{"id":390886,"date":"2026-04-10T02:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390886\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T02:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:01:20","slug":"mary-lou-mcdonald-urges-government-to-pick-up-the-phone-and-talk-to-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390886\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Lou McDonald urges Government to \u2018pick up the phone\u2019 and talk to protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mary Lou McDonald has urged the Government to \u201cpick up the phone\u201d and speak with protesters blocking fuel depots and motorways\u00a0in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>The Sinn F\u00e9in leader was speaking to the press on the third day of demonstrations over rising fuel prices, which have brought parts of the country to a standstill.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the decision by the Minister for Justice to call in the Defence Forces to assist garda\u00ed, she said: \u201cThe decision that needs to be made is for Micheal Martin and Simon Harris to lift the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy on earth is the Government escalating this further? That\u2019s not called for.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"465\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mary-lou-mcdonald-urges-government-to-pick-up-the-phone-and-talk-to-protesters.jpg\" alt=\"Vehicles parked on O\u2019Connell Street in Dublin\" data-title=\"Middle East conflict\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Brian Lawless\" data-usage-terms=\"\"\/>Vehicles parked on O\u2019Connell Street in Dublin. Photo: Brian Lawless\/PA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is called for now is respect, engagement and acknowledgement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked if she supported the protesters, she replied: \u201cI support measures to make it possible for businesses to survive, for people to function, for farmers, for hauliers, for contractors and for others to go about their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cI\u2019m saying to the protesters what I am saying to Government \u2013 I don\u2019t want to see disruption.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI live in this town, in this city, I don\u2019t want to see the disruption that we\u2019re experiencing.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/more-gridlock-as-fuel-protests-enter-third-day-1884215.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/more-gridlock-as-fuel-protests-enter-third-day-1884215.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cc-n7-fuel-protest-traffic2-e1775767181805.jpg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"Fuel Protests To Continue On Friday As Petrol Stations Run Out Of Fuel\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Ireland<\/p>\n<p>Fuel protests to continue on Friday as petrol stations run out of fuel<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also don\u2019t want to see people sleeping in tractors or other vehicles overnight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to see anybody under the kind of effort and the pressure that people are suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McDonald said her party had spent \u201cweeks in the Dail\u201d raising the rising cost of fuel \u201cagain and again\u201d, and had given the Government \u201cchapter and verse\u201d about \u201cwhat was happening in people\u2019s homes, in people\u2019s businesses, the pressure that people were under\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mary Lou McDonald has urged the Government to \u201cpick up the phone\u201d and speak with protesters blocking fuel&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-390886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390886","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=390886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}