DPD has announced that they will be ‘temporarily suspending’ their services in Ireland over the ongoing fuel protests.
The protest has entered its fourth day since beginning on Tuesday, with blockades remaining in place on various roads in and out of Dublin, motorways nationwide, and at refinery plants and fuel depots which are preventing fuel trucks from entering and leaving.
As a result of the protests, panic buying has continued and has left hundreds of forecourts without fuel, with deliveries not being made as a result of the blockades.
DPD has announced that they will be ‘temporarily suspending’ their services in Ireland over the ongoing fuel protests. Pic: Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Delivery service DPD Ireland has since announced that, due to the protests, they have no choice but to suspend deliveries in Ireland on Saturday (April 11).
‘Due to ongoing fuel protests, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our services in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, 11th April,’ the company wrote in a statement on Twitter (X).
‘We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.’
The fuel protests are continuing. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Activists who are currently blockading the only oil refinery in the country have claimed that they are ‘allowing more deliveries’ to be let out of the plants — but Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has called on the blockades to end.
Mr O’Brien said that 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,’ Mr O’Brien told Newstalk.
Service Update
Due to ongoing fuel protests, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our services in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, 11th April. We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. #YourDeliveryExperts pic.twitter.com/OKmWY9J6pV
— DPD Ireland (@dpdireland) April 10, 2026
‘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.’
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.
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.