Fuel price protesters gathered outside Ireland’s only oil refinery say that if gardaí and the Army come in to remove them, then others will replace them.
The protesters said they will maintain a blockade until the Government meets their demands and puts a cap on fuel prices.
Numbers maintaining the blockade on the road leading to Irving Oil’s refinery at Whitegate in east Cork, which supplies about 40 per cent of Ireland’s petroleum, continued to grow all Thursday morning. Around a dozen trucks and four tractors narrowed the entrance so that only private vehicles could gain access.
Among those there overnight was local builder Joe Rynne, who runs his own construction company in Whitegate, employing seven people. He said the surge in fuel prices over the last few weeks has made his business virtually unsustainable.
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“I have seven lads in total working and I have five diggers – I burned €108 worth of diesel in two hours and that was only doing light work – that’s not sustainable and I’m here today because it’s not going to pay me to go back to doing what I was doing yesterday,” he said.
As the number of protesters swelled to more than 60 people, a small number of gardaí were maintaining a discreet presence inside the blockade closer to the refinery, with uniformed officers chatting with some of the protesters.
Word spread at one stage that troops were reported to be leaving Collins Barracks in Cork City in personnel carriers. Speculation then mounted that this might well be what Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan had envisaged when he spoke about calling in the army to assist gardaí.
Word spread, however, that troops from Collins Barracks were due to deploy to the Unifil peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in a few weeks’ time and that the troops were headed for Lynch Camp in Kilworth in north Cork for a training exercise.
[ Fuel protests: Gardaí advise protesters to ‘immediately cease’Opens in new window ]
Rynne said the protest was a grassroots movement, and he expected others will be willing to take the place of anyone who was removed from Whitegate, with plenty of hauliers, builders, farmers and contractors willing to maintain a blockade.
“We are going to stay here until this is sorted and white diesel is capped at €0.90 a litre and green diesel is capped at €1.60 to €1.70 a litre and if we are removed, then reinforcements will come down from the rest of the country and will take our place,” he said.
“What’s unbelievable about this protest is that it started with a WhatsApp group on Sunday night and every person that was burning diesel started adding another person who was burning diesel, and it grew organically then.
“There’s one WhatsApp group for Cork and one for up the country and one for the west of Ireland – the Cork group maxxed out at 1,025 people and we have people coming down to join us now from Mallow and Charleville in north Cork and we have people here too from west Cork.”
Among those from west Cork to join the protest was truck driver Dieter Bayer, from Dunmanway. “A good Cork name all right,” he joked as he revealed that his antecedents came to Cork from Germany before going on to explain his presence at the protest.
“All my work is based off trawlers collecting fish that Spanish trawlers land in Castletownbere but the Spanish trawlers aren’t landing here any more because they can’t afford the fuel – it’s cheaper for them to land back in Spain and refuel there so my work has dried up.
Later, the protesters said that in the event of the army arriving and asking them to remove their lorries, they would remain peaceful and mount a rolling protest on the public roadway.
Building contractor Paul O’Riordan from Mourneabbey in North Cork said that those protesting had no desire to get involved in any confrontation with either the army or members of An Garda Síochana and would remain peaceful in all interactions with them.
“We’re committed to maintaining a peaceful protest – we’re not stopping anyone doing their job and if they feel want to move vehicles, then we will let them – I don’t want to get arrested, there’s nobody here wants to get arrested or cause any harm to anybody, there’s no need for that.
“So we agreed if they want people to leave, we will take our lorries and leave and mount a rolling protest up to Midleton roundabout – that’s what we will do and we are going to remain peaceful if the army come in here to move us on,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, the atmosphere remained relaxed in Whitegate with around 60-70 protesters gathered in small groups.
Gardaí maintained a discreet presence inside the blockade. One Garda source said their intention is simply to remain engaged with the protesters and avoid any action that might lead to an escalation.
“These are very decent people who have a grievance over fuel prices and we’re not intent on doing anything at this stage that might inflame the situation and hopefully the Government can come up with a solution to resolve the problem sooner rather than later,” said a garda source.
The area remained open to local residents, with many passing motorists honking their horns and giving thumbs up in support to those maintaining the blockade.
