{"id":397581,"date":"2026-04-14T07:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/397581\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:56:08","slug":"gardai-concerned-radicalised-fuel-protesters-may-confront-or-attack-senior-politicians-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/397581\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed concerned radicalised fuel protesters may confront or attack senior politicians \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garda<\/a> protection is being stepped up around senior politicians, including Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, due to fears they will be targeted amid public anger following fuel protests<\/a> over the past week. <\/p>\n

There are concerns that some of those involved have become radicalised and will seek to publicly confront senior politicians.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a>, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> and Minister for Defence Helen McEntee<\/a> were also outspoken against those involved in blockades. The Garda\u2019s efforts to ensure their safe passage countrywide will now involve added security and deeper planning.<\/p>\n

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly<\/a> has already said he was aware of \u201cattempts in person and online to threaten and intimidate garda\u00ed\u201d who had been policing the protests and blockades<\/a>. He had viewed some of the online content and was \u201cabsolutely appalled by it\u201d, adding that those responsible would be brought to justice.<\/p>\n

Political Correspondent Ellen Coyne looks at the political fallout of the fuel protests and whether the Government measures will placate the protesters. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan announced last Thursday morning that the Defence Forces<\/a> had been placed on standby, following a Garda request, to aid the operation to clear protests and blockades. McEntee has refused to confirm or deny reports that she was not consulted before O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan also warned protesters they \u201cshould not complain later about any damage caused\u201d to their vehicles during removal. He added that \u201coutside actors\u201d, including British far-right figure Tommy Robinson, were \u201cmanipulating\u201d the protesters so they could \u201cdamage Ireland as a country\u201d. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s warning that the far right was trying to exploit the fuel protests was regarded as well-founded. Garda sources said there were clear efforts to infiltrate the protests by the Irish far right, who appear to be seeking momentum as anti-immigration sentiment has dissipated over the past 12-18 months.<\/p>\n

However, it is feared the role O\u2019Callaghan played in the past week, especially being seen as the figure who first mentioned the Defence Forces could be used to help garda\u00ed break blockades, may now make him a target for protesters.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fuel protests: Coalition\u2019s worst week shows Ireland unprepared for economic deteriorationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A significant security operation will also be undertaken as the D\u00e1il on Tuesday sits for the first time since the protests began early last week. <\/p>\n

Senior Garda officers believe the strength of feeling towards politicians, among some sectors of the protest movement, will not be restricted to those in Government. As a result, public representatives from all parties will be offered security advice.<\/p>\n

Comment was sought from Garda Headquarters and from Martin\u2019s and O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s home county of Cork became a flashpoint for last week\u2019s demonstrations, including a blockade around a vital oil refinery in Whitegate, east Cork. While protests were called for Sunday in all 26 counties, an event in Cork city was especially well supported, with far-right agitators and criminal elements also in attendance.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a group of protesters gathered at the IDA industrial estate in Macroom, where Martin was opening a new timber frame facility, and accused the Taoiseach of using a rear entrance to avoid them.<\/p>\n

Other politicians were also heckled, some robustly, and otherwise challenged by people attending different fuel protest events over the past week. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda protection is being stepped up around senior politicians, including Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, due to fears they will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,72,13308,171749,1556,61,60,18573,61415,1843,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-397581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-defence-forces","11":"tag-fuel-protests","12":"tag-helen-mcentee","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","16":"tag-justin-kelly","17":"tag-micheal-martin","18":"tag-simon-harris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397581","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=397581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}