Irish government announces further fuel supports after protests

The Irish government has announced further fuel supports for some workers and businesses, after nationwide protests in recent weeks.Irish government ministers are insisting the package of supports was being worked on by the government before the protests, which saw many major motorways, as well as the main street in the nation's capital, brought to effective standstill.Before nationwide protests kicked off, excise duty had already been cut on petrol and diesel.But since the protests there have been further cuts to diesel and petrol and a package of supports for farmers, hauliers and coach drivers has been promised.The details of this package were laid out by Irish government ministers on Wednesday at Government buildings in Dublin.PA MediaThere was such heavy traffic on Dublin's M50 northbound towards the airport that people decided to walk The Road Transporters Supports Scheme is worth €120m (£104m) and is for hauliers and bus and coach operators.This scheme will be backdated to March and will apply from when average national diesel prices exceeded €1.90 per litre (£1.65) which is being benchmarked at the point at which fuel costs become unsustainable for commercial transport operators.