{"id":2629,"date":"2026-04-11T13:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=2629"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:11:53","slug":"ireland-deploys-army-to-clear-fuel-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2026\/04\/11\/ireland-deploys-army-to-clear-fuel-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland deploys army to clear fuel protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Demonstrators say they\u2019ll choke the Irish economy until the government slashes fuel taxes Published 9 Apr, 2026 17:17 | Updated 9 Apr, 2026 18:20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Heavy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protesters blockade a motorway in protest of rising fuel prices in Dublin, Ireland, April 9, 2026 \u00a9  Getty Images;  Brian Lawless<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish government has announced that it will use the military to clear trucks and tractors blocking \u201ccritical infrastructure.\u201d<\/em> Protests launched over soaring fuel prices have brought Dublin to a standstill in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Thursday, Irish Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan said that \u201cthe blocking of critical national infrastructure will not be permitted to continue and the assistance of the Defense Forces has been requested.\u201d<\/em> Protesters who fail to disperse will have their vehicles moved by force, and \u201cshould not complain later about any damage caused to those vehicles,\u201d<\/em> O\u2019Callaghan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters in trucks, tractors, and other large vehicles have blockaded Dublin city center since Tuesday and formed slow-moving convoys on key motorways throughout the country. The demonstrators have also blocked ports in Galway and Limerick, and the country\u2019s only refinery at Whitegate, near Cork, which processes imported oil to meet 40% of Ireland\u2019s fuel demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blockades have already triggered fuel shortages across Ireland, with 100 petrol stations predicted to run dry by Thursday night, an industry spokesperson told the Irish Independent.\"Tractors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tractors block traffic in Dublin, Ireland, April 8, 2026 \u00a9  Getty Images;  Brian Lawless<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuel prices have spiked in Ireland as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran, with petrol rising by 15% and diesel currently costing nearly 30% more than in mid-February. Home heating oil, meanwhile, has surged in price by almost 70%. Taxes make up almost 60% of fuel costs in Ireland, and the protesters argue that the government should slash these levies to ease pressure on farmers, haulers, and commuters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In case you are unaware, tens of thousands of farmers, truck drivers, bus drivers and delivery drivers are fuel protesting across Ireland this week.The Irish have had enough and are fighting back \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83d\udcaa\ud83c\udffb\ud83d\udcaa\ud83c\udffb\ud83d\udcaa\ud83c\udffbFollow us for video updates and share pic.twitter.com\/KltGl3OO9x<\/a>\u2014 TheLiberal.ie (@TheLiberal_ie) April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A minor cut in fuel taxes last month \u2013 15 cents per liter on gasoline and 20 cents on diesel \u2013 was criticized by Ireland\u2019s opposition Sinn Fein party as \u201ca pathetic token gesture that doesn\u2019t even come close to what is needed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish government has refused to negotiate with the protesters. \u201cIt is an act of national sabotage to blockade this refinery and it will directly impact the people of Ireland,\u201d<\/em> Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, referring to the Whitegate demonstration. \u201cA gun can\u2019t be put to the head of government.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin was filmed on Thursday walking away from angry demonstrators in Cork, who accused him of \u201cwalking away from the Irish people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demonstrators say they\u2019ll choke the Irish economy until the government slashes fuel taxes Published 9 Apr, 2026 17:17 | Updated 9 Apr, 2026 18:20 Protesters blockade a motorway in protest of rising fuel prices in Dublin, Ireland, April 9, 2026…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}