Taoiseach Micheál Martin said fuel protestors had “genuine concerns” last month but confirmed local gardaí were wary of seeking support from contracted tow trucks to move machinery blockading the Port of Galway.
Speaking to the Advertiser while canvassing in the Galway West by-election, Martin said pharmaceutical and med-tech factories in the west were close to shutting down during the disruption by fuel price protestors, who used lorries and agricultural machinery to disrupt roads in April.
He said heavy lifter army vehicles were redeployed to Galway because of Garda concerns they might not be able to fully rely on civilian contractors, either due to sympathy for the protestors blockading fuel storage facilities in the Galway Harbour Enterprise park, or because of intimidation fears.
“A lot of people had a lot of genuine concerns and anger about the impact of the Middle Eastern war on fuel prices,” he said. “Over the last number of years, there’s been multiple shocks that have hit the public, from Brexit, the inflationary spiral post-Covid, and the invasion of Ukraine. Ten per cent inflation in 2022 elevated prices, and then we had President Trump’s tariffs, and now the war in the Middle East hitting people very hard. So I understand that, and we understand the pressures that families are under.”
Martin hit out at the nature of the blockades of ports and fuel refineries, however, which he claims threatened large-scale employers across the West, and in his native Cork, which rely on just-in-time supply chains.
“If you look at all the multinationals based in Galway who manufacture medical devices, all those devices have to be exported through ports.
“So we had to open up the ports, and we had to open up to the oil refinery. I mean, in the context of a world contraction of oil supply by about 20 per cent, I think, it would have been very damaging to the country if we’d lost oil, if oil was sent out. The refinery was telling us that they would export.”
During the peak of the fuel protests, an oil tanker ship, the Thun Gemini, was unable to offload its six million litres of agricultural diesel and kerosene at Galway’s fuel terminal, because tanker trucks could not empty the storage bunkers fast enough due to the blockade. It rode at anchor for two days in Galway Bay while authorities figured out how to disperse protestors from a narrow bridge to the facility on which they had erected a stockade.
More than 200 gardaí were deployed at the port, and fewer than 10 arrests were made after Defence Forces’ Bison vehicles cleared obstructions on New Dock Road bridge.
“My understanding is there was reluctance on some private contractors to get involved. We also know that in terms of those who drove oil into the refinery, and out of the refinery, there was quite considerable intimidation by a minority. But that did happen, and Gardaí testified to that.”
An Garda Síochána had not replied to press enquiries at time of publication.
See inside for Advertiser interview with Micheál Martin on Galway West canvas
