'What's the point in punishing ordinary people?' - Cork people on the fuel protests

In Blackpool on Cork's northside there was no let-up in the queues for petrol and diesel at O’Reilly’s Texaco all day Friday, with cars routinely held up in both directions on the road outside.

“It’s not panic-buying if you’re running out of petrol and there’s no petrol to be got anywhere else for 20 miles around,” said a woman filling her Toyota Avensis.

She declined to give her name but said she had travelled from Whitechurch, and she felt the protesters had gone too far in blockading the oil refinery at Whitegate.

“I actually have great sympathy for the people protesting, sure your heart would go out to anyone whose business is struggling, but who are they hurting only ordinary people?” she said.

“You’d have to ask, what’s the point in punishing ordinary people for this?

“They’re blaming Micheál Martin, but they should be above outside the American embassy if they’re that upset. Donald Trump started this war, not the (Irish) Government, and not the man and woman in the street either.” 

However, another driver, who also declined to give his name, said he was disgusted to come back from a holiday in Tenerife “to this fiasco”, and laid the blame squarely at the door of the Taoiseach. In a lengthy treatise, he only stopped just short of accusing Mr Martin of also causing the bad weather.

Inside the shop, the store manager, Joseph Dsouza, said queues had started on Thursday morning and had been consistent since then.

“It started at 9am on Thursday and it was non-stop until 11.30pm, and then started again in the morning today,” he said.

“Some of the petrol stations around here have no fuel, so people are coming here, and we know we will have enough fuel for today, but tomorrow we don’t know. That is not sure.

“People are panicking, and they have good reason to panic. People need transport, and we have people coming here for fuel from Mallow, Blarney, and Ballincollig.” 

Derek Beale from Ballincollig confirmed there was no fuel to be got in his area, but he said he didn’t mind travelling as his son likes to go for a drive with him.

A woman who gave her name as Vicky said the situation is “a nightmare”.

“I’m in Blarney, I’m not too badly off, I got lucky here, but everywhere in Blarney is out, Whitechurch, Cloghroe, they’re all gone, it’s frightening to think what will happen if the protests go on.” 

In town, the English Market was a lot quieter than it usually would be on a Friday afternoon.

Eoin O’Mahony, owner of O’Mahony’s Butchers, and a fourth-generation butcher whose family has been in the market since 1974, said footfall was badly down since the war in Iran had begun.

“The market is always a barometer of the city, and business is way down. It’s Easter, there should be way more tourists around, and way more passing trade,” he said.

“People aren’t passing by, there’s no traffic on the roads, people are either trying to conserve fuel or they’re afraid that they’ll get caught up in a tailback, so customers are just not around.” 

He said that if fuel protests continue into next week, his supply chain could be affected.

“If we’re getting stuff from local abattoirs like Crowley’s in Ballincollig, we should be okay, but if we’re getting deliveries from places like Wexford, we’re small, we could get dropped in favour of bigger companies.” 

Debbie Buttimer, supervisor at O’Flynn’s Gourmet Sausages said the protests had been “terrible” for staff trying to get to work.

“Especially for people who live outside the city, it’s very hard to get into the city,” she said.

“I understand why they have to protest, I empathise with everyone that is protesting, but you see it with people on the M50, trying to get up the side of the road. 

"I would also have serious concerns about ambulances and emergency services being held up, and people not being able to get to medical appointments.

"Like I said, I empatise with the protesters, but I think there should be another way the protest should be done.” 

Margo Ann Murphy, who has two family-run stalls, The Roughty Fruit King, and Roughty’s Little Sister, described the effects of the fuel protests as “absolutely diabolical”.

“We promote all Irish food, and we do Irish flowers as well, local fruits as much as we can but we do have to import some fruit,” she said.

“The situation is just dreadful. It’s hitting the small man big time. You walk into the big boys’ shops and all of their shelves are stocked, but today was the first day I was able to get fruit.

“Tomorrow I have a lorryload of Dutch strawberries waiting to get to Cork, they’re stuck sitting in a lorry, and my supplier doesn’t know if they’ll be able to get the strawberries to me so I’ll be able to have them sitting on my counter in time.”

She offered a nuanced analysis of the current fuel protests, saying that while she agreed with the protester’s aims, she felt their methods were wrong.

“I do empathise with what they’re looking for, I think the Government needs to step up and come on board, but however, I think the way things are being done, nobody is benefitting,” Ms Murphy said.

“I think the Government are on another planet, I think they have to engage with the protesters now, whether they’re being represented by the right bodies or not, I think it doesn’t matter, I feel now things could get out of hand in Dublin, so I think the Government does need to cut the taxes.

"But having said that, I do not agree with holding the country to ransom."