Petrol stations are closing at the rate of two a week and one of the main reasons is the growth of service stations operated by big retailers, according to an industry group.
The Irish Petrol Retailers' Association (IPRA) claims that unfair competition from big retailers is driving many smaller service station shops out of business. The IPRA says that planners are not enforcing restrictions on the size of petrol station shops in the case of "big box" retailers such as Tesco.
"Owning a petrol station was once a viable, lucrative family business," says Oliver Lupton, chief executive of the IPRA. "Small operators are being forced out of business by the unfair competitive advantage being given to 'big box' retailers whose main line of business is consumer goods, not petrol."
His claims were dismissed by a Tesco spokesman, who said the real reasons for the closures were the bypassing of many towns and their stations and rationalisation within the oil industry. Tesco operates just nine stations in the Republic, he pointed out.
There were 2,974 service station shops in the Republic in 1994, but 1,200 of these have closed since.
In the same time, the number of cars and vans has increased by 50 per cent.
Some of the stations occupied lucrative sites which were sold for redevelopment, but the IPRA says that another reason for the growing dearth of stations is the "unfair advantage" enjoyed by "big box" retailers selling petrol.
It says that small retailers are required by planning regulations to keep their sites under 100 sq m while striving to add specialised goods and services to their offerings.
In contrast, supermarkets can provide up to 3,500 sq m of food as well as siting a petrol station in their car parks.
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