Garda Commissioner 'absolutely appalled' as gardaí are abused after fuel protests

"Despite this, some people have decided to escalate an already difficult situation by blockading critical national infrastructure such as fuel depots and refineries.

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"This has resulted in fuel shortages that are directly impacting on emergency services such as hospitals, the ambulance service, and the fire service, as well as businesses and the general public".

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said that "these are blockades. They are not a legitimate form of protest. They are illegal activity that is endangering our State.

"These blockades are also putting at risk supplies that are critical for our country.

"These blockades have put An Garda Síochána in an invidious position of having to deploy public order units in order to ensure that hospitals can function, fires can be responded to, and people can be brought to hospital".

He said "We never want to do this, but the blockaders have left us with no choice. We gave the blockaders fair warning that we were moving to enforcement and they choose to ignore it and continue to hold the country to ransom.

"This morning, An Garda Síochána moved to restore fuel supplies from Whitegate Refinery. We made a number of arrests during this operation. In the coming hours and days we will have further such operations".

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has commended gardai on their work "which has required a significant amount of planning".

"I also want to thank the Defence Forces for their support. These operations have required the deployment of a large number of Gardaí.

"Gardaí who should have been engaged in patrolling cities and towns, community engagement, and investigating crimes such as domestic abuse.

"Instead, because of the illegal actions of a few, much of this valuable work to keep people safe is not taking place. We are aware that there has been intimidation of fuel tanker drivers, these are criminal offences, we will not tolerate this and we will investigate all such reports and prosecute suspects.

"Offences such as threats to kill or cause serious harm carry sentences of up to 10 years. My message is clear.