BREAKING: ‘We don't know what's ahead of us’: An organiser of protest at Limerick port

THE PROTEST at Foynes Port continues this Sunday despite all blockades in Dublin and at Whitegate Refinery in Cork being cleared by gardai and a garda operation ongoing at Galway Docks.

Eugene O’Connor, one of the organises of the protest in Foynes, told Limerick Live this Sunday morning that the protest continues.

“We don't know what's ahead of us, to be honest with you. There are 100 people here now. Yesterday, we probably had about 2,000 people.

“We are looking at videos of what happened in Cork and what happened in Galway and the public order units moving in. It's not nice looking at videos online of public order units being moved into peaceful protests. It’s a bit scary really,” said Mr O'Connor, a haulier from Kildimo and well-known musician with popular wedding and party band Escapade.

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He said they have run a very peaceful, well-managed protest and have liaised with gardai. A number of critical deliveries of fuel, animal feed and chemicals needed for water treatment have departed from Foynes Port in recent days.

“When we heard the regional (University Hospital Limerick) was running low on oil - that's not what we're here for. We weren't here to make people miss appointments. We weren't here to upset people. 

“We were here to make a statement and the majority of the people in the country did come in around us and support us. I've never seen anything like the community spirit - people, businesses, families coming in, dropping off food, coming in here making sandwiches, teas, coffees, local businesses made soup, pizzas dropped off, food came down every night, dropped out cans of drink to everyone.

"I've never seen Ireland rally together like this in my lifetime. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that our Government couldn't wake up and see that this has gathered real support.”

Mr O'Connor said he has got about two hours sleep in recent days as he tried to sleep upright in his cab as he doesn’t have a bunk. He says this isn't just about the fuel price. 

“This has gone on for years. I used to play in a band and I started this business during Covid when we weren't allowed to play music. Once we came out of Covid things started going well and you're making money. 

“And then you’re doing the same amount of work and your bank balance has just gone down and down and down because costs are going up and up and up and it's just impossible.

“The Government keeps saying, we have a thriving economy, we've a huge tax balance. That's great but the ordinary people don't feel this. They don't care about the working people in this country. They care about the foreign direct investment. The  tax surplus at the end of the year says that the economy's thriving, but the Irish people don't feel it unfortunately and that's what has got us the support.”

He said they have had a horrible couple of days with hailstones, heavy showers and people still stood out in protest.

Regarding the expected “significant and substantial" Government support package, Eugene said if they said yes to that, the ordinary people that were put out and supported them would be left down. 

“We said no. We need to see something at the pumps. We need a cap on the pumps because we can't turn our backs on the people in the rest of the country.

“We didn't do this for ourselves - it's not a selfish thing. If we did, we would have been off the road two days ago, we would have taken the deal they offered but we've done this for the people of the country,” concluded Eugene.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, in a statement issued last night, said over the past four days An Garda Síochána has engaged extensively with protestors seeking to allow access to critical sites and ensure certain trucks containing fuel, medicine and animal feed were allowed pass through blockades.

“Despite the increasingly difficult situation facing people across the country and requests from Government to end the blocking of critical infrastructure, the blockades continued. This is unacceptable.

“While we all acknowledge the impact of higher fuel prices, and seek to minimise that impact, no groups are entitled in our Republic to hold our people to ransom in such a manner,” said Mr O’Callaghan.

The Justice Minister said An Garda Síochána has commenced operations to allow critical infrastructure to operate so people have access to fuel.

“I will continue to engage with the Garda Commissioner and my colleagues in Government as these operations continue.

“I want to thank the Gardai and their colleagues from the Defence Forces for carrying out these difficult duties in such a professional manner.”