Irish leaders condemn fuel protests as wrong and ‘not in the national interest’

Fuel protesters blocking Dublin and other locations across Ireland are “wrong” and those breaking the law will be penalised, the Irish premier has said.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the main thoroughfare of the Irish capital should not be turned into a “car park” as traffic and travel disruption caused by the protest continued into a second day.

O’Connell Street in Dublin and fuel depots have been blocked by convoys of tractors and trucks in protests over the rising cost of fuel caused by the war in Iran.

Mr Martin criticised the protest as he met Irish deputy leader and finance minister Simon Harris and Minister of State at the Department of Transport Sean Canney at Government Buildings on Wednesday morning to discuss fuel prices.

“The protests at the moment are wrong,” Mr Martin said.

“To prevent mobility, to prevent people from accessing livelihoods, medical appointments, disrupting day-to-day activities in the manner that has happened, is wrong and is a wrong form of protest.”

Asked if gardai would clear the protesters on roads and around fuel depots the Taoiseach said: “There’s no justification whatsoever for blockading fuel depots.

“It runs counter to what everybody wants, which is access to fuel on a timely basis.”

He also added later that he had heard attempts had been made to stop animal feedstuff from leaving ports, which “will become an animal welfare issue very shortly, if that happens”.

He said that while he respected the right to protest, it was “not acceptable” to turn Dublin’s O’Connell Street “into a car park”.

“There should be penalties and there will be penalties” for anyone who violates the law, he said.

When later asked to clarify if those penalties could include the arrest of protesters, Mr Martin said: “I never mentioned anything to do with arrests this morning, so I don’t know where that word came from.

“But obviously, no-one can just park a truck on O’Connell Street, or on any other street, and just leave it there.

“And we have traffic laws, we have a variety of laws and fines that attach to that, and I think those have to apply properly.”

The Tanaiste said the Government is engaging with national representative bodies and said the disruption caused by the protests was “not in our national interest, it’s not in our economic interest, it’s not in the interest of social cohesion”.

Mr Harris described the blocking of fuel distribution as a “despicable attack on our economy and our society”, adding “the laws of the land must and will be applied without fear”.

Asked if the Government would meet with the groups involved in the protests, Mr Martin responded there are “many, many different groups and many different voices” involved and “the only feasible way to engage is with the national representative bodies of the different sectors, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

He said: “We live in a parliamentary democracy, we have elected representatives and the Government is elected by the Dail.

“The Government deals and works with and engages, in normal circumstances, with the national organisations.

“And that will continue to be the case and there will be no deviation from that.”

He later added: “What I would say to people is feed your views through your national representative organisations.”

Asked if fuel pumps could run dry if depots are blockaded, Mr Canney said that would be “a ransom”.

He said: “I think people need to understand that what’s happening here is not in the national interest, it’s not in the people’s interest and we need to just reflect on that.”

Mr Harris added “there may be a small number of particular challenges this morning” but he said he wanted to “reassure motorists and reassure people in our country that there is adequate fuel supply in Ireland”.

The TDs all emphasised measures to tackle rising energy prices announced by the Government last month.

Mr Martin said the 250 euro package of support was “the most generous in Europe” and the Government spending nearly four million euro a day “on alleviation measures as a result of the package that we announced”.

Asked if a drop in the cost of crude oil would lead to prices dropping immediately, Mr Harris said if that trend was maintained it “would have a positive impact in terms of being passed on at the pump”.

He said: “There is always some bit of a lag” but noted there was not much of a lag when prices increased and added “So there shouldn’t be much of a lag if the cost starts to fall, and we’ll engage constructively with industry in relation to this and continue to monitor this through our various agencies”.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said: “I think some of the protests we’ve seen today are completely unacceptable and irresponsible.

“They’re undermining business in our city and across the country.”

Responding to reports demonstrators have blocked a fuel terminal, he said that the action was “reckless in the extreme, and they should stand down their protest.”

He said the Government had a briefing from the National Oil Reserves Agency (Nora) on Wednesday morning, who said its oil reserves are “well capable of shoring up different supply gaps for a considerable duration”.

He said it had an 85-day supply of diesel or gasoline, 99 days of petrol and 70 days of kerosene.

In statements on Wednesday afternoon, An Garda Siochana and Dublin Fire Brigade appealed to protesters to leave clear routes for emergancy vehicles.

Gardai said they had “asked and asks again” for protesters to engage with them “to facilitate public transport and other traffic”.

They said they had received reports of “emergency workers being delayed or not being able to travel to their work, of people not being able to attend hospital appointments or visit loved ones who are ill”.

In their statement, Dublin Fire Brigade said they were “appealing to all involved in the fuel protests in Dublin city centre to ensure the free passage of all emergency vehicles, both on blue lights heading to an emergency and also returning to base to serve their operational area”.

They said they had experienced “significant delays” responding to emergancies on Wednesday morning and asked demonstrators “to be extra vigilant and compliant when they hear emergency sirens approaching”.