Irish PM offers $592 million fuel tax cut to reopen refinery as farmers and truckers wage cost-of-living protest

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said Sunday that his government will offer new fuel tax cuts to try to end crippling protests over soaring gas costs, though he slammed the tactics of farmers and truckers who had blocked access to the nation’s only oil refinery and several depots.

Martin said the package amounting to 505 million euros ($592 million) will ease some of the cost of living pressures that have grown since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for the world’s oil. The relief measure, which needs parliamentary approval, would come on top of a 250 million euro tax break approved nearly three weeks ago.

It was not immediately clear if the proposal will quell the uprisings, though protests diminished Sunday amid a police crackdown.

Over six days the actions caused chaos as blockades at Ireland’s refinery, a major port and several vital depots prevented tanker trucks from delivering fuel to service stations and many gas pumps ran dry. Slow-moving convoys of vehicles........

© Fortune