Blockades need to end, says minister as gardai arrive at Cork oil refinery

Protesters must end their blockades of fuel depots today, a minister has said, as gardai arrived at a demonstration at Ireland’s only oil refinery in Cork.

Protests disrupting fuel supplies are continuing on Friday, but “more fuel” deliveries are being allowed out, according to activists.

It comes as some Irish forecourts risk running dry after days-long blockades of major supply depots over rising fuel prices triggered by the war in Iran.

Hauliers and agricultural contractors began a series of protests on Tuesday, which have grown from slow-moving convoys on motorways and restricted access to Dublin’s busiest streets to blockades of fuel depots that supply half the country.

Access has been restricted to Ireland’s oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork, as well as fuel depots in areas such as Galway City and Foynes, Co Limerick.

It has raised concern over panic buying at forecourts, some of which have run out of fuel, as well as impacts on emergency services and deliveries of key supplies for animal welfare on farms.

Government leaders have condemned the protests as “wrong”, and said the fuel blockades were holding the country to “ransom”.

The Irish army remains on standby to help gardai remove blockades at critical infrastructure, which includes fuel depots.

Gardai have confirmed they are “at the scene of an incident in Whitegate, Co Cork” on Friday morning.

A spokesperson for protesters at Foynes Port said they would allow feed and five loads of fuel to be transported to frontline workers and hospitals, after allowing chemicals needed by Uisce Eireann through their blockade on Thursday.

Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said he was “extremely concerned” about fuel supplies not being dispersed across the country.

“I’m even more concerned when I get a message this morning from my colleague, Minister James Brown, about curtailment of fire and emergency services,” he told Newstalk on Friday.

“No one can stand over that. We do not want to have to deal with this situation in a heavy-handed way and I don’t think that will happen. What we need to do is to de-escalate this now, today.”

Enterprise Minister Peter Burke said that the Government was working on a package of measures to combat inflation, which he said could be announced on Friday.

“I do believe we will have news on that, in terms of an intervention that will reduce inflation, that will try and reduce the price of groceries on the shelves for our consumers, for vulnerable people buying them,” he said.

It comes amid confusion over a Government meeting on Friday afternoon.

The Government has said it cannot engage with disparate groups carrying out protests, and encouraged them to engage with existing representative groups.

A meeting between Mr O’Brien, Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon and 10 farming, haulage and business groups is due to take place on Friday afternoon.

It is understood there are no fuel protesters on the list of attendees, but protesters have suggested they were invited to the “breakthrough” meeting.

Fuel protest spokesman James Geoghegan said the Fianna Fail TD for Galway West, John Connelly, invited them to attend on Friday, and that he, another fuel protest spokesman John Dallon, and a group of protesters from Galway would attend.

Mr Connelly rang Newstalk radio to say he had not invited Mr Geoghegan to the meeting, and that he had advised the protesters to talk to the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), which is among the groups meeting the Government on Friday.

Mr Geoghegan said that even if a meeting is held, the protest will continue on Friday despite the pledge to call off demonstrations if the Government agreed to meet.

The protesters had also added to their list of demands: along with the removal of the carbon tax from green diesel and the price of fuel to be capped, they want oil exploration off the west coast of Ireland to begin and the Irish parliament to be recalled on Friday.

“One of the main demands is that the laws that (former Green Party leader and minister) Eamon Ryan passed to close down any exploration of oil off the west coast of Ireland…” Mr Geoghegan told Newstalk.

“Because we have been contacted by exploration companies who have told us how much oil is off the west coast of Ireland, and it was Eamon Ryan who knocked it on the head. That has to be looked at again now, and revisited for the good of the nation.

“There’s not much point in Eamon Ryan talking about being environment friendly, and we’re waiting for oil to come up from the Strait of Hormuz for six weeks, and we have an ocean of it off the west coast of Ireland.”

He added: “We will be looking for the Dail to be recalled this evening or tonight. It has to be rubber stamped.”

Asked if the protest will be lifted if there is a meeting, he said: “It’s not over yet for the simple reason we don’t trust the Government at this stage.

“We had several meetings yesterday, we had several meetings during the night, we had several meetings this morning. I got, I think, two hours sleep last night – and the word coming back from the ground is after the way (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin disrespected everyone, he is not to be trusted ever again.

“We have actually reduced the protest, we are allowing out more fuel today, we have lifted some of the blockades off the ports.

“We pulled back last night off O’Connell Street, we opened up the quays last night, we let the traffic flow to the docks last night and literally hundreds of lorries flowed in last night.”

Ger Hyland, president of the IRHA, has offered to act as an “honest broker” between protesters and the Government.

He said he had been in contact with the protesters “through intermediaries” and is available to meet some of them before the meeting and take their concerns to the Government.