Government officials welcomed news of the security operation at Whitegate, two days later Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan ordered military assistance to the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland.
“If the Whitegate refinery is not reopened, this country will be closed. It is a matter of national security,” said Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s junior minister for European affairs and defence.
Fuel for Ireland, which represents petrol distributors and filling stations, said around 600 of Ireland’s 1,500 petrol stations across the country were already out of supply.
Protesters continue to block major roads in central Dublin and several junctions across the country as part of their demand for immediate tax cuts. The center of the protest is O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare, where dozens of tractors, trucks and vans have invaded public transport in the capital since Tuesday.
Ireland’s right-wing government – which last month reduce the tax on petrol and diesel in response to the increase in oil prices provoked by the attack of the United States and Israel on Iran – it has refused to speak directly to the protesters because they are acting without the support of official representative bodies, Irish Road Transport Association and Irish Farmers’ Association.
Protesters are also blocking oil trucks from entering or leaving two other key oil import ports in Galway and Foynes, in County Limerick. Reflecting the situation, a Dutch oil tanker carrying 6 million liters of oil has been kept idle in Galway Bay since Thursday because the oil tanks in the port are already full.
