Overview
- Negotiations between ministers and recognised haulage and farm groups are due to restart at lunchtime Saturday.
- Officials are considering an excise cut on agricultural diesel and a higher diesel rebate for hauliers, with any package dependent on blockades ending.
- Protesters who were excluded from official meetings say they will keep blockades at depots and the Whitegate refinery until costs fall.
- Fuels for Ireland reports about 500 of 1,600 forecourts are out of fuel and warns the country could lack a reliable supply by Sunday night.
- The National Ambulance Service has cancelled inter-hospital transfers and fire services have halted non‑essential responses, while gardaí declared an “exceptional event” and put the Defence Forces on standby.