{"id":394177,"date":"2026-04-12T03:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T03:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/394177\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T03:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T03:34:13","slug":"ireland-facing-weeks-of-crisis-as-fuel-runs-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/394177\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland facing weeks of crisis as fuel runs out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland faces at least a week of unprecedented domestic paralysis as fuel stocks collapse.<\/p>\n

Ministers have been warned that it may take up to a month to restore normal fuel supply nationwide, as blockades look set to continue for a sixth day.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tOn the fifth day of the growing crisis, it emerged:\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Fuel supplies are likely to run out in up to 1,000 forecourts tonight and conversations have begun on rationing for essential workers.<\/p>\n

The reopening of schools after Easter may be affected with some routes blocked, while there have also been claims some school bus drivers may join the protest.<\/p>\n

Imported food shortages are anticipated as perishable food may not be delivered.<\/p>\n

Manufacturing industries may stall as factories cannot obtain raw materials.<\/p>\n

Retailers and shops may run out of stock if deliveries are further hit.<\/p>\n

Non life-threatening fire service callouts have been restricted.<\/p>\n

The government is facing intense criticism over its handling of the blockade<\/a> by a network of farmers, hauliers and contractors, who have caused widespread chaos by blocking off roads and access points to critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"TractorsTractors blocked the road at junction 7 on the M50 in Dublin on SaturdayPhotocall Ireland<\/p>\n

Ministers were on Saturday told that up to 1,000 forecourts could run out of fuel by that night, with severe nationwide shortages expected on Sunday. Even if full access is restored immediately to the three key fuel sites at Whitegate in Cork, the Foynes terminal in Limerick and the Galway terminal, it will take at least a week to restore normal supplies, and possibly up to a month if disruption continues.<\/p>\n

The Defence Forces were called in on Saturday to Whitegate to help gardai break up a blockade of the country\u2019s only oil refinery, and \u00adseveral arrests were made.<\/p>\n

Justin Kelly, the garda commissioner, said officers would use force \u201cup to the level that\u2019s necessary\u201d in further operations at key sites. <\/p>\n

He said he wanted to send a message \u201cthat we will not tolerate this any longer\u201d. An \u201cexceptional event\u201d was declared by garda management last Friday, allowing the force to bolster staffing. A water cannon was spotted at Garda HQ in Phoenix Park on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"GardaGarda HQ Phoinex Park water cannonTimes Media Ltd<\/p>\n

Efforts to resolve the crisis have been further complicated by motorway and road network blockages, the government has been advised, and each day of disruption is predicted to add another two to three days to the recovery period.<\/p>\n

Ireland also risks losing access to inbound shipments as terminals cannot accept new deliveries unless their existing supplies are dispatched to forecourts. Circle K is said to have faced six-figure demurrage fees to ensure the Thun Gemini, an oil tanker delivering oil to Galway, remained anchored offshore while gardai attempted to clear access routes into the local port terminal. <\/p>\n

Miche\u00e1l Martin, the taoiseach, is said to have requested that oil companies do everything in their power to ensure pending deliveries are not rejected.<\/p>\n

\"TaoiseachMiche\u00e1l Martin sought reassurances from oil companiesBrian Lawless\/PA<\/p>\n

The harbourmaster of Rosslare Europort said that it might have to turn away ferries due to a road blockade outside the facility.\u00a0There are concerns the protesters<\/a> will appeal to all farmers, truck drivers and contractors to refuse to collect and make deliveries, while An Garda Siochana later said it was aware of reports of alleged intimidation and harassment targeting drivers of fuel tankers.<\/p>\n

The government is still refusing to meet the activists, and on Saturday ordered gardai to begin making arrests and removing vehicles used in the blockades<\/a>. The move appears to have acted as a catalyst encouraging more people to join the movement and set up their own blockades, which are springing up across the country.<\/p>\n

Scores of lorries and tractors entered Cork city within hours of gardai removing protesters from the access road into the Whitegate oil refinery in Co Cork, while \u00adhundreds of people descended on Dublin city to join the blockade on O\u2019Connell Street. While far-right agitators joined the crowds, the protesters have explicitly distanced themselves from extremists, say gardai.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) met on Saturday to discuss contingency plans. A source at the meeting said the national picture was that \u201cfuel availability is starting to impact across all sectors with concerns for food delivery, exports, animal welfare and fuel supplies for essential workers\u201d. The return to school tomorrow was viewed as being a further \u201ccomplicating factor\u201d.<\/p>\n

A second source said a discussion was held on what measures might be needed to ensure that essential workers could get access to fuel in the event of even deeper disruption.<\/p>\n

In a statement after the meeting, the NECG said it had discussed concerns that workers, including essential workers, might not have sufficient access to fuel to drive to and from their places of work, \u201cjeopardising the provision of critical services, health services, as well as business operations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group said that fire services across Ireland had to put in place contingencies to manage the restricted availability of fuel. Responses to non life-threatening callouts are now restricted. It also warned the sustainability of fuel supplies<\/a> for emergency vehicles continued to be a matter of growing concern as did the ability of staff to report for duty.<\/p>\n

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In agriculture, the \u201cdisruption to supplies of animal feed and fertiliser remains a significant issue and threatens the welfare of animals. There is an increasing threat to the feasibility of milk collections\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cabinet will meet on Sunday, when ministers will be given a security update by Jim O\u2019Callaghan, the justice minister, and Helen McEntee, the defence minister. If progress is made on the fuel support package, this could also be approved.<\/p>\n

The details of the agreement to be presented to cabinet involves a \u201cwartime fund\u201d similar to a scheme introduced after the invasion of Ukraine.\u00a0Sources expect an enhanced version of this scheme which will be indexed in line with current inflation rates. <\/p>\n

There will also be a fuel support scheme for farmers and contractors. In a statement last night, Simon Harris, the tanaiste, said he expected \u201csignificant progress\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland faces at least a week of unprecedented domestic paralysis as fuel stocks collapse. Ministers have been warned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-394177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394177","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=394177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}