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SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald said that if her party is elected to power in the upcoming general election, they will undo the latest fuel excise increases instated by the government in August and October, as well abolishing increases that have not yet come in but have been set out in the latest budget.
On 1 August of this year, the price of diesel rose by 4 cents per litre, while petrol rose by 3 cents per litre. It was the second fuel price hike in three months.
In Budget 2025, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers announced that the rate per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted by petrol and diesel vehicles would increase from €56 to €63.50 from 9 October – an increase of just over 13%.
The increase is to be applied to all other fuels from 1 May 2025.
Speaking today, McDonald said Sinn Féin would both abolish future increases provisioned in the budget and reverse the two fuel price increases if brought to power, which she said collectively added per litre 6c to diesel and 5.5c to petrol.
She said that the price hikes were brought in at a time of a serious cost of living crisis, and said that the increases were affecting workers and families.
“In the middle of this crisis for workers and families, government have increased tax on fuel to such a level that we now have the highest taxes in Europe on petrol and diesel and Fiona fall and Fine Gael are determined to increase those even further,” she said.
“Since 2020, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have added 12 euros to a tank of fuel, and they have committed to increase it again by a further seven euros a tank over the next five years. That is 12 cents on every litre of fuel.”
McDonald added that the reversal of the two price increases would be a permanent measure for the lifetime of the next government, and that Sinn Féin would also offset the increase to the toll fee due to come in on 1 January, at a cost of €8 million.
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Promises, promises and more promises…..I’m holding out for a week holiday lanzarote!!!!!!
@Frank Mc Carthy: difference is SF have never been in position to keep these promises. Whereas FFG have been since foundation of state and have a well recorded history of reneging on election promises.
@Frank Mc Carthy:u boring old lady…
@North Phone Bowe: And SF has been absolutist for the majority of that time, even when they got 2 TDs after the hunger strikes they refused to take their seats, SF are the reason why we have what we have and they didn’t recognise the Republic until post GFA, with their first TD to take a seat in 1997 they aren’t republicans
@North Phone Bowe:
You know that oil companies know Ireland will accept higher prices and just increase the the price… This complete fantasy…
@Frank Mc Carthy: they’ll just get the Slab to bring it under the border in his tunnels, allegedly.
@Frank Mc Carthy: LANZA and ‘MARBS’ are the new ibiza with the chavs having a field day. Try Azerbaijan – Baku, a bright new coastal city break I reckon Insh’ullah
Housing is my issue. FG had their chance. They sold off homeownership, and brought in fund-ownership of our housing. I’ll vote for a SF/Ind led government. Along with votes for smaller parties and socdems. A change of government is possible.
@F1rYnpWc: a change to what exactly ?
@Sheila McNulty: a return to homeownership, ban funds, actually build houses, affordable prices, adults not living in their childhood room, an immigration management agency. While Simon wants to build more IPA centers and have asylum seekers contribute, THAT is his immigration plan!
@Sheila McNulty: To a SF led government.
@F1rYnpWc: Eoin O’Broin won’t tell us which banks would lend for his 300k proposal. Cullinane won’t tell us where he’ll get 40,000 extra health care staff from. McDonald won’t tell us which towns and villages will house migrants. She doesn’t seem to realise she is advocating for us all to have to carry identity cards either.
Sinn Fein are plámásing the entire country. With Sinn Fein, to paraphrase O’Deas moustache, “the answer is yes, now what was the question”…
@F1rYnpWc:
Who is going to build the houses?
Same question for all parties.
The shinners are for laughing at
@Sheila McNulty: a change from the failed housing policies of FFG which have deliberately turned housing into cash gouged commodities
@F1rYnpWc: IPA can be turned into, painters army power nit by new law… Wiw win
@P. J.: IPA centers full of bricks workers…
@A W: IPA persons are all Neurosurgeons, Astrophysicists and Civil Engineers, no good for building houses!
@F1rYnpWc: SF have blocked more housing initiatives than any other party. You need to look again.
@Topgun: we don’t need everything to be Build-To-Rent. We need Build-To-Own.
@North Phone Bowe: we good luck with that , SF Build houses at 300,00 & you won’t own the ground under them, great plan
@North Phone Bowe: SF are a Northern Ireland controlled party and in government there. If they cannot solve the housing problem in the North they are unlikely to solve it in the South. All populist rhetoric and no substance.
@Vincent Alexander: which housing problem in the North. No shock the low information voters gravitate to FF/FG.
@Sheila McNulty: instead of asking question check out how housing, especially urban given these countries are still $$$ like Sweden, Germany and Denmark and how they encourage home ownership & affordable renting rather than alienate their own people like fg ff do
Well they are diesel experts…..
