Government may freeze fuel duty in Budget

The Government has indicated it may freeze or reduce excise duties on fuel in the Budget following appeals from the haulage industry.

However, the Government is unlikely to do anything ahead of December's Budget despite threats of "direct action" from the Irish Road Hauliers Association. The association has met the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, in recent weeks, but so far there has been no clear signal on what the Government might do.

The hauliers claim escalating oil prices are putting their industry under intolerable pressure. They claim ordinary drivers can limit the number of trips they make and consequently reduce their fuel bill, whereas hauliers regard diesel and other fuels as a "raw material" for their business.

Hauliers in the Republic currently pay €367 in excise duty per 1,000 litres of fuel purchased, a figure that is "no longer tenable" in the current climate, according to the association. Hauliers believe a precedent was set in 2000, when then Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy reduced excise duty on diesel by 7.5 cent per litre in the December budget.

Speaking at the weekend, the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, who presented the Economic Review and Outlook on behalf of the Government last week, indicated that the Government would be seriously considering the issue of excise duty on fuel. Speaking on NewsTalk 106, he acknowledged that hauliers had raised the issue with Mr Cowen.

Mr Cullen said the issue of freezing any further increases or reducing excise duty was clearly a matter for the Budget.

The Irish Road Hauliers Association, however, wants more than just a freeze on future increases. Its spokesman Jimmy Quinn said over the weekend: "What we've asked Brian Cowen for, and he gave us a sympathetic hearing, was that licensed carriers, that are tax compliant, would get some kind of rebate off the fuel.

"At present if I go out to fill a truck, the Minister gets €367 of duty to put in his pocket and a substantial amount of VAT. What we're saying is take a little less money off us."