Fine Gael TD praised fuel protesters despite Harris warning
A Fine Gael TD texted fuel protesters to praise them for blockades at Galway Port, despite being warned by party leader Simon Harris not to encourage the demonstrations.
Galway East deputy Pete Roche gave ‘credit’ to those who had staged a five-day blockade at the Galway docks this month, which prevented the delivery of a six-million-litre oil shipment.
He told those mounting the blockades they had brought ‘some perspective on what’s happening out there’.
Galway East deputy Pete Roche gave ‘credit’ to those who had staged a five-day blockade at the Galway docks this month, which prevented the delivery of a six-million-litre oil shipment. Pic: Facebook/Social Media Collect
Mr Roche was forced to explain his attempts to secure a meeting between ministers and protesters during a Fine Gael party meeting, in which he defended his actions.
Speaking to Extra.ie, the TD said his text to the protest organisers was ‘specifically referencing the outstanding way’ that the Galway Port blockade was managed.
He claimed that, unlike how other blockades had been conducted, participants had ‘struck up a great friendship’ with local gardaí and made ‘every effort’ to ensure emergency services had access to roads.
A Fine Gael TD texted fuel protesters to praise them for blockades at Galway Port, despite being warned by party leader Simon Harris not to encourage the demonstrations. Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin
He said: ‘I went in [to the blockade] and was in no way intimidated. I went in, respectfully and by request, and I met some very, very anxious people who were really cross with the way things were.
‘Cross with the fact that Government weren’t listening and, critically, cross with the language used by our leaders, particularly [Taoiseach] Micheál Martin and Minister Seán Canney.’
Mr Roche met with protesters at the fuel depot on Wednesday, April 8, and agreed to help them secure a meeting with ministers.
Fine Gael leader Simon Harris and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. Pic: RollingNews.ie via Oireachtas Press Office
It came after Fianna Fáil leader Mr Martin, Fine Gael leader and Tánaiste Mr Harris and Mr Canney accused the protesters of attempting to hold the Cabinet to ‘ransom’ and denounced the blockades.
Mr Martin later claimed that the blockade at Galway Port had led to threats by the oil tanker’s owner that the delivery would be resold and distributed elsewhere in Europe.
Several sources involved in the events detailed that Mr Roche agreed to meet the blockade organisers, publican Donal Byrne and farmer John Dolan, on the evening of Thursday, April 9, alongside Fianna Fáil TD John Connolly.
He told those mounting the blockades they had brought ‘some perspective on what’s happening out there’. Pic: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
Ahead of the meeting, the Fine Gael TD texted Mr Byrne to inform him that he had spoken to the Tánaiste ‘twice’ that day, and that Mr Harris was ‘most willing to engage’ with protesters.
Referring to the Galway Port demonstration, Mr Roche messaged: ‘Credit your people on the blockade for the efforts they’re making to bring some perspective on what’s happening out there.’
A transcript of the text message was read aloud on Midwest Radio last week and has been confirmed as accurate by Mr Roche. Mr Harris is understood to have supported Mr Roche’s engagement with protesters but had warned the TD to avoid lending any support to the blockades.
Mr Roche would later miss the meeting he arranged with protest organisers as he did not have enough fuel in his car. By that evening, a third of petrol stations and most forecourts in the west had run dry, which posed a specific risk to emergency service operations.
Blockades at Galway Port, Whitegate Oil Refinery and Fermoy fuel depot in Co. Cork, and Foynes Port in Co. Limerick also caused significant disruption to fuel deliveries in the rest of the country.
Mr Roche agreed to travel to Dublin with Mr Byrne and Mr Dolan, by train, to try to secure a meeting with ministers ahead of crunch talks with industry representatives on Friday, April 10.
He told Extra.ie yesterday that he believed the blockades would have been immediately ended had a meeting been arranged between the protest groups and the Government.
The Fine Gael TD appeared alongside the protesters when they were refused entry later that day at the door of Agriculture House in Dublin, where talks were being held.
Mr Byrne told Midwest Radio last week: ‘When we went into the lobby, there was a man at the door with a clipboard, and no one’s name was on the list.
‘Pete Roche was with us, and he was mortified.’ Mr Roche said that he attempted – unsuccessfully – to contact senior Fine Gael ministers to try to secure the men a seat in the negotiations.
He is understood to have addressed this matter, and his rationale behind his engagement, at a parliamentary party meeting at Leinster House last week.
According to several sources familiar with the discussions, remarks made by James Geoghegan, a high-profile protester in Dublin, on RTÉ Radio’s Liveline contributed to the decision to prevent entry to protesters at the meeting.
Mr Geoghegan, while appearing on the programme that day, called on Mr Martin to resign and equated the protest to a national ‘revolution’.
This soured relations between the industry groups, the protest organisers, and Cabinet members, according to three sources.
Extra.ie reported at the time that others involved in the negotiations grew uncomfortable after it appeared that several agendas had emerged from the protests.
Irish Road Haulage Association president Ger Hyland, who met with protesters on April 10, said their demands were unclear and added that he received ‘mixed messages’ from the group.
Blockades on various key fuel depots and locations were strongly condemned by members of Government and industry representative organisations.
Many involved in the blockade at Galway Port dispersed voluntarily on April 12, while members of the Garda Public Order Unit were deployed to clear remaining demonstrators.
