Street protests - Politics is the path to real change

THE outrage, the sense of being utterly betrayed and powerless in the face of economic collapse entitles most of us to consider taking a leaf from the French unions’ handbook of conflict resolution.

That inclination is strengthened by the fact that more than two years after the genie escaped from the bottle no one has been charged, much less convicted. Regular reassurances, such as we had this week from Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, that everything is being done to bring these matters to a head have worn thin and rather than assuage anger exacerbate it.

Yesterday a Gallic expression of that anger manifested itself at the Grandpuits refinery outside Paris. Flying pickets have blockaded all of France’s refineries and about 2,500 petrol stations have no fuel to sell because of moves to change the pension age from 60 to 62.