the IRHA and farmers' organisations meant it was hard to see where the buck stopped. The idea of protests being organised through WhatsApp and social media does leave me feeling a bit uneasy.

Then more and more information emerged about the so called leaders of this. Christopher Duffy, was already known to me through social media as an appalling bigot who used his social media to spread lies and hatred against Muslims and migrants. A horrible excuse of a human being that I couldn't even begin to get on board with, even before I heard of his deplorable post saying he didn't care if the IDF raped Greta Thunberg. There is so much shit on Geoghegan, it's a case of take your pick, but again, a notorious spreader of anti-immigrant propaganda. 

John Dallon's drink driving offences again make him an unsuitable spokesperson for Hauliers, but as someone with alcohol issues myself, I don't know enough about the man to know if maybe there were addiction issues he'd since overcome. He's certainly the least objectionable of the three, but that is a low bar.

Again, leadership issues don't mean you can't support the broad movement, but it was clear there was very little attempt to disassociate from the loathsome Duffy in particular. In fact many people insist still that this swamp dweller is some sort of hero. Indeed, even many of the so called 'ordinary people' interviewed, kept bringing up stuff like 'looking after our own'. I don't think I need to explain what this is usually code for. In fairness, I don't think the disgusting attacks on the Muslim Sisters of Eire can be blamed directly on the protests. The plastic patriots may well have attacked them anyway, the protests merely gave them more reason to be in town.

Now we come to the really disappointing thing for me as a socialist, the whitewashing by some on the left of the very real issues with the leaders of this. I don't have a problem with individual parties like SF or PBP supporting the protests, as I say, I get the central issues and they weren't the main gaslighters. But some of the 'left wing' influencers online who were so quick to paint this as some sort of 'glorious revolution' that they instantly shot down any mention of the involvement of people like Duffy, left a sour taste in my mouth.

So when you ask me 'did you support the protesters? ', the honest answer is, it depends. I was certainly sympathetic to the aims and acknowledge most protesters were voicing genuine grievances. Nonetheless, there was a dodgy element, especially at leadership level, which made it very hard for me as a socialist, to get fully behind them.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

Donal O'Driscoll Fuel blockade Irish Far Right

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