{"id":48774,"date":"2026-04-12T18:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48774"},"modified":"2026-04-12T18:00:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:00:41","slug":"irish-ministers-to-hold-emergency-meet-over-fuel-cost-protests-channels-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48774","title":{"rendered":"Irish Ministers To Hold Emergency Meet Over Fuel Cost Protests \u2022 Channels Television"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Irish government was on Sunday due to hold an emergency cabinet meeting to sign off on measures aimed at ending fuel cost protests that have endangered the functioning of the country\u2019s emergency services.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<article>Hauliers and agricultural contractors began a series of\u00a0 protests\u00a0on Tuesday over spiralling petrol and diesel prices amid the Middle East war.<\/p>\n<p>Since then the protests have grown from slow-moving convoys on motorways and restricted access to Dublin\u2019s busiest streets, to a part blockade of Ireland\u2019s only oil refinery and restricted access to at least two other fuel depots.<\/p>\n<p>Finance Minister Simon Harris said later on Saturday ministers had held meetings with transport and agriculture sector representatives ahead of Sunday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n<p>The government was in the process of \u201cfinalising a significant support package to address the ongoing crisis\u201d, a government statement added.<\/p>\n<p>Some protests rolled into a sixth day on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The government has urged the public not to panic buy as pumps at many fuel stations have run dry.<\/p>\n<p>READ ALSO:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2026\/01\/08\/ireland-to-vote-against-eu-mercosur-trade-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ireland To Vote Against EU-Mercosur Trade Deal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Police on Saturday with the support of the armed forces deployed public order units to clear the blockade at Whitegate Refinery in southern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Irish police chief Justin Kelly said the action was taken as a last resort.<\/p>\n<p>The blockading of \u201ccritical national infrastructure\u201d had \u201cresulted in fuel shortages that are directly impacting on emergency services such as hospitals, the ambulance service, and the fire service\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, police dismantled a makeshift barrier erected by protesters blockading western Galway docks.<\/p>\n<p>A late-night operation also targeted the blockade of the capital Dublin\u2019s main thoroughfare O\u2019Connell Street after multiple vehicles including tractors and lorries were removed.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan said earlier the continuation of the protests despite the increasingly difficult situation had been \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Dublin announced a 250 million-euro package to reduce fuel costs, notably including a diesel rebate for road haulier<\/p>\n<p>There were now the \u201cbones of an agreement\u201d with the government, the president Ger Hyland of the Irish Road Haulage Association said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a substantial package and we hope to have this over the line either late tonight or tomorrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>AFP<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2026\/04\/12\/irish-ministers-to-hold-emergency-meet-over-fuel-cost-protests\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Irish government was on Sunday due to hold an emergency cabinet meeting to sign off on measures aimed at ending fuel cost protests that have&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}