People will die unless fuel protests end urgently — Fuels for Ireland CEO

A line of trucks protesting on O'Connell Street in Dublin on Saturday. Picture: RollingNews

People will die unless fuel protests end urgently, Kevin McPartlan, CEO of Fuels for Ireland told the Irish Examiner on Saturday evening.

Despite the partial reopening of Whitegate oil refinery, the fuel situation across the country continues to deteriorate, he said.

Approximately 1,000 of the country's 1,600 service stations may be empty tonight, he said.

“If everything went back to normal tonight, we’re still 10 days away from having normal supply.

“We’ll still have 10 days of forecourts with no or limited supply.

“Tomorrow that will be worse again.

“By Monday evening, we will not be able to guarantee fuel anywhere in the country."

The restrictions on fuel are now down to "a failure of policing", he said.

“We’re a coupe of days from garda cars not having fuel," Mr McPartlan said.

People are going to die because ambulances cant get to them. It could have happened already.

The first 12 vehicles to refuel at a service station in Limericks city after it was restocked recently were ambulances, he said.

And panic buying is compounding the problem across the country.

Fuels for Ireland CEO Kevin McPartlan. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

Seven fuel trucks have now left Whitegate oil refinery with another 10 approximately due to leave shortly, Mr McPartlan said.

After that, fuel trucks “in the single digits” will leave the east Cork oil refinery tonight.

This will mean that approximately 20 fuel trucks will have left Whitegate today. That number is usually nearer to 200 daily, he said.

“And Foynes and Galway [terminals] are still locked down," Mr McPartlan said.

“Where we usually have about 800 [fuel] trucks [delivering] a day, we today probably have about 220, including the ones from Whitegate.

“We’re not stopping the crisis, we’re slowing it down very marginally. What we actually need is the gardaí to step up and ensure that there can be complete, unhindered access to Whitegate, Foynes and Galway. And once the trucks have got out of those facilities, that they can move on roads unhindered as well.” Slow moving fuel protest convoys across the country are having “a huge” impact on the fuel supply, he said.

"It's no good just getting trucks out, we have to make sure they can get where they're trying to go.

"But we see on social media protestors talking about how to block or slow traffic at key junctions."

Only about half of the normal fuel deliveries from Dublin port is getting through due to traffic restrictions. Fuel deliveries through the port supply approximately half of the country’s fuel. Although there is no blockade at the port, traffic restrictions are hugely limiting what is getting through to service stations from there, he said.

Protesters take part in a blockade at a fuel depot in Foynes, Co Limerick.

He urged people not to buy fuel unless it was critical.

"We need to make sure emergency services and critical services can get their fuel," he said.

“Panic buying is compounding the problem. We need to appeal to people to have some patience while we catch up.

People see a few trucks leave Whitegate and think this is over. It’s not. It’s not improving, it’s still deteriorating.

“You have about one quarter of normal delivery ability with about five or six times the normal demand.

“So whenever you fill somewhere that’s out of stock, you quickly run out there again.

Tense scenes between gardaí and fuel price protesters at Cork's Whitegate oil refinery on on Saturday. Picture: Larry Cummins

“People realise you can get fuel there and rush to panic buy."

Irelands south and the west coast are still the worst affected areas. But a contagion caused by panic buying has now led to fuel shortages across the country, especially in Leinster, Mr McPartlan said.

The State's response has been "lackadaisical", he said.

"It’s insane that gardaí have not gotten control of this situation," Mr McPartlan said.

Garda Commissioner: Blockades 'not legitimate form of protest

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said in a statement this evening that gardaí have worked hard since Tuesday "to minimise disruption caused to the citizens of the country".

"Despite this, some people have decided to escalate an already difficult situation by blockading critical national infrastructure such as fuel depots and refineries.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly speaking to the media at Garda Headquarters om Dublin on Saturday. Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire

"This has resulted in fuel shortages that are directly impacting on emergency services such as hospitals, the ambulance service, and the fire service, as well as businesses and the general public," Mr Kelly said.

"These are blockades. They are not a legitimate form of protest. 

They are illegal activity that is endangering our State.

These blockades have put gardaí in "an invidious position" of having to deploy public order units to ensure that hospitals can function, fires can be responded to, and people can be brought to hospital, he said.

"We never want to do this, but the blockaders have left us with no choice.

"We gave the blockaders fair warning that we were moving to enforcement and they choose to ignore it and continue to hold the country to ransom."

Gardaí moved to restore fuel supplies in Whitegate on Saturday, which involved making multiple arrests, he said.

Further such operations will follow, he said.

"Blockaders must immediately cease blockades of critical infrastructure and road networks or face the full rigours of the law," he said.

He commended gardaí for their work and thanked the Defence Forces for their support.