WATCH: Anger over fuel prices remains 'palpable'
Mary Grehan, Noreen Corcoran and Helena Beirne at a protest in Roscommon Town on Sunday over escalating fuel prices. Pic: Gerard O'Loughlin
About 400 people attended a protest in Roscommon Town earlier today to voice their concerns over escalating fuel prices.
Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mulloolly, who attended the protest, said people wanted measures that would make a real difference "not Mickey Mouse vouchers, and they need to be announced quickly. They need individual payments to families and farmers," he stressed.
"We can't get the Luas or the Dart. We have to put fuel in the car every day. One woman said to me she put €40 in the car yesterday and it's running on empty now."
He was very critical of the government response to the protests, saying all this could have been avoided had meetings taken place sooner.
"These are ordinary decent people. We had a meeting in Portlaoise two weeks ago and I warned that this was reaching breaking point," he said. "The failure to meet and the language used inflamed the situation."
He hoped the measures to be announced this evening would be sufficient to save the farming, transport, and haulage sectors.
"This is a Covid type situation again and it needs the same type of response," he stressed.
Click on the link below to see drone footage of the protest captured by Ciaran Browne.
