In Politics by Numbers, broadcaster, author and spreadsheet stan Gavan Reilly takes a data deep dive into a political point of the week.     

THE VERDICT OF those in the Well Hotel in Moate was fairly clear. People had driven from the four corners of the country – from Kerry to Connemara to the tip of Malin – and couldn’t even get into the main function room, instead standing in front of a big screen in the car park.

When motor fuels are as dear as they are, trekking that far is a gesture – just as it was in April as the same movement spawned a nationwide protest that substantively shut down the country. “There’s no way we’ll be bullied like we were the last time,” said Christopher Duffy, promising to dig in for winter if the ad hoc campaign’s wishes are not met, and if it takes to the streets again.

Whether the campaign was actually ‘bullied’ last time is debatable to say the least. The blockades across the country largely ended peacefully. For the first time since the dark and dismal bailout winter of 2010, cabinet met on a Sunday to approve an emergency budget. The costs of motor fuels were slashed. More or less, those on the barricades got what they wanted. Hardly any wonder that they’d consider a re-run.

Fuel protest spokesman Christopher Duffy. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Establishing the campaign’s exact wish-list is difficult – as is identifying it by name – but, its undoubted main purpose is to cut the cost of fossil fuels. What exactly can the government do on that?

On VAT, three remains the magic number

A solution offered in Moate – and put to Simon Harris by reporters outside this week’s Cabinet meeting – was simply cutting VAT on fuels. Is this a runner? The short answer is… no.

The hindrance is the EU’s VAT directive, which is one of the key ways the EU tries to implement a single market for goods and services. Its key principle is that if consumers are to have a........

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