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 Irish Fuel Prices The word boycott is not a new word to any patriotic Irishman. Indeed it entered the English language during the Irish “Land War” and is derived from the name of Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, the land agent of an absentee landlord, Lord Erne, who lived in Lough Mask House, in County Mayo, Ireland and who was subject to social ostracism organized by the Irish Land League in 1880.
Thurles.Info receive lots of suggestions each week from its ‘Netizens‘ with regards to matters in and around Tipperary which they feel we could or should be highlighting. One particular suggestion received to-day was regarding increasing vehicle fuel prices and suggests, with some merit, that we ‘boycott‘ major oil companies.
We are now almost hitting €1.45 a litre for unleaded petrol and €1.38 for Diesel. Soon, if we are to believe the “Informed Prophets of Doom,” we will be faced with paying € 1.50 plus per litre in the coming months. One of our many discerning readers (My thanks ML) has put forward, what I believe is a rather good idea.
This idea makes much more sense than the ‘Don’t buy petrol on a certain day campaign ‘ that got started in America and was going around last year. Oil companies just laughed, knowingly, because they knew we couldn’t continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol, and anyway it became more of an inconvenience to us the consumer, than it hurt the major Oil Companies.
However, whoever thought of this idea, has now come up with a plan that could really work.
Boycott And Give Unleaded Petrol Power To The people
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us into believing that the cost of the present litre of fuel is cheap, (well compared to bottled water), we need to take aggressive action to teach oil companies that consumers and not wholesalers control the oil market. Then of course there is Facebook, Twitter etc, etc.,sure we could tell everyone in this green and pleasant land in an hour.
With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone very hard in the pocket, by not purchasing their petrol product. Yes, we can do that without hurting ourselves and here is how.
1. For the rest of this year DON”T purchase ANY petrol from one of the biggest oil companies presently operating. We know who they are, so pick one, but do make sure we all pick the same one. Ouch!
2. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be encouraged to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. See it as real laissez-faire economics at work, but to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of Irish petrol consumers to organise.
So how do you reach these consumers you now ask? Well it’s really so simple in this modern communications era.
Now, don’t switch off on me at this point… keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach those millions of people!
Thurles.Info are sending this information out to between 700 and 1000 daily readers. If all of these readers ‘Email This Post‘, by ordinary mail or using the Tag shown at the end of this post, to at least ten more people (700 x 10 = 7,000)….and those 7,000 send it to at least ten other people (7000 x 10 = 70,000) … and so on… now do you get my drift? Then of course there is Facebook, Twitter etc etc etc, sure the world and his mother would know in less than an hour.
Don’t know what you think of this idea, but oil companies are blackmailing us and between them and government taxes, essentials like motor fuel and motor vehicles are slowly being turned into luxury items, and very soon they will be only available to the very rich or NAMA clients.
Maybe we need to gain the support, influence and muscle of The Irish Farmers Association( IFA ) together with the Irish Road Haulage Association they could lead us in such a campaign, they would know better who and when to hit and I am sure that the low paid worker with the 2003 car, who is forced to drives ten miles, for his daily bread every morning, would be more than happy to give their full support.
Organise Brothers, Organise!
 Tipperary Farm Contractors Meeting Tipperary Farming Contractors have expressed grave concerns regarding new regulations governing the use of agricultural and works vehicles on public roads and feel that these new laws will seriously effect their future incomes.
Details of the Department of Transport and Road Safety Authority‘s new proposals are due to be announced later this week. Contractors understandably now express concerns that these new measures will exclude them from non-agricultural work contracts.
It is understood that a speed limit of just 40kph will be also be introduced for tractors on public roads, with the minimum age for tractor drivers to be increased, while permits will to be introduced for contractors who use farm vehicles that run on rebated fuel for non-agricultural work.
Tom Murphy, director of the Professional Agricultural Contractors (PAC) of Ireland claims:
“The proposed legislation will do serious damage to contractor incomes and the cost of permits, which would allow agricultural contractors to use farm machinery on non-agricultural jobs, such as construction, is likely to be prohibitive. Contractors will go to the wall because of this. There are very few contractors who survive exclusively on farm work. New speed limit will effectively ban tractors from motorways, while the cost of new permits could exclude many contractors from tendering for work with local councils.The proposals, as they are currently framed, deemed the transport of harvested willow as haulage rather than an element of the contractor’s core business. Consequently, contractors will need permits to run their vehicles on rebated fuel if they get involved in this activity.”
The PAC will hold a meeting this week on Thursday at 8pm in the Horse and Jockey, Thurles, Co Tipperary to advise contractors on these new proposed measures.