As well as a brand new car and house for everyone, with their own goldfish AND customized bowl, along with two good ole Irish 2.5kg bags of potatoes….
I would vote for them if they could just for once Change some thing s fffg have promised to do since day one martin got nothing done varadkar nothing harris nothing and all the other spoofers .before them . Childrens hospital still not done . Mental health supports , hospital services . Housing schools taxing wrong people to the hills .taking care of other nationalities before their own .
@Karen Marten: I’ve always been curious to see if Doherty would push through with taking on the insurance companies. I always thought he’d be the right person got that job. Won’t happen though.
@Karen Marten: Very valid comment incidentally. We are choosing consolidation of the status quo because we have no options because the opposition has such a problematic heritage. It’s never been more apparent than this; the second election of the FG FF power-grab conglomerate.
@Karen Marten: don’t know how FG voters overlook the OVERSPEND issue alone by FG. Two billion or our money!
@Paul M Doe: and yorsef josope, u expert on what…
@Louis Jacob: It’s not a power grab but a vote for stability. If there is intent on a power grab it is by the Northern controllers of SF to usurp the government in the South.
@Karen Marten: nearly 100 likes emcouraging you to blame SF who were the OPPOSITION for these failings which are the fault of FFG
great little country of whingers
It’s a great little country with Leprechaun economics under the rainbow with the pot of gold. This country would have held all the people that emigrated if they stimulated activity during the downturn years and a lot of these overspending would have been avoided.
But FG, FF, Liebour and the Greedy Greens imposed austerity measures on people that they were left with no choice but to emigrate.
@Tommy: And yet we have 2.8 m in employment and have over 160bn in deposits, ……but let’s repeat some unintelligent rubbish, our economy is booming and maybe not for everyone but everyone has an option to join in or be like you and your really silly views.
FF, FG are I’m power since the formation of the state because SF have been absolutionist until 1986 the didn’t even recognise the Republic and now they are meant to be the solution…..leopards don’t change their spots.
Does SF even have a policy on climate and environmental issues, apart from the catchphrase ‘Just Transition’ (which seems to mean ‘Don’t worry, we won’t actually *do* anything’)?
@Brendan O’Brien: Car sharing if you live rural and growing your food on the kitchen window…. oh wait.
@Brendan O’Brien: they do indeed have a detailed policy.
https://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2020/Giving_Workers_and_Families_a_Break_-_A_Manifesto_for_Change.pdf
The promises are getting riduculous at this stage
@Dermot Blaine:
Utterly ridiculous
@Dermot Blaine: just make sure you vote them out, instead of complaining.
@Buster Lawless: Dermot Blaine has Runaway Mouth Syndrome!
@Brian Hunt: he is full of it constantly
Eyes to heaven emojii
Many believe Sinn Féin could gain trust by openly addressing its ties to the IRA, acknowledging past actions, and disclosing the truth about missing persons and unmarked graves. This transparency could foster reconciliation and strengthen credibility. However, skepticism remains over whether Sinn Féin, if elected, could deliver on its promises. Housing and healthcare crises are deeply rooted in systemic issues, such as speculative investments, underfunding, and powerful vested interests that resist reform. Without addressing these structural barriers, critics warn that political promises may fall short, leaving critical issues unresolved.
@Nemethon: Great post, but they’ll never be in power they in my view purposely derail themselves to remain in opposition…..and decry everything.
And they are Republicans either they are an industry that say with one mouth and whisper with the other.
@Nemethon: The powerful vested interests in the health sector could be reduced if the increase of 277 in medical school places, proposed by FG, is agreed upon by all parties before the election.
@Nemethon: how do you foresee that happening when you yourself have neglected to be truthful about the 13 of those poor souls recovered, continued contact by republicans in hope of locating remaining 3. To point that the commission have thanked the republicans for help in advancing the completion of their remit. How can you call for reconciliation etc when you won’t recognise great efforts made to date???
Had me at hello am sick of ff and fg making it so un affordable to live in this country unless rich. Saw house were live a rated 875,000 euro. Had plenty time in power is worst getting and can get worst down let ff or fg trick you again. Cost living too high . Hard to get doc or hospital appointments. Way theyve spent taxpayers money no way please no more ff or fg.
@martin finnegan: that house will make your house even more valuable if you want to be rich too.
@Paul O’Mahoney: renting not good for renters
I’m not a Sinn Fein voter or supporter, but I will happily give them credit for being the only major party to consistently call for the abolishment of the carbon tax. It’s a nice pairing to hear them also call for cuts in fuel excise taxes as well. If only they were smart enough to put these common sense proposals front and centre of their campaign, then they would be doing a lot better in the polls. They have a real messaging problem right now and they need to stop putting their foolhardy left-wing proposals to the top of their campaign promises. Pearse Doherty also needs to be used as an effective attack dog again which, to his credit, he was quite good at in the Dáil, even though I disagreed with his remedies to the problems which he was pointing out.
