More protests planned over cost of living
People pictured at the start of fuel protest who gathered at the Four Lakes Retail Park and walked to the Liberty Tree in Carlow. Pic: © Michael O'Rourke Photography 2026
MORE people took to the streets in Carlow town over the weekend to take part in another protest at the rising cost of fuel and home heating oil.
The protest, which took the same route as the previous week’s, starting at Four Lakes Retail Park and ending at the Liberty Tree beside Potato Market, was noticeably smaller, with no tractors or heavy vehicles present.
One of the protest organisers, Independent Ireland cllr John Cassin, said that while there has been a drop in the price of fuel at the pumps, many people in attendance at the protest are still concerned for the future.
“There were a lot of people there who are flat out working and are hugely concerned and struggling to pay bills,” he said. “I appreciate there has been a bit of a drop at the pumps, but the price of goods in the supermarket has shot up again and that doesn’t tend to come back down,” he added.
Cllr Cassin noted that many of the protesters he spoke to on Saturday displayed an appetite for further demonstrations.
“A lot of people asked me on Saturday when is the next one? That they felt the need to keep the pressure on the government because they are afraid they do not have the money to sustain the current cost of fuel, home heating oil, food and so on,” cllr Cassin added.
The People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices protest group, which was one of the main organising networks for nationwide demonstrations that brought parts of the country to a standstill, put up a statement on Facebook on Sunday in which it was said there were a “number of meetings currently taking place nationwide.”
The statement also confirmed the group’s intent to organise more protests from 2 May if no “real developments occur within the next two weeks,” saying: “We remain clear on one thing—we are prepared to protest again, peacefully, but in numbers that cannot be ignored.”
The statement continued: “Our plan is to allow the next two weeks to play out and see what comes from these discussions. If there is no meaningful progress, we will move forward with organised, peaceful protests on foot across major towns throughout Ireland. Full details, locations and times will be released if required.”
