LAST UPDATE | 5 Mar

THERE HAS BEEN an “avalanche” of “outrageous” fuel price rises across Ireland amid the Middle East conflict, the Dáil has heard.

In the Dail today, three opposition politicians used their time slot during Leaders’ Questions to raise concerns about price hikes.

Prices have surged by more than 50% in a matter of days, as global energy markets react to escalating conflict and uncertainty in the Middle East.

Reports of dramatic increases to fuel costs, such as home heating oil and motor fuel, have been sent to TDs who have raised concerns about the price hikes.

The government has said there should be no increase at the forecourts due to the conflict in the Middle East, as there would be a weeks-long lag before prices would be impacted.

Tánaiste Simon Harris urged people to send examples they have of so-called “price gouging” to the state competition watchdog.

Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane said in the days since the US and Israel began bombing Iran, and since the conflict had spilled over into other areas of the Middle East, home heating oil had “skyrocketed”.

“We are hearing from people right across the country, and in most cases, the price of a deliver has effectively doubled,” he said.

“The average price for 500 litres is now just under €800.”

He said a household told him that they were quoted €525 for heating oil on Saturday, and “days later” the same supplier was charging €859.

“When prices jump like that in a matter of days, people draw a very obvious conclusion: somebody is cashing in on a crisis,” said Cullinane.

Harris said the government had been working “around the clock” on the Iran issue, including on “economic aspects” but said he first wanted to welcome the hundreds of Irish citizens who had arrived back in Dublin.

He said there was no doubt that the conflict in the Middle East would have a “potential inflationary impact”, but he said the scale of the impact depended on the length and depth of the conflict.

He said government figures had also received “many reports from across the country of what many people are referring to as ‘price gouging’”.

Harris said: “People putting up the price, causing panic and fear for people, quite frankly. I’ve seen the text messages, ‘you better get the fill of oil now or it’s going to go up’, and that sort of behaviour is causing real, real concern.”

He said minister for enterprise Peter Burke was meeting the suppliers tomorrow to discuss the “sharp increases” and ask why “their pricing structure has changed so drastically, so quickly”.

Harris also said the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is to investigate complaints, and the watchdog itself said it had been contacted by customers “querying the legality of price increases in home heating oil”.

“The law on price increases is clear,” it said. “Companies can set, and increase, their own prices but they must do so independently. Prices must be clearly communicated to consumers in advance of any sale.

“There is no legal obligation on companies to set their prices at a level that consumers will consider fair.

“However, equally, consumers can and should take their business elsewhere where they are treated poorly.”

Harris encouraged Cullinane, other TDs and citizens to report instances to the CCPC.

Harris said the economic impact assessment of the crisis in the Middle East being carried out by the Department of Finance will be published as part of the spring forecast due at the end of the month.

He also said that from next week, 50,000 more households will qualify for the fuel allowance, which he said would be backdated to 1 January.

Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan accused the government of “empty words, meaningless rhetoric, but no action, no meaningful support” and accused the CCPC of being “toothless”.

He also compared Burke’s planned meeting with suppliers to an “infamous” meeting Neale Richmond had with supermarkets in 2023.

He said: “He turned up, he wagged his finger, and he went home. Nothing changed, and prices continued to soar.”

Harris said it was “unfair” to call the CCPC toothless and said it was “not true” to say there was no support from the government for families.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke this morning said it is clear that what is happening to oil prices globally  bears no reflection on what’s happening in the Irish market, where we’ve seen upwards of 50% by some consumers increase to them from their suppliers”.

“I think we really need to look at what’s happening in the marketplace right now,” Burke told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland programme.

Burke also called on the public to refer to the CCPC any instances whereby “they believe that competition law has been broken, where prices have significantly increased in not a transparent manner”.

He added that his Fine Gael colleague, Cavan-Monaghan TD David Maxwell, had raised one example with him which “showed very clearly where a customer had paid for their oil delivery and had their money refunded back, just to be told that the price had gone up”.

Burke said this was among the examples he had sent to the CCPC to examine how increases in wholesale prices are being passed on to customers.

-With additional reporting from Press Association