The cost of fuel on forecourts around the country has started to fall to reflect the recent petrol and diesel excise cuts, but significant variations have been identified.
Prices remain considerably higher than they were at the start of the month despite the excise duty on diesel and petrol having been temporarily reduced by 20 cent and 15 cent respectively.
There was a difference of 26 cent on a litre of diesel at three forecourts just a few hundred metres apart on the Merrion Road in Dublin 4. The price at the Circle K was €2.09; it was €2.28 at the nearby Texaco; and €2.35 at the Applegreen. The price of petrol in the stations was €1.84, €1.99 and €2.07 respectively.
A litre of diesel at the Top garage on the N25 in Kilinick, Co Wexford, was €2.31 on Wednesday morning, while petrol cost €2.04. A Circle K in Douglas, Cork, meanwhile, was charging €1.85 for a litre of petrol, down 15 cent since Tuesday.
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A litre of diesel at the Circle K on the Sandford Road in Dublin 6 cost €2.08 on Wednesday morning, with a litre of petrol priced at €1.85.
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According to the AA, the average price of a litre of petrol in February before the US-Israeli attack on Iran, was €1.72, while a litre of diesel had an average price of €1.73.
Tánaiste Simon Harris on Wednesday said the Government “may have to intervene further” later in the year if the crisis in the Gulf continues.
A day after the Government announced its €250 million package of measures to mitigate increases in the cost of fuel, Harris told journalists in Co Wicklow that a further package of measures could be necessary.
He called on fuel retailers to bring down prices quickly to reflect the intervention.
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“My message on this is really simple. People didn’t dilly dally in terms of putting the prices up ... so prices go up. Therefore, the same logic must apply now in terms of the coming down,” he said.
“I do accept that for some small number of petrol stations where it can take a couple of days for delivery, there may be some timeline. But I also heard the industry saying that for the vast majority they expected that benefit to be passed on within hours.
“So we’re within those hours now. And I expect that to happen. Should it not happen, by the way ... I mean, there are levers at our disposal, and indeed, we’re open to considering further levers as well. So there has to be a sense of fairness.”
Asked what those levers were, he said: “Well, look, I want to talk to Government colleagues about this. I’ve already spoken to [Minister for Enterprise] Peter Burke in relation to this too. We’re planning on increasing the powers for the CCPC (Competition and Consumer Protection Commission) already. The CCPC does have significant powers. It has administered fines in the past.”
Harris was referencing comments from the chief executive of Fuels For Ireland, Kevin McPartlan, who has noted that “even where tax changes take effect instantly, their impact at the pump is not uniform”.
He said fuel currently on sale at forecourts “has been purchased in advance by the retailer at the higher rate of excise duty and must first be sold through”.
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In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused Sinn Féin of doing “the wrong thing” in voting against the package of supports approved to lower fuel prices.
He was responding to party leader Mary Lou McDonald, who insisted the Government’s “half-baked measures aren’t enough” and would leave “750,000 households high and dry”.
Martin said that if Sinn Féin “had won last night, there’d be no reductions at all today”.
