{"id":390704,"date":"2026-04-09T23:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:40:08","slug":"fuel-price-protesters-say-they-will-ease-blockades-after-securing-government-meeting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390704\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel price protesters say they will ease blockades after securing Government meeting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fuel price protesters<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and the Irish Farmers\u2019 Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It comes as forecourts across the country are running low on fuel as protesters continued blockades on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9<\/a>\u2019s Prime Time on Thursday night, Geoghegan described the meeting as a \u201cbreakthrough\u201d, though added that disruptions will continue on Friday regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a list of demands going into the Government tomorrow, very reasonable demands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Geoghegan said they had \u201cpulled in the protests off O\u2019Connell Bridge\u201d, adding: \u201cThe word has gone down to lift the blockades off kerosene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Geoghegan, an agricultural contractor from Westmeath and one of the chief organisers of the protest, speaks on O\u2019Connell Street on Tuesday. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni <\/p>\n

Announcing a fourth day of nationwide action earlier on Thursday, organisers said the Government must \u201cengage with us to stop this\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media on Thursday, organisers said demonstrations are \u201conly going to get bigger and bigger every week if it comes to it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Protesters staged slow-moving convoys for a third day, causing widespread disruption at various locations across the country, including on the M1 and M50.<\/p>\n

Blockades of Dublin\u2019s O\u2019Connell Street and the State\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fuel protesters\u2019 blockade of Ireland\u2019s only oil refinery to stay \u2018until diesel capped\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are now seeing at some sites is the inevitable consequences of those blockades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some service stations have run out of fuel or have begun limiting the amount motorists can purchase due to low supply.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed confirmed that a number of \u201ccritical deliveries\u201d were allowed to depart Foynes Port in Limerick after \u201cpositive engagement\u201d with protesters.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations drew further condemnation with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin saying they were \u201cnot normal protesting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of protests have gone far beyond the pale now in terms of the undermining of people\u2019s fundamental rights, the citizens\u2019 rights to access the essentials of life itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"MotoristsMotorists que for fuel in Midelton, Co Cork, on Thursday. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

His comments came as An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na advised protesters to \u201cimmediately cease blockades of such critical infrastructure or face the full rigours of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deputy Garda Commissioner Shawna Coxon said garda\u00ed were moving to \u201can enforcement phase in relation to those impacting on critical infrastructure unless they desist and disperse from these blockades\u201d.<\/p>\n

The activities of some protesters was \u201ccrossing into criminal behaviour\u201d, said Minister for Defence Helen McEntee, adding that the Defence Forces responded \u201cimmediately\u201d when asked for support from Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Both McEntee and O\u2019Callaghan 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.<\/p>\n

The Defence Forces remained \u201con standby\u201d to provide assistance on Thursday evening, according to joint statement from the Ministers.<\/p>\n

Recognised industry representative bodies may bring fuel protesters into a meeting with Government on Friday.<\/p>\n

Late on Thursday night, a Government spokesman said: \u201cWho these nationally and democratically constituted bodies choose to bring along with them is a matter for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesman said Government had already introduced the \u201cmost substantive measures anywhere in the EU\u201d on a per capita basis, but added: \u201cWe have been clear that these measures were introduced with flexibility to adapt our response, if required.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat work remains ongoing and will continue tomorrow as we engage with the national representative organisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment respects the rights of groups to take part in a peaceful protest but cannot stand by when blockades are [taking] place at our country\u2019s refineries and fuel depots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not helpful to working people, their families and is harmful to our economy.\u201d \u2013 Additional reporting: PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fuel price protesters have secured a meeting with Government Ministers, according to an organiser of the demonstrations who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,46,13308,5485,37635,171749,94324,1556,61,60,42818,12468,18573,1396,69197,43,6085],"class_list":{"0":"post-390704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-cork","10":"tag-defence-forces","11":"tag-energy-costs","12":"tag-energy-crisis","13":"tag-fuel-protests","14":"tag-government-buildings","15":"tag-helen-mcentee","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-irish-road-haulage-association","19":"tag-irish-farmers-association","20":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","21":"tag-limerick","22":"tag-m50","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-rte"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}