Cianan Brennan: Truckers’ protest was a tragic scene
Gardaí at the protest near to Dublin Port said they would wait for advice from management as to how to proceed. PIcture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
In the end, the truckers’ protest was something of a tragic scene.
Of the hundreds of vehicles expected to blockade Dublin Port in protest at sky-high fuel costs, just 14 remained from 9am at the East Link roundabout on Dublin’s East Wall.
The East Link toll was closed off by gardaí from before 9am, with three or four heavy trucks blocking the roundabout.
Many more vehicles had left the area in the preceding hours after allegedly being told by gardaí that going through with the protest would risk their licence.
Some 30 or so men and women remained, the vast majority cut disconsolate figures.
“Our livelihoods are gone anyway,” one trucker told the .
None of those present would identify themselves. Many expressed a healthy scepticism for the gathered media, particularly broadcast journalists.
The gardaí made it clear at 10am that, after a four-hour protest, it was time to start fining those assembled. This they did — at €40 a head for the offence of traffic obstruction.
Should the truckers remain, a further fine and two penalty points would follow for the offence of failing to comply with a Garda direction — then a further two points for each additional infraction. Six such offences, and a trucker has lost their licence. You could see the logic.
But with the threat made, there was no follow-through.
The assembled gardaí made it quite clear it wasn’t something they wanted to do.
They even brought breakfast rolls and bottles of water for the protesters. The officers said they would wait for advice from management as to how to proceed.
The worst-case scenario was that the trucks would be towed, though none of the officers thought that a likely outcome.
As the day went on, it became clear that the truckers didn’t have any interest in leaving.
Traffic continued to move through the city relatively smoothly, or as smoothly as anything can move through Dublin City centre. The port remained open and accessible, the Port Tunnel reopened to southbound traffic after a brief period of closure. The schools were off. No one was especially inconvenienced by what was going on.
“It’d be different if they were 300m back that way,” said another garda, indicating the entrance to Dublin Port.
The truckers themselves, for the most part, appeared to be at their wits’ end, and desperately in need of a leader.
Their would-be messiah, Independent TD for Limerick Richard O’Donoghue, arrived just before 2pm having driven up from his home county.
He made it clear he had no part in the protest, but he “fully supported” what the truckers were trying to achieve.
The TD gave an impassioned, if slightly incoherent, speech to the gathered protesters in front of one of the parked vehicles, which saw them find their voice for the first time all day.
“Get onto your backbench TDs, put pressure on them, get your families to do so also,” was his general advice.
He added he would advise them to head for home as soon as it looked like penalty points were to be dished out.
As the day wound down, there was little indication that advice would be followed.
No winners in a strange stalemate.
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