Ireland is "beginning to claw back" fuel supply, but there will still be several hundred forecourts without fuel in the coming days, according to Fuels for Ireland.
CEO of Fuels for Ireland Kevin McPartlan said the forecourts without fuel will mostly be concentrated on the west coast and south of the country.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, he said that "we are doing everything we can" and that the Government response has "ramped up".
He said that fuel will be back at full capacity within 24 hours in the Whitegate refinery, and the clearance of the Galway docks and Foynes blockade will ramp up progress in recovery.
He added that it could take up to ten days before the normal delivery cycle wil be fully restored.
Earlier, in a statement, Mr McPartland said restoring fuel supplies will take place "at a measured pace".
Mr McPartlan said that a logistics and distribution challenge is being dealt with and a number of "practical factors" are slowing the pace of recovery.
However, Mr McPartlan said that every effort is being made to maximise deliveries "safely and lawfully" but that recovery will "happen in stages, not all at once".
The public should expect an improvement in fuel supply over days and not hours, he said.
"The priority now is to restore a reliable national distribution as quickly and safely as possible," Mr McPartlan said in the statement.
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Live: Updates as they happen
O'Connell Street locked down, parked vehicles being removed
Bridge to Galway Port being secured as demonstration over
Cabinet to hold emergency meeting on sixth day of fuel protests
Fuel price protests rolled into a sixth consecutive day, with spokesmen calling on the Government to take urgent action to reduce fuel costs which they say are at unsustainable levels and will lead to people going out of business.
The coalition is expected to sign off on fuel-cost measures today, but it remains to be seen if it will convince protesters to call off their actions before the return of schools tomorrow adds to pressure on the roads.
In Dublin, 200 gardaí backed up by the mounted, and water units, the garda helicopter, and plain clothes detectives assisted with the operation to clear a blockade and remove protesters from O'Connell Street.
Gardaí said that the capital's main thoroughfare would be gradually reopened during the day as remaining parked vehicles are also removed and the street is expected to return to normal.
The blockade at Galway harbour, where protesters erected a make-shift barricade overnight, also ended this morning following a garda enforcement operation that began shortly before 8am.
The fuel protesters who have blocked access at the port at Foynes in Limerick also stepped down their protest this afternoon, as has protesters restricting access to Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford.
