More fuel support measures possible before budget, says Simon Harris

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

The Tánaiste has said he would not rule out further measures to tackle the rising cost of fuel before the budget in October.

A fuel support scheme, part of the €505 million package announced by the Government in the wake of fuel protests, is to go before Cabinet on Tuesday.

On his way into the meeting, Simon Harris was asked if the Government would consider further one-off measures before the budget.

He said, “You can never rule anything out, the world is extremely volatile and it would be a foolish Government that would rule anything out”.

Harris, who is also the Minister for Finance, said he believes in his “heart of hearts, even if the war ends now” the impact of damaged energy infrastructure “will be felt in the winter”.

He said an energy crisis would be “much sharper” and added that the Government has to “keep some powder dry”.

In early April, protests over the rising cost of fuel caused by the war in Iran saw ports and an oil refinery blockaded, causing forecourts across the country to run dry.

After days of demonstrations, a package of support measures was announced by the Government.

It came less than three weeks after €250 million worth of measures were announced by the Government in response to the fuel crisis.

While the Government’s support measures are aimed at the haulage, construction, agriculture, quarries and fisheries sectors, the Tánaiste said: “Many, many parts of the package are for everybody, for anybody who drives a car.”

He said there was a “very significant” reduction in prices, adding “32 cents per litre cheaper for diesel than it would have been otherwise, 27 cents per litre cheaper for petrol”.

Mr Harris also said the chief economist in the Department of Finance estimates “that the package that we have brought in will lower inflation by 0.5-0.6% each of the months the package is in place”.

“While the package is, in many ways, for specific sectors the overall impact will actually be to keep inflation at a lower level than it otherwise would be and that will help every person in this country,” he added.

Mr Harris said the package “isn’t the final word from the Government”.

He said that while the war in Iran has “absolutely” increased prices, he said fuel, energy and electricity prices in Ireland were “already structurally too high”.

Officials in the Department of Finance, he said, are looking at how to “more permanently and structurally” reduce energy and electricity costs.

He said those could include help to make homes less reliant on fossil fuels, ways to make schemes less bureaucratic, help to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles and looking at “the level of charges” on electricity bills.