Ireland’s only oil refinery reopened after police moved in against fuel protesters, but the disruption from the blockades continued to spread across transport routes and gas supplies, according to Irish officials and industry representatives.
Police removed protesters to restart operations at the Whitegate refinery in County Cork on Saturday, the day the demonstrations entered a fifth straight day. The protests began Tuesday and expanded as word spread through social media, with truckers, farmers, and operators including taxi and bus services joining blockades and calling for caps on fuel prices or tax cuts.
Police said the demonstrations threatened public safety by disrupting access to fuel. Commissioner Justin Kelly said enforcement would increase because protesters were illegally blockading critical infrastructure and endangering emergency response, in particular if fuel shortages reduced what paramedics and firefighters could do.
“This are blockades. They are not a legitimate form of protest,” Kelly said. He added that authorities had warned the blockaders they were moving to enforcement before Saturday’s action, and he said the group ignored that warning “and continue to hold the country to ransom.”
While talks continued, government officials and a negotiator said Saturday that progress had been made in discussions aimed at resolving the dispute. Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association and acting for some protesters, said he empathized with what he described as the struggle faced by working business owners trying to keep operations afloat.
The road disruptions continued even after the refinery was reopened. The protests left trucks and tractors blocking access to vital fuel depots and a major port, while vehicles clogging traffic prompted closures of part of the main highway around Dublin and sections of other major roadways, an Associated Press account said. Irish officials also reported people taking part in the demonstrations across multiple locations, including support demonstrations in Dublin and tractor activity in Cork.
As the blockades cut into supply, shortages at retail stations worsened. Kevin McPartlan, the chief executive of Fuels for Ireland, said more than a third of the 1,500 service stations had run out of fuel on Saturday, with that number expected to rise sharply if the roadblocks remained in place.
The government’s measures to address the cost of fuel were already in motion before the protests escalated, including a temporary reduction in excise taxes on motor fuels, a diesel rebate expansion for truckers and bus operators, and extensions to help low-income households with heating costs. Officials said those steps were quickly overtaken by international price increases driven by the conflict in the Middle East, which they said restricted oil exports.
Prime Minister Micheál Martin said Friday that Ireland was on the brink of turning tankers away at ports during a global shortage, warning of a risk to the country’s access to oil. Martin told national broadcaster RTE that it was “unconscionable,” “illogical” and “difficult to comprehend” that blockades were unfolding as the global supply situation tightened.
Truck and tanker movements were still constrained in other areas of the transport network. Police escorted a convoy of seven fuel delivery trucks from different companies to the Whitegate refinery to load up, and later the trucks were seen leaving. Another police video showed tanker trucks pulling out of the Foynes Port fuel hub in Limerick after protesters allowed them through.
The demonstrations also targeted entry points for ferries and freight. Protesters shut down the road leading to Rosslare Europort, a major entry point for freight and passenger ferries in Wexford, stranding cargo there, and the harbor master Tom Curran told RTE the port would reach capacity Sunday.