MOTORISTS ARE being charged up to 20 per cent more for diesel and petrol compared to consumers in other EU member states, according to official European Commission figures.
Prices for oil products before tax show that petrol in Ireland is 11 per cent more expensive than the EU average, diesel is 20 per cent dearer and home heating oil is 13 per cent more expensive.
The figures show that over the last six months Irish prices have changed from being much cheaper than EU prices to being much dearer. In the case of diesel, for example, prices have moved from being 13 per cent cheaper in May to be being 20 per cent dearer in October.
The figures are contained in a weekly oil price bulletin for October 20th, produced by the European Commission's directorate general for energy and transport.
Fine Gael's deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton said motorists in Ireland were the victims of a "rip-off" at the petrol pump and that the Government had failed to protect consumers.
He called on the National Consumer Agency to immediately conduct a petrol and diesel price survey to expose service stations which were not passing on the fall in the price of oil.
"Irish motorists cannot afford to be victims of slower market responses within the Irish economy. Higher transport costs will have a negative effect on Irish industry," he said. "During the current recession, it is especially important to remain competitive, so that Irish industry can compete effectively with its European rivals in a global market place."
Responding to Mr Bruton's criticisms, Maxol chief executive Tom Noonan said: "Ireland being the farthest island off the centre of Europe, most of the oil comes from refineries in the UK. The stuff has to be brought into Ireland by ship, so the distribution system is quite a costly one. We in Maxol made just over €10 million on a turnover of €700 million in 2007, which is hardly excessive by any standards. I can assure you that, no more than any other business in this country, we are not in a position to profiteer.
"Our margins are particularly low. This incessant and ill-informed talk about oil prices does no one any good," Mr Noonan added.
However, Mr Bruton said Irish motorists could rightly feel aggravated by this rip-off which, he said, the Government had done nothing to stop. "The problem is that changes to the price of Irish oil products are lagging behind European prices. In July, when EU oil prices began to fall, the Irish markets did not follow suit.
"Savings which were already being passed onto European consumers did not reach Irish consumers 'til October," he said.
"The industry may argue that Irish motorists were sheltered from price rises when EU oil prices initially began to rise, but this is of little consolation when Irish motorists, businesses and households are paying higher prices for oil products than their European counterparts," said Mr Bruton.