The main representative bodies for Northern Ireland’s farmers and hauliers have distanced themselves from social media organised fuel protests said to be planned for the coming days.
A string of AI-generated posters have appeared advertising protests across the north over the rising cost of fuel after farmers and hauliers paralysed roads, ports and fuel depots in the south in recent days.
The first of the protests was earmarked for Enniskillen on Friday afternoon, however, footage from the scene showed that just two tractors there.
The posters have also announced blockages for the Westlink in Belfast, Sprucefield in Lisburn, Larne Harbour, Derry, Strabane and other locations across Northern Ireland between this weekend and next week.
Speaking on Friday, the main groups representing farmers and hauliers in Northern Ireland distanced themselves from the plans.
In a statement to The Irish News, the Ulster Farmers’ Union said it was “aware of the planned protest but is not involved in organising it”.
“Farmers and businesses across Northern Ireland are frustrated as fuel and input costs continue to rise, placing real pressure on the agri-food sector and wider economy,” it said
“The UFU’s role is to work constructively with government and decision-makers to secure practical solutions for farmers and our priority is ensuring that the concerns of our members are heard and acted upon through these channels.
“The UFU has requested direct engagement with the Prime Minister and relevant departments to discuss both the immediate challenges and the longer-term actions required to strengthen the resilience of UK and Northern Ireland agriculture.
“We would encourage that if any action is taken, it is safe, lawful and mindful of the wider public.”
The Road Haulage Association was equally clear, saying it had no involvement in any planned protests here.
“The RHA is not involved in organising fuel protests,” it said.
“Instead we’re calling on the Government to scrap planned fuel duty increases and to introduce an Essential User Rebate for haulage, coach and van operators to reduce the costs of moving people and goods.”
The Ulster Unionist Party also acknowledged the scale of public frustration, saying working families, businesses and farmers “are being hammered by sky high fuel costs,” but stressed that any protest action “must be lawful, must respect other people’s right to use the road network” and “must not impede the vital work of our emergency services.”
It is unclear who is behind the north’s protests, as the AI-generated posters do not give details of any group.
In the Republic, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan warned that protesters there were being “manipulated by outside actors” and singled out British far-right activist Tommy Robinson as seeking to exploit the demonstrations for his own “political purposes”.
On Friday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly wrote to the Prime Minister urging “immediate action” on rising fuel and energy costs, calling for a package including a fuel duty reduction, targeted support for hauliers, farmers and SMEs, and a comprehensive cost-of-living intervention.
The two leaders said they are “deeply concerned about the escalating pressures facing families, workers and businesses” and warned that rising costs “are not sustainable”.
In the Republic on Friday Taoiseach Micheal Martin warned that the country is on the “precipice of turning oil away from the country” as protests over the rising cost of fuel continue.
Mr Martin said the blockading of ports and a refinery by protesters was “unconscionable”.
However, one of the leaders of the protests has insisted that the demonstrations will continue “until we get a result”.
John Dallon said he had been refused entry to a meeting between Government ministers and representative bodies on Friday afternoon.
It comes as gardai arrived at a demonstration at Ireland’s only oil refinery in Cork and amid continuing concern that Irish forecourts risk running dry after days-long blockades of major supply depots.
Protests disrupting fuel supplies were continuing on Friday, but “more fuel” deliveries were being allowed out, according to activists.
Hauliers and agricultural contractors began a series of protests on Tuesday, which have grown from slow-moving convoys on motorways and restricted access to Dublin’s busiest streets, to blockades of fuel depots that supply half the country.
Access has been restricted to Ireland’s oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork, as well as fuel depots in areas such as Galway City and Foynes, Co Limerick.
It has raised concerns over panic buying at forecourts, some of which have run out of fuel, as well as impacts on emergency services and deliveries of key supplies for animal welfare on farms.
Government leaders have condemned the protests as “wrong”, and said the fuel blockades were holding the country to “ransom”.
One minister of state, Niall Collins, said the Government was working on a package of measures to tackle inflation that would only be implemented “once the blockade of our ports ends”.
The Irish army remains on standby to help gardai remove blockades at critical infrastructure, which includes fuel depots.
Gardai confirmed they were “at the scene of an incident in Whitegate, Co Cork” on Friday morning.
A spokesperson for protesters at Foynes Port said they would allow feed and five loads of fuel to be transported to frontline workers and hospitals, after allowing chemicals needed by Uisce Eireann through their blockade on Thursday.
Mr Martin told RTE: “We are now on the precipice of turning oil away from the country in the middle of a global oil supply.”
He said “somebody else will buy” oil that is on a tanker off the coast of Galway if it cannot dock.
Asked if Ireland is at risk of “losing all its oil supply”, Mr Martin replied, “correct”.
He added: “It is unconscionable, it’s illogical, it is difficult to comprehend.”
Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said he was “extremely concerned” about fuel supplies not being dispersed across the country.
“I’m even more concerned when I get a message this morning from my colleague, Minister James Brown, about curtailment of fire and emergency services,” he told Newstalk on Friday.
“No-one can stand over that. We do not want to have to deal with this situation in a heavy-handed way and I don’t think that will happen. What we need to do is to de-escalate this now, today.”
Meanwhile, Government ministers are meeting with representative bodies of farmers and hauliers to discuss further support to deal with the high cost of fuel on Friday afternoon.
Protesters, including one of their spokesmen Mr Dallon, were refused entry to the meeting at the Department of Agriculture.
Mr Dallon said protesters had been told by TDs he would be permitted to attend the meeting but that he was turned away when he arrived.
He said “what we really wanted was to be able to step down the protest” and attend the meeting to “get results”, adding “we had demands”.
Asked if the protests would continue, Mr Dallon said: “They’ll continue until we get a result.”
Fine Gael TD Peter Roche said he was “frustrated” with the response from government ministers after attempting to facilitate a meeting between protesters and ministers.
He said he believed, as a result of conversations he had with “senior people within the government”, that protest spokespeople would be allowed to attend the meeting.
But he told RTE’s Drivetime a minister attending the meeting told him it would be against “all the rules and guidelines of the Dail and the department” for the protesters to join the meeting.
Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), has offered to act as an “honest broker” between protesters and the Government.