Fuel Protests Have Ireland’s Government Facing Possible No-Confidence Vote

LONDON (AP) — Ireland government could face a vote of no confidence in Parliament on Tuesday over its handling of the issue Week of fuel protests It blocked access to oil supplies and a major port and caused major traffic jams.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced new tax cuts in order to end the crisis that started after the crisis. US-Israel war against Iran led to closure Strait of HormuzA vital conduit for the world’s oil. However, opposition parties criticized the government for not responding sooner and criticized the aid it offered.

The largest opposition party, Sinn Fein, has called for a vote of no confidence, scheduled for Tuesday evening. But Martin’s coalition government planned an earlier vote in support that could render the no-confidence motion moot if approved.

Passing the vote of confidence would force the ruling government to resign and lead to either Parliament voting on a new prime minister to form the government or triggering a new general election. The Social Democrats, Labor Party, People Before Profit, Aontu, the Green Party and Independent Ireland announced they would support the motion.

The protests began on April 7, when slow-moving convoys blocked the roads. They grew as news spread on social media as truckers, farmers, taxi and bus operators blocked key infrastructure and a main street in the capital Dublin.

Demonstrators have called for price caps or tax breaks to ease rising fuel costs, which they say will put people out of work.

Martin said the government could learn from the protests but defended the police and army response to clear barricades at the country’s only oil refinery at Whitegate in County Cork and several warehouses. They caused more than a third of the gas pumps to run dry.

“We had to evacuate Whitegate and the ports because we export about 90% of everything we produce in this country,” Martin said. “Ports are the lifeblood of the economy and if ports were blockaded for a long period of time people would lose their jobs, part-time production would stop and the situation would be very, very serious.”

The demonstrations were tolerated until the weekend, when police used pepper spray in clashes with some protesters and an army truck toppled a log barricade in Galway harbour. Many protesters said they had achieved their goal of convincing the government to compromise.

Lawmakers are also scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a 505 million euro ($595 million) fuel subsidy package that Martin said would ease some cost-of-living pressures.

The package includes direct payments to truckers and school bus operators and fuel subsidies for the agriculture and fishing sectors. The aid measure will follow a 250 million euro tax cut approved three weeks ago.

Sinn Fein, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael criticized the coalition government for failing to protect people from a rise in fuel prices, failing to call parliament back during the holiday recess to discuss the crisis and responding with half-measures.