A HEARSE has been added to the convoy of protesting vehicles at junction 11 of the M18.
Members of the fuel protest group are in their fifth day of protesting on the roads of Clare.
Tractors, trailers, trucks, buses, cars and diggers have been among the vehicles forming a road block at junctions 11 and 14 of the M18 in Newmarket-on-Fergus and Barefield since the middle of this week.
Saturday afternoon saw the arrival of a new vehicle with a hearse added to the blockade at junction 11. ‘Driven to the grave by fuel prices’ is the message displayed at the back of the hearse on the northbound section of the motorway.
This follows protesters in Dublin led by Christopher Duffy carrying a coffin down O’Connell Street and onto the Dáil which had the messaging ‘RIP Ireland’.
On Thursday, Bunratty Mobile Homes provided a mobile home caravan at junction 11 to give protestors an alternative option other than their vehicles to sleep in. Also on Thursday, CES Environmental Services gave portaloo toilets in another show of solidarity.
Across the country on Saturday, tensions are heightening with An Garda Síochána using pepper spray to remove protesters at the oil refinery in Whitegate, Co Cork. Seven fuel trucks entered the refinery after Gardaí broke the four-day blockade. The Defence Forces’ heavy-lift vehicle is at the site with a number of soldiers from the Transport Corps but has not been used. Four busloads of Gardaí arrived at Whitegate shortly before 11:30am, where protestors are on day four of a blockade preventing supplies from leaving the facility.
Clare protesters have been calling for unity, “everybody here has to stand together,” one member informed the group. They added that protestors must “resist the control of this Government going forward”.
Ennis Chamber has said the continued blockades has caused ‘widespread damage‘ to the economy in Clare while Retail Excellence Ireland said retail trade is down fifty percent since the blockades have been mounted. Quilty farmer and barber, Joseph Woulfe said, “Ennis been quiet with years with the road rip up. Fuel increase reduces disposable income”.
