LAST UPDATE | 13 Dec 2021
THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT disruption to rush hour traffic on routes around Dublin Port this evening due to a demonstration by hauliers protesting over rising fuel costs.
The Port Tunnel was closed southbound for several hours today due to congestion caused by the protest taking place at Dublin Port.
All roads reopened shortly after 5:30pm but traffic remained heavy on many routes in the capital.
The protest was being held by a haulage group that caused traffic disruption in November, where road users reported crawling traffic or gridlock in parts of Dublin throughout the day.
The group, Irish Truckers and Haulage Association Against Fuel Prices, said truckers from across the country took part in the protest.
Convoys met up at various points on motorways outside Dublin and made their way towards the port this morning.
“Once you arrive, park up lock up and get out of your vehicle,” read a post by the group on Facebook.
“No goods in or out!”
The group said they would let port staff through and keep an emergency route free.
According to Dublin Port, the protest blocked the Promenade Road and Alexandra Road entrances to the port.
Multiple streets in the city were closed due to the protest earlier.
The group’s Facebook page gives the following description of its aims: “We are a group of hauliers who have been suffering for long enough now with price hikes and tax hikes. We have been failed by the IRHA [the Irish Road Haulage Association] and Government.”
Tom Dineen, one of the drivers, told the PA news agency: “It’s for diesel and taxes and just to get them down.”
He defended the disruption caused by the protest, saying that it was being done for everyone and not just hauliers.
“It’s for everyone, it’s not just for us. It’s for every man and woman going to work in the morning. Driving a car, a bike, a van. It is everyone.”
Retail Excellence, Ireland’s largest representative body for the retail industry, said on Sunday that the planned truckers’ protest would represent a “body-blow” to retailers in Dublin city at a crucial time of the year for sales, and asked them to called it off.
Its managing director Duncan Graham said: “There is no doubt that every industry is under fire from various quarters at present, and we have some sympathy for the plight of the hauliers, but now that sympathy is rapidly running out.
At this time of the year, retailers take in approximately €200 million every day, and it beggars belief that one group would act in this irresponsible way to restrict access to the capital city and in doing so, imperil livelihoods at a time when every trading day counts.
“Footfall in Dublin city centre is down by 30% on 2019 levels, as people continue to steer clear of the capital and instead shop online or in suburban shopping centres.
“This action by truckers and hauliers is a body-blow which will drive another nail into the coffin of many city-centre retailers who are in desperation mode now.”
Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally and PA
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say