{"id":11589,"date":"2026-04-11T09:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/11589\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T09:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:08:13","slug":"farmers-and-hauliers-groups-distance-themselves-from-ni-fuel-demonstrations-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/11589\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers and hauliers groups distance themselves from NI fuel demonstrations \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main representative bodies for Northern Ireland\u2019s farmers and hauliers have distanced themselves from social media organised fuel protests <\/a>said to be planned for the coming days.<\/p>\n

A string of AI-generated posters have appeared advertising protests across the north over the rising cost of fuel<\/a> after farmers and hauliers paralysed roads, ports and fuel depots in the south in recent days.<\/p>\n

The first of the protests was earmarked for Enniskillen on Friday afternoon, however, footage from the scene showed that just two tractors there.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/a>\"Farmers<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday, the main groups representing farmers and hauliers in Northern Ireland distanced themselves from the plans.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Irish News, the Ulster Farmers\u2019 Union said it was \u201caware of the planned protest but is not involved in organising it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers 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,\u201d it said<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFU\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would encourage that if any action is taken, it is safe, lawful and mindful of the wider public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Road Haulage Association was equally clear, saying it had no involvement in any planned protests here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RHA is not involved in organising fuel protests,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ulster Unionist Party also acknowledged the scale of public frustration, saying working families, businesses and farmers \u201care being hammered by sky high fuel costs,\u201d but stressed that any protest action \u201cmust be lawful, must respect other people\u2019s right to use the road network\u201d and \u201cmust not impede the vital work of our emergency services.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is unclear who is behind the north\u2019s protests, as the AI-generated posters do not give details of any group.<\/p>\n

In the Republic, Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan warned that protesters there were being \u201cmanipulated by outside actors\u201d and singled out British far-right activist Tommy Robinson as seeking to exploit the demonstrations for his own \u201cpolitical purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Friday, First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly wrote to the Prime Minister urging \u201cimmediate action\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The two leaders said they are \u201cdeeply concerned about the escalating pressures facing families, workers and businesses\u201d and warned that rising costs \u201care not sustainable\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the Republic on Friday Taoiseach Micheal Martin warned that the country is on the \u201cprecipice of turning oil away from the country\u201d as protests over the rising cost of fuel continue.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said the blockading of ports and a refinery by protesters was \u201cunconscionable\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, one of the leaders of the protests has insisted that the demonstrations will continue \u201cuntil we get a result\u201d.<\/p>\n

John Dallon said he had been refused entry to a meeting between Government ministers and representative bodies on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

It comes as gardai arrived at a demonstration at Ireland\u2019s only oil refinery in Cork and amid continuing concern that Irish forecourts risk running dry after days-long blockades of major supply depots.<\/p>\n

Protests disrupting fuel supplies were continuing on Friday, but \u201cmore fuel\u201d deliveries were being allowed out, according to activists.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s busiest streets, to blockades of fuel depots that supply half the country.<\/p>\n

Access has been restricted to Ireland\u2019s oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork, as well as fuel depots in areas such as Galway City and Foynes, Co Limerick.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Government leaders have condemned the protests as \u201cwrong\u201d, and said the fuel blockades were holding the country to \u201cransom\u201d.<\/p>\n

One minister of state, Niall Collins, said the Government was working on a package of measures to tackle inflation that would only be implemented \u201conce the blockade of our ports ends\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Irish army remains on standby to help gardai remove blockades at critical infrastructure, which includes fuel depots.<\/p>\n

Gardai confirmed they were \u201cat the scene of an incident in Whitegate, Co Cork\u201d on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin told RTE: \u201cWe are now on the precipice of turning oil away from the country in the middle of a global oil supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said \u201csomebody else will buy\u201d oil that is on a tanker off the coast of Galway if it cannot dock.<\/p>\n

Asked if Ireland is at risk of \u201closing all its oil supply\u201d, Mr Martin replied, \u201ccorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt is unconscionable, it\u2019s illogical, it is difficult to comprehend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien said he was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d about fuel supplies not being dispersed across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m even more concerned when I get a message this morning from my colleague, Minister James Brown, about curtailment of fire and emergency services,\u201d he told Newstalk on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo-one can stand over that. We do not want to have to deal with this situation in a heavy-handed way and I don\u2019t think that will happen. What we need to do is to de-escalate this now, today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Protesters, including one of their spokesmen Mr Dallon, were refused entry to the meeting at the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cwhat we really wanted was to be able to step down the protest\u201d and attend the meeting to \u201cget results\u201d, adding \u201cwe had demands\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if the protests would continue, Mr Dallon said: \u201cThey\u2019ll continue until we get a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine Gael TD Peter Roche said he was \u201cfrustrated\u201d with the response from government ministers after attempting to facilitate a meeting between protesters and ministers.<\/p>\n

He said he believed, as a result of conversations he had with \u201csenior people within the government\u201d, that protest spokespeople would be allowed to attend the meeting.<\/p>\n

But he told RTE\u2019s Drivetime a minister attending the meeting told him it would be against \u201call the rules and guidelines of the Dail and the department\u201d for the protesters to join the meeting.<\/p>\n

Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), has offered to act as an \u201chonest broker\u201d between protesters and the Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The main representative bodies for Northern Ireland\u2019s farmers and hauliers have distanced themselves from social media organised fuel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5484,34,3004,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-11589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-fuel","9":"tag-protest","10":"tag-republic-of-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116385290807675601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}