Varadkar comes under pressure on fuel costs and car tax abolition from party colleagues

Leo Varadkar has come under pressure from Fine Gael colleagues to intervene again on the cost of fuel before the budget — and to abolish car tax by October.

Multiple contributors to Wednesday night’s meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party called for more to be done to bring down the cost of petrol and diesel to consumers.

The calls were led by former Cabinet minister Regina Doherty who was backed up by Clare TD Joe Carey, Kerry TD and deputy Government chief whip Brendan Griffin and Senator Tim Lombard.

Mr Lombard said that the Government should remove car tax in the October budget, arguing that the public transport fare reductions had little impact for rural dwellers.

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Mr Varadkar is said to have told colleagues in the parliamentary party that he would contact Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe regarding the possibility of further cuts — the Government already moved to bring down excise duty until budget day earlier this year, but the cost of fuel has risen above €2 per litre again and fears remain that inflation-driven difficulties will prove an ongoing political vulnerability for the coalition.

However, Mr Varadkar told the meeting that the Government might already be at the limit of what can be done on excise and VAT — he said there are EU minimum tax rates on fuel, and he committed to check with Mr Donohoe — although it is thought that the Government believes it is almost certainly at the limit of what can be done within regulations without scrapping special rebates for hauliers. He pointed out that prices for fuel were high — as high or higher than in Ireland — across the EU and were being influenced by factors outside of the Government’s control.

Sources at the meeting said Senators Micheál Carrigy and Paddy Burke also raised concerns about new regulations for roadside petrol stations coming in under EU rules which threaten the future of such outlets.

Mr Varadkar also told the group that the Mica scheme brought to Cabinet is a “good plan” and that he wants to see hundreds of houses being repaired, demolished or rebuilt next year. He also gave a presentation on plans to phase in a living wage in Ireland.

Elsewhere, three commuter belt ministers — Kildare South’s Martin Heydon, Meath East’s Helen McEntee and Wicklow’s Simon Harris — called for the short hop zone for rail users to be changed, which they said was a big issue for commuters in the Greater Dublin Area, and is linked to the cost of travel for workers.

The motion was brought by Ms McEntee to extend the zone to 55km from Dublin, bringing in dormitory towns like Laytown, Drogheda, Enfield, Newbridge and Wicklow. It was unanimously agreed and also it was said it should be extended elsewhere in the country where commuter rail services exist.

Elsewhere, at the Fianna Fáil party meeting, there was an update from party general secretary Seán Dorgan on polling. It suggested that the party is at or slightly above the last general election outing, showing cost of living, health and housing are the three main issues for voters. It was comprised of internal polling and data from published polls.

There was also an update on aims and objectives of the party from Kildare North TD James Lawless and a policy development update from Cormac Devlin TD of Dun Laoghaire.