@Frank O’Hara: Sinn Fein have said they would abolish carbon tax? That’s news to me
@Kevin Kerr: Yes, they’ve been calling for it to be abolished as early as the 2016 election. This is precisely what I’m talking about. Something that is a very good common sense policy is not put to the front of their manifesto and as a result voters like yourself were completely unaware of it.
@Frank O’Hara: there is nothing in their manifesto about abolishing carbon taxes. They have consistently opposed increases in the rate, but I can’t find anything on line to suggest that they would abolish the tax
@Kevin Kerr: Interesting. I must check out their latest manifesto because this surprises me. I remember reading their 2020 manifesto for the last election and they explicitly stated that they are opposed to the carbon tax. I don’t know why they wouldn’t include it in their latest manifesto as I haven’t heard anything from Mary Lou or anyone else that they’ve had a change in policy regarding their opposition to it. Again, I suppose you’d be best talking to someone who is an actual Sinn Fein voter or supporter, they probably know more about the official position than me.
@Kevin Kerr: they have stated that for starters SF would reverse the increases on fuel levied by FFG in past few months with more to come.
@North Phone Bowe: yes, that’s not the same an abolishing the carbon tax
@Frank O’Hara: you’re giving him FAR too much credit but I dont blame people themselves for comment section naivity. Its only allowed on some articles too. Kevin has an agenda and it aint pro SF
To be fair Provo/SF do have special knowledge of diesel.
Sinn Fein were leading the field three years ago, they would have swept the board in an election, then they threw it all away by pushing open borders and Constitution referendums.
They have nothing to offer except gimmicks!
Yeah, they know a few people who can launder the diesel for you.
FFG have allowed the Greens to keep adding the carbon tax year after year
Fianna Fail are the only party to vote for
And today I heard from sources close to the Science Fiction party that, as a wonderful surprise gift for us all, they are going to refund drivers all of the taxes imposed on us by the dreamers in the green party. This is brilliant! Am already looking forward to SF’s next announcement re. zero income tax for those earning less than €200k/year & making vat rates much easier to remember by just having a flat 1% rate on everything.
I’m voting for change..this is the time for change..we have to give them a chance
Suckin diesel ?
By the end of next week .Mary will be giving
It for free hold on
Nobody promised yet to close our borders.
No better party I mean they have experience in the fuel industry
Turning into a right old auction….
I am a really bad speller myself, but the journal has been making a lot of silly mistakes. It makes for a bad experience, the structure is bad as well sometimes (I am dyslexic) I dont know if it’s them or me that has the problem.
What happened to the role of some type…o editor.
@Modern Irish Dad: You are grand you post in way you wish and not worry about spelling.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Thank you Paul. I do try, believe me. I don’t call people out on it, but surely a publication should be held to higher standard.
I’m just here for some rop quality jokes about cheap petrol & diesel. I haven’t been disappointed.
Sinn Féin scraping the bottom.of píle they should be committee to getting cars off the except for EVS
I’m sure they must have more than this to offer like “stuffing the Medical Consultants gobs full of gold and extending the great NHS southward .
More than any other Party they should appreciate it’s benefits .
Main reason why many if not most Northern ‘ Nationalists ‘ would if push came to shove vote to stay in the UK .
The great British NHS was fully implented in 1949 when Nye Bevin did just do that to the resisting establishment of Consultants !
The monk will do a deal with Lanzarote and we’ll all get a time share.
Now at last she is speaking what ordinary working people need, in other words now “she’s supping diesel”
The so-called “fact check” by the journal.ie on Mary Lou’s claims that carbon tax doesn’t reduce emissions, finds that claim to be false, because carbon emissions have dropped by 6.8% over the last few years.
What it neglects to mention in reaching it’s “verdict” is that while that overall drop of 6.8% is thanks to a 21% drop in emissions from energy generation in the Republic of Ireland, imports of electricity from other countries has increased 12 fold over the same period.
This is to global carbon emission reduction equivalent to someone claiming their bathroom is spotlessly clean and germ free, while every day they go next door to take a crap in the neighbours bathroom instead…
So the FF FG duopoly will continue sadly , even when the nation needs fresh ideas . Both have run the country into the ground , sometimes hand in hand . But nothing will change . The same , tired old policies , and look where we are . Case in point .. the shambolic housing policy of the past two decades , and more . Those who cashed in will clearly disagree, but it’s at the mercy of the majority of the population. And blaming foreign nationals ? … do me a favour .
Why don’t SF focus on their main issue which is rampant child safety issues within the party.
have your say