{"id":391409,"date":"2026-04-10T09:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391409\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:56:09","slug":"how-fuel-protests-are-impacting-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391409\/","title":{"rendered":"How fuel protests are impacting Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As her mother began to receive end-of-life care, Claire McIver left Dublin<\/a> at 7.30am on Wednesday morning to ensure she could say goodbye.<\/p>\n

The journey to Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel should have taken two hours but instead<\/a> took five, she says.<\/p>\n

She encountered traffic at a standstill on the M7 as a result of a blockade, all the while experiencing \u201canguish\u201d at the thought of not being able to say goodbye to her 93-year-old mother, Tess.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouted at them: \u2018Do you know the havoc you\u2019re causing?\u2019 and they laughed at me,\u201d she says, recalling the blockade near Portlaoise.<\/p>\n

It took her 1\u00bd hours to get on to an alternative route. She says it was \u201cchaos\u201d as drivers attempted to manoeuvre around the protest. <\/p>\n

She was met by a second blockade soon after.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was desperate,\u201d the 54-year-old says. \u201cIt just caused unnecessary heartache.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIver, who lives in Knocklyon, \u201cpleaded\u201d with a protester taking part in the second blockade, explaining she was anxious to say goodbye to her mother, and although he was \u201cempathetic\u201d, she was not let through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just don\u2019t realise the impact they\u2019re having on everyday life,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is no justification for what they are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother was still alive by Thursday night. \u201cWe think maybe overnight or tomorrow, she\u2019ll pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIver was one of dozens to be contacted by The Irish Times after sharing their views on the fuel price protests. <\/p>\n

Several readers described spending hours in their cars, and despite this, some of them said they \u201cfully support the protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Freddy Gomes, a 36-year-old living in Dublin, says the protests are \u201cpainful but necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n

He supports their continuation \u201cuntil the Government reduces their ludicrous taxation on fuel\u201d, which is \u201camong the highest in Europe\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

\"FreddyFreddy Gomes, a 36-year-old originally from Portugal, says the protests are ‘painful but necessary’ <\/p>\n

Gomes, who is originally from Portugal and has lived and worked in Ireland for 16 years, says it is the \u201cfiscal voracity of the State\u201d and not external factors such as the war in Iran, that is \u201cendangering the livelihoods of businesses, farmers and taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Walter Phelan, a 67-year-old living near Kinsale, Co Cork, says it is the first time he has ever supported a protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, Phelan says he does not support protesters \u201cblocking the distribution of fuel to people and making life harder\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever made that decision made a stupid decision because they\u2019ll lose the backing of the public if they go that strongly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Tom Sheedy, a 77-year-old retired civil servant living in Malahide, Dublin, believes the form of protest seen this week \u201cshould be illegal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Sheedy, a 77-year-old living in Malahide, Dublin, says the protests amount to blackmail <\/p>\n

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 \u201clifeline to the outside world\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a \u201cpensioner living alone\u201d, she uses her car daily to visit the \u201cchemist, bank and for grocery shopping\u201d, alongside using it to visit friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all suffering from huge price increases. But now, thanks to these protesters, we are suffering disruption and major inconvenience to our daily lives,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She was able to secure petrol farther afield, but remains concerned about lowering supplies.<\/p>\n

She adds, however, that the \u201cGovernment are not doing enough to help anyone\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As her mother began to receive end-of-life care, Claire McIver left Dublin at 7.30am on Wednesday morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[615,171749,42,43,9123,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-391409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-fuel-protests","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tipperary","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391409","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=391409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}