Any further Government action on fuel prices has to be “prudent” because “you can’t continue writing a cheque every single month in reduction of excise duties”, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has said.
Asked about possible future Government action if fuel prices rise due to renewed conflict in the Gulf, Burke declined to give any promises that support would be restored.
The Government recently decided that the cuts to excise duty on petrol and diesel would be gradually unwound between September and the end of the year, meaning fuel prices will be expected to rise.
But the recent renewal of hostilities between Iran and the United States has seen the price of oil edge up again, threatening further price increases at the pumps.
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“The Government has always demonstrated its capacity to act, but act in a prudent manner. And we have to be very careful in this regard,” Burke told reporters in Dublin on Friday morning.
“You can’t continue writing a cheque every single month in reduction of excise duties. And that’s why the Government will take stock as we come towards the budget, and make those key decisions.”
Burke was speaking at Dublin Castle where he is chairing a meeting of EU competitiveness ministers as part of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Officials said the meeting will focus on three core themes: reinforcing the single market, powering industrial decarbonisation and mobilising finance for scaling companies.
As it is an informal meeting, no firm decisions are taken by the council, though the discussions can pave the way to push through decisions at future meetings.
Later, at a press conference following the conclusion of the Council meeting, Burke dismissed concerns raised by a large number of academics in a letter to the Financial Times which said Ireland should recuse itself from presidency discussions about tech regulation and corporate tax because it was so dependent on revenues from tech multinationals.
The academics criticised a failure by Irish authorities to effectively enforce the EU’s data protection rules and a “troubling” history of helping multinational companies shift their tax profits.
The letter, published on Thursday, was signed by both Irish and international academics, including professors in Oxford, Harvard, Sciences Po, London School of Economics, University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin.
“This is Ireland’s eighth presidency. We have a very strong track record of being an independent honest broker, and really being a catalyst for positive change in the European Union, and drawing states together and getting agreement,” Burke said.
“We are a very open economy and which is well capable of putting its interests aside in the name of getting agreement,” he said.
He added Ireland was aware it had an “outsize role” in regulation. “But that’s why we’ve always called for a European response.”
