Ireland is teetering on the "precipice of turning oil away from the country," Premier Micheal Martin has warned, as widespread protests over soaring fuel costs continue to disrupt supply chains.
The Taoiseach condemned the "unconscionable" blockading of ports and the nation's sole oil refinery by demonstrators. Yet, protest leader John Dallon vowed the action would persist "until we get a result," stating he was refused entry to a government meeting with representative bodies on Friday.
This escalating disruption has prompted gardai to attend a demonstration at the Cork refinery, amid concerns that Irish forecourts risk running dry. Days-long blockades of major supply depots, sparked by rising fuel prices linked to the war in Iran, have caused the shortages.
While protests continued on Friday, activists reported that "more fuel" deliveries were now being permitted.
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 concerns 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.
Mr Martin told RTE: “We are now on the precipice of turning oil away from the country in the middle of a global oil supply.”
He said “somebody else will buy” oil that is on a tanker off the coast of Galway if it cannot dock.
Asked if Ireland is at risk of “losing all its oil supply”, Mr Martin replied, “correct”.
He added: “It is unconscionable, it’s illogical, it is difficult to comprehend.”
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.
Meanwhile, Government ministers are meeting with representative bodies of farmers and hauliers to discuss further support to deal with the high cost of fuel on Friday afternoon.
Protesters, including one of their spokesmen Mr Dallon, were refused entry to the meeting at the Department of Agriculture.
Mr Dallon said protesters had been told by TDs he would be permitted to attend the meeting but that he was turned away when he arrived.
He said “what we really wanted was to be able to step down the protest” and attend the meeting to “get results”, adding “we had demands”.
Asked if the protests would continue, Mr Dallon said: “They’ll continue until we get a result.”
Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (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.
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