Gardaí have withdrawn 60 officers from the operation to police the protests at the Shell Corrib gas terminal site in north Mayo.
There were up to 200 protesters at a peaceful demonstration by the gates to the works site this morning.
Inspector Ray McHugh of the Garda press office said that gardaí had reduced their force at the site from 170 to 110 and said it would be reduced further in the right situation.
He said gardaí would facilitate any peaceful protests and that there had been co-operation from the protesters.
Spokesman for the protesters Dr Mark Garvan said that no workers had been stopped from going on to the site. Dr Garvan added that nearly all the protesters were local and that there was no one "piggy-backing" on their protests from other organisations.
He said protesters gather at the site in Bellanaboy at 7am to protest, with most leaving at 9am to go to work, leaving only a handful maintaining a presence at the gate.