LAST UPDATE | 10 Apr

Niall O'Connor Reporting from Whitegate.

GARDAÍ HAVE ERECTED barriers near the entrance to the Whitegate Refinery facility in east Cork as a standoff has developed between a line of gardaí and protesters. 

A number of trucks have arrived at the scene waiting to get in but protesters linking arms in a human chain are standing tightly blocking the road. 

One protester with a tricolour has climbed on top of one of the trucks and started singing the Fields of Athenry. 

The developments added a layer of tension to a situation that has been developing since the blockade began on Wednesday. 

Earlier today, the garda public order unit arrived at the facility as a meeting between protesters and gardaí finished without agreement to lift the blockade.

Gardaí arrived at the site at 10.30am in a large convoy under blue lights. The public-order-trained gardaí remained in their vans, with sergeants and an inspector the only visible sign of them on the road. 

Soft-cap gardaí took up positions across the roads between two junctions at either end of the entrance to the Whitegate Refinery.

The man is now singing the Fields of Athenry serenaded by the protestors. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/v4cdJPRPqK

— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) April 10, 2026

Garda negotiators, in plain clothes, continued to interact with the protesters at the site.

The rain had been very heavy all day, with protesters seeking shelter under raised tippers on large trucks and in two gazebo-style tents erected at the entrance. 

An access road, known as the Low Road, at the refinery had been opened under agreement between gardaí and the protesters.

A number of trucks have arrived now. Gardaí still maintaining a line and protestors are standing tightly blocking the road at Whitegate. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/OghY9ksXks

— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) April 10, 2026

It was agreed earlier that a fuel truck was to be moved up through protest lines, but this has not taken place.  

When five trucks arrived protestors moved from their camp and blocked the road at Whitegate village. A man climbed on the lead truck, waving a tricolour. As he was pelleted by sheet rain he was convinced to come down by gardaí and taken away.

Public Order Unit gardaí who were lined across the road then pulled back. 

Tensions lowered and shortly after 8pm the last of the public order unit gardaí left the scene.

One of the men who was involved in the earlier meeting with gardaí is truck driver Anthony Kelleher, and he spoke to The Journal about what has happened. He was keen to stress that the meetings with the gardaí have been calm and measured. 

“At the moment we are still optimistic that a meeting will take place [between government and the protest groups],” he said. 

A standoff between gardaí and protesters at the Whitegate Oil Refinery in Cork Ea Ea

Speaking earlier before some of the protest leaders were denied entry to a meeting with representative groups in Dublin, Kelleher said that he was hopeful that protesters would get into that meeting and give their side of the issue. 

“We’ll hopefully get this resolved this afternoon. We don’t want to be here. I’ve been here since Tuesday morning. In the last three nights we’ve probably had about an hour’s sleep. 

We’re out here standing in the rain, I don’t mind getting wet, we’re here for everyone in the country, man, woman, child it doesn’t matter.

At 1.30pm this afternoon Kelleher and Mark Troy spoke to protesters and advised them that they were allowing a truck to collect fuel at the site.  

Two of the protest leaders Anthony Kelleher and Mark Troy speaking to the protestors. A bit of a deal has been struck for emergency services’ fuel to be released from Whitegate Refinery. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/jkto36ePsw

— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) April 10, 2026

Kelleher said extra interested groups, such as fishermen, have joined the protests. He said local people have been delivering food and water supplies also. 

He explained that last night they had been asked to “open the roads” and to leave oil out.

“We opened the road about 10 o’clock last night and not one tanker showed up,” he said. 

Kelleher explained that a tanker of liquid nitrogen was allowed to pass the blockade this morning and said that the road had remained open to the public. 

He claimed that the gardaí had escalated the situation and that the protesters are “locked in”. 

“It’s down to the powers that be now. The gardaí have been very fair with us, a lot of patience with us, we appreciate that,” he added. 

A number of opposition politicians, including Thomas Gould from Cork city and Midleton TD Pat Buckley, came to speak to protesters.