Farm contractors incomes have already been hit this past year, with the repossession and resale of farm and plant machinery by finance companies, having had serious consequences for established and registered agricultural contractors, with cheap tractors and machinery, bought at repossession sales, enabling new entrants to undercut established operators. Claims that new silage outfits have started up, as a result, which are not registered for tax and who are operating, charging significantly less as a consequence, would appear to be well founded.
 Green Dragon Innovation Challenge 2011 The Agri Aware Green Dragon Secondary Schools Innovation Challenge is back and set again to entice all our young innovators to develop original and ground breaking ideas. Students are encouraged to develop the concept of a new product or service within three sectors with huge potential for development, namely: food, agriculture and the environment.
Twenty five finalists will battle it out at the national final in March 2011 for the highly coveted prize of a development fund worth €8,000.
Agri Aware with the support of Bord Bia and AIB Bank are calling on second level students of all ages to look outside their classroom, identify a gap in one of these three sectors and apply what they have learned to the real world.
The challenge is open to all second level students. It doesn’t matter if you are a first or a sixth year, the submission will be judged on the merit of the idea and not your age.
Students nationwide will pitch their ideas to the Green Dragons with the hope of following in the footsteps of last year’s highly successful winner, Paul Bowden from Thurles CBS Co. Tipperary.
IFA President John Bryan commented, “The Green Dragon is an excellent way to get our young people thinking about the huge economic possibilities that lie within the agricultural, food and environmental sector.”
Interested pupils, teachers and parents should visit Here for more information.
Note: Due to the recent adverse weather conditions resulting in the closure of many schools, the closing date for registration to the Green Dragon Innovation Challenge is now Friday January 21st, 2011.
 Oil Tanks Gardaí in Co Tipperary are urging the public to be on the alert, following a series of thefts over the past number weeks in the south of the country, in which thousands of euro of central heating oil was stolen from private homes and business premises.
Soaring fuel prices and a ready market are mainly to blame for the increase in such thefts.
Thieves are targeting holiday homes, along with houses where home owners are away for a short period of time. Most of these thefts are, however, from larger premises, such as schools and business premises, according to gardaí.
Gardaí are urging home owners and businesses to secure their tanks with, at the very least, a strong locking device. People are also being asked to consider installing sensor lighting, within the area of their fuel tanks, as part of their theft prevention system.
Rural homeowners, churches and farmers are particularly at risk from thieves due to the isolation, in a lot of cases, of fuel tanks.
Premises who feel threatened, can also acquire a small wireless transmitter, which can be placed inside the screw cap of their oil tank. The magnetic reed switch on this device ensures that if the cap is opened or tampered with, the homeowner will be alerted by an audible alert from the security system.
Other advanced alarm systems can include the activation of outside security lights and the sending of SMS text messages to a Alarm Receiving Centre.
 Seamus O'Farrell, Mike Pearson, Wray Platt Gurteen Farm Manager, Michael White Teagasc Reps, Bill Condon, all who attended a recent Cross Compliance event at Gurteen College. Speaking at last week’s Agriculture Committee meeting, Deputy Noel Coonan questioned the Director of Teagasc, Professor Gerry Boyle, on the provision of additional staff and facilities at Gurteen College, to accommodate some of the 250 applicants that were turned down this year.
The North Tipperary and South Offaly TD said: “It is an ill wind that blows no good and the current recession has put the focus on agriculture; which is now perceived by many as the main hope to bring the country out of the mess it is in. I recently spoke with Mike Pearson, Manager of Gurteen College, who told me that he could provide at least a further 100 courses at the establishment if he had the staff and facilities to so do. While Gurteen College is a private institution, I am concerned about budget cutbacks and the inability to provide course places to young people who are crying out for them. A number of young people in my constituency were greatly disappointed when they were unable to secure a place in Gurteen and Mr. Pearson has told me that he could deliver the courses, were he given the resources to so do.”
In response to the Deputies queries, Prof. Boyle said the crux of the issue is the Government’s ban on recruitment. Teagasc’s Director commented: “I probably had representations from the people who contacted the Deputy in regard to admission to the college this year. There was excess demand for places and I regret very much that we had to turn down 250 applicants which is something we never had to do before, purely because we did not have the teaching staff to accommodate the students. The reason is very simple; it is not a policy of Teagasc, rather, it concerns the moratorium. If we were to get external funding for teachers from a generous co-operative or company which said it wanted to support a particular college and sub-vent a number of teachers; we would still not be able to recruit staff under the moratorium. The biggest difficulty we are facing is in dealing with the moratorium on recruitment.”
This means that if Gurteen College loses teachers through early retirement, illness or maternity leave for example, they now cannot hire a teacher. The local Fine Gael TD, who is a member of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and also F G Party Spokesperson on CAP Reform, said he will continue to lobby the Government to provide additional resources in order to keep our vibrant rural economy alive.
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