FUEL PRICES ARE set to increase from midnight tonight, the second price hike in the last three months, due to increases in excise fuel duty.

The price of petrol is to increase by 4c per litre, and diesel will increase by 3c per litre.

A number of Sinn Féin TDs have called for the government to prevent the fuel hike in recent months, to no avail.

Opposition TD Martin Kenny said: “At midnight, hard-pressed workers and families are due to face another fuel price hike. This increase is being imposed on them by the government.”

Sinn Féin TD Patricia Ryan called on government TDs to explain the increase facing motorists, saying that her Kildare constituents were already “under huge pressure from unaffordable costs” due to the cost of living crisis.

“In April, Sinn Féin urged the government to save the public from these increases. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens simply refused to listen,” Ryan said.

“If the government is insisting on pushing ahead with these increases, their TDs must explain why to people who will be paying the price for their actions.”

On 4 July, Ryan’s party colleague TD Pearse Doherty issued a parliamentary question to new Minister for Finance Jack Chambers on whether he would reverse the plans to raise the price of fuel. Doherty said that petrol prices are 23% higher than three years ago, and diesel prices are 28% higher. 

In his answer, Chambers said that the government “is conscious of the implications of fuel costs for al sectors of society”, but said that the government must strike “the appropriate balance” between providing support and avoid fuelling “cyclical inflationary trends”. 

Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins also slammed the fuel increases. Speaking yesterday, Collins said that when the cost of fuel increases, “the price of everything else increases”. He accused the government of not caring about “the ordinary people of Ireland”.

Collins said that the government had earned €3.2 billion in fuel excise duties last year – the highest on record. The government were committing “economic malpractice” with the hike, he said. 

In March 2022, the government signed off on a temporary cut in excise duty for petrol and diesel – amounting to 20c per litre on petrol, 15c per litre on diesel and 2c on marked gas oil. 

Speaking at a press conference, then-Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said that the excise cuts would reduce the cost of filling a 60 litre tank by €12 for petrol, and €9 for diesel.

Both Donohue and then-Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said at the time that it would be too costly and “not possible” to put a cap on fuel prices – with McGrath saying that it would not be a “responsible position” to take, as such action could risk stable supply of fuel to Ireland and put businesses at risk of closure.