INDEPENDENT Ireland has called for the temporary cuts on petrol and diesel excise duty to remain in place.
On Monday Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris said the Government would consider within two weeks whether the tax cut on fuel should be ended following the announcement of a peace deal in the Iran war.
But Cork South West TD and Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins took to the plinth of Dáil Éireann and warned any such measure would be premature and would hit hard-pressed, hard-working families struggling with a spiralling cost of living crisis.
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He said: ‘Excise duty on fuel was lowered after huge protests by the hard-working people of this country.
It took the Government weeks and weeks to understand what people are going through.
‘Now it looks like the war could be coming to an end and excise duty may return to the rate it was previously at.
‘Independent Ireland would totally oppose that because we think people need time to recover from what they’ve been experiencing over the last couple of months… to put food on the table.
‘We know there’s over 300,000 people unable to pay their electricity bill yet the Government continues to fail to address this issue. The point is people are really suffering.
‘We need excise duty to stay as it is for the next number of months to give people time to recover. These are the people we fight for, they work hard for their country.’
The Government cut the tax on fuel following a surge in energy prices following the conflict in the Middle East, however, there has been a significant fall in oil prices following news of a peace deal announced by US President Donald Trump.
The excise reductions are due to expire at the end of July.
Speaking at the National Economic Dialogue ahead of Budget 2027 Minister Harris said: ‘The situation remains very fluid and we have seen time and time again how volatile the energy market can be.’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the conference ‘we cannot mitigate every increase’ in energy costs, adding: ‘We have to get long term prices down.’
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers said that he expected ‘exploratory discussions’ on a new national wage agreement to begin in the ‘coming days’.
