{"id":413672,"date":"2026-04-23T15:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413672\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:46:08","slug":"hotel-no-comment-on-cancellation-of-fuel-protests-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413672\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotel \u201cno comment\u201d on cancellation of fuel protests event"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Cork hotel has declined to comment on why it cancelled a booking for an event discussing \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d after the recent fuel protests. TD Ken O\u2019Flynn is among the speakers. Organisers say the event will go on at a different venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Metropole in Cork has declined to offer comment as to why it cancelled an event<\/a> called \u2018Fuel Protests: What\u2019s Next?\u2019 which was scheduled to be held at the hotel this Sunday, the 26th of April.<\/p>\n

The event, which will go ahead at a yet-to-be-announced venue, will feature contributions from Independent Ireland TD for Cork North Central, Ken O\u2019Flynn, Councillor Gavin Pepper, and fuel protest figureheads, James Geoghegan and John Dallon.<\/p>\n

The event, which is organised by Breaking Point, a body which states that it aims to \u201cfoster meaningful political and cultural debate\u201d, says that the Metropole cancelled the event, saying the space was \u201cdouble-booked\u201d with another event.<\/p>\n

Gript contacted the hotel asking why the event was cancelled, if it had been double-booked, and what other event it had been double-booked with, but we were met with \u201cno comment\u201d answers before the line was cut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Event organiser Dean Keating told Gript that the event was \u201cnot a protest\u201d and that it had been \u201cwrongly\u201d reported as a \u201cprotest rally\u201d in a recent Cork Beo article<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the venue cancellation, organisers described the gathering as an \u201cevent in Cork City on the 26th of April in the wake of the recent nationwide fuel protests, bringing together a panel of speakers to examine rising tensions around the cost-of-living crisis and to explore what may follow in the weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply concerned by the failure of the political class to engage with protestors in a meaningful and constructive manner. Equally troubling is the decision by the Minister for Communications to raise the issue of media coverage of the protests with Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n. This reflects a broader institutional instinct to manage and contain discourse rather than confront it openly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Breaking Point, we believe dissent should not be treated as something to be regulated, but as an opportunity for reflection and growth. Through this event, and others like it, we aim to create a space for open dialogue, something that is essential to any form of progress,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post on the upcoming event, TD Ruth Coppinger accused Independent Ireland of \u201cfar-right bigotry\u201d.<\/p>\n

She wrote, \u201cIf you had doubts about who Independent Ireland are and who some of the fuel protest spokespersons are \u2014 well they\u2019re showing us. Protesters and those whose livelihoods are at stake from the cost-of-living crisis should have nothing to do with the far right or bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coppinger also responded to a comment accusing the speakers of being \u201ctax dodgers and landlords\u201d with \u201cexactly\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gript has seen email communications with the organisers and the hotel, in which a member of the events team wrote on the 22nd of April, \u201cmy colleague had already booked and confirmed same room so unfortunately this is no longer available for Sunday\u201d, promising that a \u201cfull refund\u201d would be issued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Independent Ireland Councillor, Linda De Courcy, said in an X post, \u201cWhy do the left hate dialogue so much? @BreakingPointIE do great work in generating conversations about topics relevant to Irish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely disappointed that the hotel, The Metropole Hotel in Cork, has decided to cancel their event planned for next Sunday. We all deserve to be able to meet and discuss ideas, it is the foundation of any civilised society,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cork hotel has declined to comment on why it cancelled a booking for an event discussing \u201cwhat\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[181487,181488,181489,171749,61,60,8650,172549,181490,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-413672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-point","9":"tag-cllr-gavin-pepper","10":"tag-cork-beo","11":"tag-fuel-protests","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-james-geoghegan","15":"tag-john-dallon","16":"tag-ken-o-flynn","17":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413672","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=413672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}