Govt extends fuel supports

The government voted to extend fuel supports for another two months when the Dáil was recalled last Friday to consider the measures.

A phased return of excise duty rates had been due to take place in four stages, beginning on September 1, with a nine cent per litre increase in petrol and 10 cent per litre rise in diesel.

However, the Dáil was recalled from its summer recess on Friday when it voted to hold the existing rates for another few months - with 104 in favour and 49 against.

Those in favour included local Government TDs, Minister Niamh Smyth and Deputy Brendan Smith; while those who voted against from this constituency were Sinn Féin Deputies Matt Carthy and Cathy Bennett who instead want to see no further increase in excise duties until the energy crisis is resolved.

There was no record of Deputy David Maxwell (FG) having voted.

From November until the end of February, the current intention is that the rates will be restored on a gradual and phased basis, however the Government has said it “continues to monitor developments closely”. The extension also applies to marked gas oil, or green diesel.

The estimated cost to the Exchequer from September 1 until the final restoration on February 28 next year is approximately €407M; while the government pointed out it has provided more than €1.3 billion in supports over a 12-month period to assist households and businesses with the increased energy costs arising from the conflict in the Middle East.

‘Kicking the can down the road’

However, opposition parties put it to the government that Friday’s decision simply means “kicking the can down the road”.

“It is clear that the Government has still not got the message because its answer is not to halt fuel tax increases but simply to reschedule them,” Sinn Féin Party Leader Mary Lou McDonald said, while calling for no increases in excise duty until the energy crisis is resolved.

While Deputy McDonald said the party “support” stopping the September and October increases, she said they “will not support a plan that simply moves those increases to November, December, January and February. These taxes have to be kept off, while fuel prices remain high,” she insisted.

Meanwhile, Aontú’s Deputy Peadar Tóibín accused the government of “tax-gouging the people of Ireland”.

“Half a million families are in energy arrears. Nearly a third of the population cannot afford a staple of life, namely, energy. That is astounding in one of the richest countries in the world,” he said.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the Government “has a responsibility to respond to the circumstances in front of us”.

He said they are “providing certainty” where they can “responsibly”.

“We are providing certainty in September and October, and as a Government, we continue to keep all matters under review,” he said.

“We look at the international situation, the global energy markets and the price at the pumps, and we take decisions based on the circumstances that actually exist at the time, not predictions that people endeavour to make many months in advance,” he said.

As of Friday last week, the price of a litre of petrol in Denmark was €2.45 per litre, in the Netherlands it was €2.35, €2.25 in Germany, €2.18 in Finland and in France it was €2.07pl.