Protests Over Soaring Cost Of Fuel Spread In Ireland
LONDON (AP) — Protests over rising fuel costs spread across Ireland on Saturday; Many gas stations began to dry up as truck and tractor drivers staged a fifth-day blockade of the country’s only fuel refinery and several warehouses.
Vehicles blocking traffic led to the closure of the main motorway around the capital Dublin, as well as six other major highways.
Fuels for Ireland chief executive Kevin McPartlan said more than a third of the republic’s 1,500 service stations had run out of fuel and that number was expected to rise significantly if the roadblocks continued.
Irish police have warned all their officers they could be called to duty over the weekend, and the army has also been on standby to help remove vehicles as the government is due to renew talks on Saturday to resolve the dispute.
Frustration over rising fuel prices led to protests that began Tuesday and continue to grow as news spreads on social media.
Government officials, who had already taken measures to ease the burden of price increases, were puzzled by the logic behind the protests because the price increase was global and conflicts in the Middle East restricting oil exports.
Liam McBurney – PA Images via Getty Images
The country is on the verge of turning away tankers because of a global shortage and is in danger of losing its oil supply, Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Friday.
“This is illogical, illogical and difficult to understand,” Martin told national broadcaster RTE.
Truckers, farmers, taxi and bus operators are among those planning the blockades and are calling for caps on fuel prices or cuts to consumption or carbon taxes.
Liam McBurney – PA Images via Getty Images
Liam McBurney – PA Images via Getty Images
The government two weeks ago approved a series of measures to lower fuel prices, including a temporary cut in excise taxes on motor fuels, an expansion of rebates for truckers and bus operators who use diesel fuel, and an expansion of a program that helps low-income people with heating costs.
However, these declines were quickly overcome as international prices continued to rise.
The protests began with slow-moving convoys restricting access to some of Dublin’s busiest streets and blocking fuel depots that supply half the country. Some protesters spent the night in their vehicles, demanding that the government talk to them.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said on Thursday that foreigners were manipulating demonstrators to advance their own agenda or “genuinely want to do harm to our country”.
