Fuel price protesters have secured a meeting with Government Ministers, according to an organiser of the demonstrations who pledged to continue disruptions for a fourth day on Friday.
One of the protest organisers, James Geoghegan, claimed negotiators will join a meeting at Government Buildings on Friday afternoon, alongside the Irish Road Haulage Association and the Irish Farmers’ Association.
It comes as forecourts across the country are running low on fuel as protesters continued blockades on Thursday.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Thursday night, Geoghegan described the meeting as a “breakthrough”, though added that disruptions will continue on Friday regardless.
“We have a list of demands going into the Government tomorrow, very reasonable demands,” he said.
Geoghegan said they had “pulled in the protests off O’Connell Bridge”, adding: “The word has gone down to lift the blockades off kerosene.”
James Geoghegan, an agricultural contractor from Westmeath and one of the chief organisers of the protest, speaks on O’Connell Street on Tuesday. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni
Announcing a fourth day of nationwide action earlier on Thursday, organisers said the Government must “engage with us to stop this”.
In a post on social media on Thursday, organisers said demonstrations are “only going to get bigger and bigger every week if it comes to it”.
Protesters staged slow-moving convoys for a third day, causing widespread disruption at various locations across the country, including on the M1 and M50.
Blockades of Dublin’s O’Connell Street and the State’s only oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork, continued, with protesters at the Irving Oil-run refinery saying they will maintain the blockade until the Government meets their demands and caps fuel prices.
The blockades have led to diminishing fuel supplies at forecourts across the country, with Kevin McPartlan, chief executive of industry group Fuels for Ireland saying stock levels cannot be maintained if deliveries continue to be impeded.
“What we are now seeing at some sites is the inevitable consequences of those blockades,” he said.
Some service stations have run out of fuel or have begun limiting the amount motorists can purchase due to low supply.
Around 40 forecourts in Munster had closed pumps on Thursday due to low supply, while the majority of service stations in Kilkenny had run out of petrol and diesel.
Gardaí confirmed that a number of “critical deliveries” were allowed to depart Foynes Port in Limerick after “positive engagement” with protesters.
The demonstrations drew further condemnation with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying they were “not normal protesting”.
“These types of protests have gone far beyond the pale now in terms of the undermining of people’s fundamental rights, the citizens’ rights to access the essentials of life itself,” he said.
Motorists que for fuel in Midelton, Co Cork, on Thursday. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
His comments came as An Garda Síochána advised protesters to “immediately cease blockades of such critical infrastructure or face the full rigours of the law”.
Deputy Garda Commissioner Shawna Coxon said gardaí were moving to “an enforcement phase in relation to those impacting on critical infrastructure unless they desist and disperse from these blockades”.
The activities of some protesters was “crossing into criminal behaviour”, said Minister for Defence Helen McEntee, adding that the Defence Forces responded “immediately” when asked for support from Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan on Thursday morning.
Both McEntee and O’Callaghan met on Thursday evening with the Garda Deputy Commissioner and Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt Gen Rossa Mulcahy to discuss the response to the protests.
The Defence Forces remained “on standby” to provide assistance on Thursday evening, according to joint statement from the Ministers.
Recognised industry representative bodies may bring fuel protesters into a meeting with Government on Friday.
Late on Thursday night, a Government spokesman said: “Who these nationally and democratically constituted bodies choose to bring along with them is a matter for them.”
The spokesman said Government had already introduced the “most substantive measures anywhere in the EU” on a per capita basis, but added: “We have been clear that these measures were introduced with flexibility to adapt our response, if required.
“That work remains ongoing and will continue tomorrow as we engage with the national representative organisations.
“Government respects the rights of groups to take part in a peaceful protest but cannot stand by when blockades are [taking] place at our country’s refineries and fuel depots.
“It is not helpful to working people, their families and is harmful to our economy.” – Additional reporting: PA