No ‘step down’ in fuel protests, Galway demonstrators warn

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

Fuel demonstrators at Galway Docks have said there will be no “step down from any protests across the country”.

Tractors line the bridge at the harbour, where cars and buses are being permitted entry and exit, but no fuel trucks have been allowed to pass since Tuesday.

The fuel depot in Galway City is one of three sites, alongside the country’s only oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork, and Foynes depot in Co Limerick, that are responsible for providing fuel to roughly half of Ireland, according to an industry expert.

Some service stations have already run out of fuel as nationwide protests entered their fourth day, with concerns the number may rise if the sites are not open soon.

Despite rain and severe winds, protesters at the docks in Galway on Friday were in high spirits, and expressed their determination to keep pressure on the Government.

A metal unit set up near the site dispensed tea, coffee and cocktail sausages, while fires were lit in oil drums.

Eoin Delaney, one of several dozen men standing at the site, said their aim is to “get this diesel brought under control, because the way it’s going there now we won’t be able to keep going”.

“There’s no fuel lorries going in or out at all. None has gone in now since Tuesday morning,” he said.

“There’s four lorries still sitting up there in the depot, and four lorries came here Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night, and they were denied access.

“And while we’re after hearing there now, just from Dublin there now as well. I don’t think there’s going to be any step down from any protests across the country.”

Asked if he was planning to stay out on protest, Mr Delaney said: “Yes, and that’s what we’re hearing from everyone and from everyone else around the country as well.”

He added: “Everyone is probably exhausted, and no-one wants to be here more than the next man.

“But you know, it’s just the reality of it.

“It’s the sad reality of it that we’re going to have to keep going and stay here.”

Paul Greaney and Frank Burke, two construction workers, were also battling the heavy winds to show their support, saying that taxpayers are being “crippled”.

Mr Greaney said: “We’re just being gouged everywhere.

“And it’s not just diesel. It’s not just trucks and tractors.

“It’s in the hardware, it’s in the grocery shops, it’s everywhere.”

Mr Burke said: “New couples trying to rear families and whatnot, like it’s ridiculous.

“It’s awful unfair.”

Both expressed support for a price cap on fuel while the war in the Middle East is impacting supplies.

An Garda Síochána has been monitoring the protest action across the country and officers were present at blockades, with three to four Garda cars stationed in Galway on Friday afternoon just beyond where the demonstrators were stationed.

Representatives from the protesters directed traffic across the bridge into and out of the harbour.

The Defence Forces have said they are “on standby” to assist with the removal of heavy vehicles engaging in blockades of critical infrastructure.

Asked about the risk of having vehicles damaged if they are forced to be removed, Mr Greaney said: “That’s the risk, if they want to try and pull us out, they’re going to have a job.

“It’s not going to happen.”

Mr Burke said: “A lot of the Guards would be country boys as well so they know well there.”

Mr Greaney added: “And at the end of the day, and I hope Micheál Martin sees this, we’re paying his wages and we’re paying all their wages.

“We pay for the hospitals, we pay for the Guards, we pay for everything.

“So just enough is enough.”