As her mother began to receive end-of-life care, Claire McIver left Dublin at 7.30am on Wednesday morning to ensure she could say goodbye.
The journey to Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel should have taken two hours but instead took five, she says.
She encountered traffic at a standstill on the M7 as a result of a blockade, all the while experiencing “anguish” at the thought of not being able to say goodbye to her 93-year-old mother, Tess.
“I shouted at them: ‘Do you know the havoc you’re causing?’ and they laughed at me,” she says, recalling the blockade near Portlaoise.
It took her 1½ hours to get on to an alternative route. She says it was “chaos” as drivers attempted to manoeuvre around the protest.
She was met by a second blockade soon after.
“It was desperate,” the 54-year-old says. “It just caused unnecessary heartache.”
McIver, who lives in Knocklyon, “pleaded” with a protester taking part in the second blockade, explaining she was anxious to say goodbye to her mother, and although he was “empathetic”, she was not let through.
“They just don’t realise the impact they’re having on everyday life,” she says. “There is no justification for what they are doing.”
Her mother was still alive by Thursday night. “We think maybe overnight or tomorrow, she’ll pass.”
McIver was one of dozens to be contacted by The Irish Times after sharing their views on the fuel price protests.
Several readers described spending hours in their cars, and despite this, some of them said they “fully support the protesters”.
Freddy Gomes, a 36-year-old living in Dublin, says the protests are “painful but necessary”.
He supports their continuation “until the Government reduces their ludicrous taxation on fuel”, which is “among the highest in Europe”, he says.
Freddy Gomes, a 36-year-old originally from Portugal, says the protests are ‘painful but necessary’
Gomes, who is originally from Portugal and has lived and worked in Ireland for 16 years, says it is the “fiscal voracity of the State” and not external factors such as the war in Iran, that is “endangering the livelihoods of businesses, farmers and taxpayers”.
Walter Phelan, a 67-year-old living near Kinsale, Co Cork, says it is the first time he has ever supported a protest.
“This Government have driven the middle-income earners into despair. Most families are only two pay cheques away from being on the street. We are one of the most expensive countries in Europe,” he says.
However, Phelan says he does not support protesters “blocking the distribution of fuel to people and making life harder”.
“Whoever made that decision made a stupid decision because they’ll lose the backing of the public if they go that strongly,” he says.
Other readers described anxious delays in traffic as they tried to make hospital appointments, or being unable to reach vulnerable people in care settings. One reader spoke of how they missed a flight and had to cancel a family holiday.
Tom Sheedy, a 77-year-old retired civil servant living in Malahide, Dublin, believes the form of protest seen this week “should be illegal”.
“It amounts to a blackmailing of society by those in possession of heavy vehicles. Protest marches are a legitimate form of protest but not the use of vehicles to massively disrupt the right of people to circulate,” he says.
Tom Sheedy, a 77-year-old living in Malahide, Dublin, says the protests amount to blackmail
Noting that her local service station in east Cork had no petrol on Wednesday, Mary, who preferred to give her first name only, says her car is her “lifeline to the outside world”.
As a “pensioner living alone”, she uses her car daily to visit the “chemist, bank and for grocery shopping”, alongside using it to visit friends.
“We are all suffering from huge price increases. But now, thanks to these protesters, we are suffering disruption and major inconvenience to our daily lives,” she says.
She was able to secure petrol farther afield, but remains concerned about lowering supplies.
She adds, however, that the “Government are not doing enough to help anyone” with rising fuel costs, saying she will not be able to afford a refill of her home-heating oil when it runs out in the coming weeks.