Ministers defend response to fuel protests ahead of confidence vote

Ministers have defended the government action on soaring energy costs caused by the Iran war as it faces a no confidence motion on Tuesday.

The political fallout from the disruption caused by fuel protests last week is continuing, as one minister questioned media reporting of the demonstrations and another said things could be “improved” at Cabinet.

Commuters also faced further disruption on Monday morning due to slow-moving convoys on motorways after the government announced half a billion euros worth of measures to help with rising fuel costs.

Despite days-long blockades at fuel depots and Ireland’s only oil refinery being cleared at the weekend, some forecourts remained without fuel and representative bodies said it would take days to return to normal.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly issued a message thanking gardai for breaking down “illegal blockades which were interfering with access to our critical national infrastructure” and condemned “attempts in person and online to threaten and intimidate gardai who are engaged in their lawful work”.

Ireland’s Agriculture Minister acknowledged there was “frustration out there” and that people had been driven to protest because of “a really significant shock to their energy bills”.

Martin Heydon said that a narrative had formed on social media that the government “don’t understand” and were “not listening”, but he said they were “reacting in real-time” to the war in the Middle East.

“I would very much counter that, we are reacting in real-time, but as a government, we absolutely listen and have to respond when an awful lot of people protest – protests and blockades are two different things,” he told RTE Radio.

“I absolutely, fundamentally respect and will passionately fight for people’s right to protest and tell me they disagree with me, but when people block critical infrastructure, that is different.”

Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary and Mr Heydon said the measures would have an influence on the government’s budget in October.

“We have to be very honest with people, that an intervention of three-quarters-of-a-billion euro is not without its consequences in terms of future decisions,” Mr Heydon said.

Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister Helen McEntee said Ireland was one of the first countries to respond to the energy crisis and said the package worth three quarters of a billion euros was “the highest per capita in Europe”.

She also said “things at a senior level can be improved” when asked whether her colleague Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan had informed her that gardai would be requesting the army’s help to remove blockades – a move seen to have irked those involved in demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan said that he would ask the media regulator to examine how the protests were reported on by broadcasters and news outlets.

“We were in the middle of a national crisis and carte blanche was given to some people and obviously that then fed into a huge amount of legitimate concern,” he told a local radio station in Limerick.

The move has been criticised as “sinister and deeply disturbing” by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Protesters – largely led by hauliers, farmers, and agricultural workers – began distinct but co-ordinated action on Tuesday with slow-moving convoys and outright stoppages on major motorways, as well as blockades of critical infrastructure which had largely wound down or been disbanded by police by midday on Sunday.

A package was announced on Sunday evening for fuel-dependent workers affected by rising fuel costs triggered by the US and Israeli war in Iran and the effective shutdown by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz.

Worth around 505 million euros, it comes on top of 250 million euros worth of measures announced almost three weeks ago.

Despite the announcement, large vehicles caused delays on motorways including the M50 southbound, the M1 southbound in Co Louth and the M9 at Athy, Co Kildare.

A Facebook page sharing information about the protests posted on Sunday night both suggesting the protests should continue on Monday and that “all protestors and gardai go home”.

A spokesman for the Dublin fuel protest said the protesters “achieved something small” in 505 million euros worth of government measures announced on Sunday, but that he has “no control” over further protests.

The seventh day of disruption on Monday comes before the government faces a motion of no confidence in the Irish parliament on Tuesday.

The main opposition party Sinn Fein is to table the motion criticising the government for not reconvening the Dail last week and not engaging directly with the protesters, while also calling on the government to take the “maximum action necessary” to cut fuel prices.

People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said the vote would be a “big test” for independents supporting the coalition government, while Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty criticised the government for “laughable” measures announced on Sunday.

“Again, they come up short, and that’s why so many people are annoyed this morning,” Mr Doherty said on Monday.

“Indeed, the government made matters worse. They went from insulting people, to demeaning them, to threaten them with the army, to refuse to talk to people and try and resolve this.”

A spokesman for the protesters said they had no control over the more regional demonstrations.

“Nobody knows what the plan is, that’s being straight out there,” said John Dallon, a Kildare farmer and agriculture contractor who was at the Dublin protest.

He said he welcomed the measures on green diesel, but the government “should have done something” on kerosene.

“This protest is out of my hands, it escalated to somewhat so big, and I don’t know where it’s going to end, but it’s the government’s fault,” he told Newstalk radio on Monday.

“We achieved something small, but this is something way bigger now, and I have no control over it, and that’s exactly where I’m coming from.

“It’s gone to the stage that it seems like, looking out there, that the people of the island of Ireland have no confidence in this government anymore.”