A Cork hotel has declined to comment on why it cancelled a booking for an event discussing “what’s next” after the recent fuel protests. TD Ken O’Flynn is among the speakers. Organisers say the event will go on at a different venue.
The Metropole in Cork has declined to offer comment as to why it cancelled an event called ‘Fuel Protests: What’s Next?’ which was scheduled to be held at the hotel this Sunday, the 26th of April.
The event, which will go ahead at a yet-to-be-announced venue, will feature contributions from Independent Ireland TD for Cork North Central, Ken O’Flynn, Councillor Gavin Pepper, and fuel protest figureheads, James Geoghegan and John Dallon.
The event, which is organised by Breaking Point, a body which states that it aims to “foster meaningful political and cultural debate”, says that the Metropole cancelled the event, saying the space was “double-booked” with another event.
Gript contacted the hotel asking why the event was cancelled, if it had been double-booked, and what other event it had been double-booked with, but we were met with “no comment” answers before the line was cut.
Event organiser Dean Keating told Gript that the event was “not a protest” and that it had been “wrongly” reported as a “protest rally” in a recent Cork Beo article.
Before the venue cancellation, organisers described the gathering as an “event in Cork City on the 26th of April in the wake of the recent nationwide fuel protests, bringing together a panel of speakers to examine rising tensions around the cost-of-living crisis and to explore what may follow in the weeks ahead.”
“We are deeply concerned by the failure of the political class to engage with protestors in a meaningful and constructive manner. Equally troubling is the decision by the Minister for Communications to raise the issue of media coverage of the protests with Coimisiún na Meán. This reflects a broader institutional instinct to manage and contain discourse rather than confront it openly.
“At Breaking Point, we believe dissent should not be treated as something to be regulated, but as an opportunity for reflection and growth. Through this event, and others like it, we aim to create a space for open dialogue, something that is essential to any form of progress,” it said.
In a Facebook post on the upcoming event, TD Ruth Coppinger accused Independent Ireland of “far-right bigotry”.
She wrote, “If you had doubts about who Independent Ireland are and who some of the fuel protest spokespersons are — well they’re showing us. Protesters and those whose livelihoods are at stake from the cost-of-living crisis should have nothing to do with the far right or bigotry.”
Coppinger also responded to a comment accusing the speakers of being “tax dodgers and landlords” with “exactly”.
Gript has seen email communications with the organisers and the hotel, in which a member of the events team wrote on the 22nd of April, “my colleague had already booked and confirmed same room so unfortunately this is no longer available for Sunday”, promising that a “full refund” would be issued.
Independent Ireland Councillor, Linda De Courcy, said in an X post, “Why do the left hate dialogue so much? @BreakingPointIE do great work in generating conversations about topics relevant to Irish people.”
“I am extremely disappointed that the hotel, The Metropole Hotel in Cork, has decided to cancel their event planned for next Sunday. We all deserve to be able to meet and discuss ideas, it is the foundation of any civilised society,” she wrote.