Farmer cycled to protest because he ‘can’t afford to put diesel in tractors’
By Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association
A farmer has told how he cycled to a fuel protest because he cannot afford to put diesel in his tractors.
Martin Downey, a beef farmer from Dromore in Co Down, rode his bike at the head of a slow-moving convoy of tractors and trucks as it passed along the A1 near the village of Hillsborough on Tuesday.
Similar protests took place in a number of locations in the North.
Downey said if farmers needed to block roads to get relief from rising energy costs, they should do so.
I am on my bike because I can't really afford to put diesel in tractors to come here
He said: “I am here to support the farming community, it is in dire straits, as well as the haulage people, as well as everybody.
“Everybody is paying the price for this, due to the increase in duties and VAT.
“I am on my bike because I can’t really afford to put diesel in tractors to come here.
“This is an absolute shambles for the whole country.
“I’ve cycled here from Dromore and it’s not a great day for cycling.”
He said the protest was targeted at politicians in both Stormont and Westminster.
He added: “They need to give us a package to get us through these hard times, until this so-called war is sorted out and everything starts running well.
“It will probably be a short-term thing for everybody until we can get back to normal as quick as possible.
“My overheads have increased, fuel definitely by a good third in these last few months.
“The bigger farmers will be in dire straits because it is absolutely desperate for them, trying to get crops out.
“This is the busy time of the year where you are working in the fields and trying to get silage cut.”
Downey said farmers had been encouraged by the tactics used by protesters in the South, where the Government has announced a package of measures to help deal with fuel costs.
He said: “It took them to block the roads to get it.
“If it takes that here then that is what will have to be done.”
The cost of fuel has soared since the war in Iran.
The US and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28, after which the Iranians began an effective blockade of vital trading route the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting energy and fuel supplies.
