{"id":337680,"date":"2026-03-09T22:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337680\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T22:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:35:08","slug":"fuel-prices-top-e2-a-litre-as-annual-extra-cost-to-households-from-war-could-hit-e1000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337680\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel prices top \u20ac2 a litre as annual extra cost to households from war could hit \u20ac1,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The financial impact on Irish households of war in the Middle East could quickly top \u20ac1,000 if oil prices remain elevated, with higher-priced motor fuel, domestic energy, food and mortgages just some of the ways consumers could be hit, experts have warned. <\/p>\n

The cost of a litre of motor fuel has already crossed \u20ac2 on many fuel forecourts, with prices reaching levels not seen since the summer of 2022 and the aftermath of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

A sustained 30 cent per litre hike will see the average motorist worse off by just over \u20ac300 a year, while a 20 per cent jump in domestic energy costs will add another \u20ac600 to annual bills. The increased cost of oil is also expected to have a knock-on effect on the price of food and other consumer goods.<\/p>\n

Motoring analyst Conor Faughnan suggested recent motor fuel price spikes have echoes of previous crises and periods of turbulence. He was cautiously optimistic, however, about the long-term impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing is the market responding with shock and there\u2019ll be an oil price surge but it tends not to last,\u201d he said. \u201cEven in the worst-case scenarios markets do tend to adjust and the pattern of previous crises has been an initial really sharp spike in the oil price, after which it is entirely possible that the markets will calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The price of home-heating oil in Ireland has shown no sign of calming, with the average cost of 500 litres at \u20ac880 on Monday afternoon. This is compared with \u20ac498 before the war started, a 77 per cent increase in 10 days. <\/p>\n

Higher fuel and energy prices are the only ways the conflict will hurt Irish consumers, retail experts have warned, with a \u201cprolonged exposure to increased costs per barrel\u201d impacting a broad range of goods, according to Oliver Browne, an accounting lecturer in UCC. <\/p>\n

He warned that higher fuel prices could \u201cspike energy prices, leading to increased costs of refrigeration and processing\u201d. He added the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 25 per cent of the world\u2019s fertiliser trade passes, will \u201cshow up at the till sooner rather than later and last until the conflict is resolved, or supply chains can reorganise\u201d.<\/p>\n

Damian O\u2019Reilly, a senior lecturer in retail management in TU Dublin, added that \u201cagricultural input costs will climb\u201d while plastic packaging, which is derived from crude oil, will also cost more. Hauliers and retailers will be forced to pay higher prices to cover transport and refrigeration costs. <\/p>\n

This is before any other inflationary pressures such as any potential increase in European Central Bank interest rates are felt. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Food prices in Ireland at risk of rising \u2018dramatically\u2019 due to war in Gulf, Minister warnsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"MotoristsMotorists have been reporting price hikes of more than 30 cent a litre in just over a week. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Government has said it will continue to review its options, with the Cabinet on Monday discussing the fallout from the war and the rising cost of fuel. <\/p>\n

After the meeting a Government spokesman said Ministers were not \u201cruling anything in or out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Later, the T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris, speaking on the margins of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, said the Government was wary of rushing into any intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a conflict that is a week old, and at the moment it\u2019s hard to predict whether this is something that lasts for a period of more days or weeks, or indeed something that lasts for months,\u201d the Fine Gael leader said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Government open to providing new cost-of-living supports as prices rise, Minister saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Kevin McPartlan, chief executive of Fuels for Ireland, the umbrella group for suppliers around the country, said the Government<\/a>\u2019s tax take on fuel has jumped by about \u20ac40 million in the last week. <\/p>\n

The president of Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, Denis Drennan, demanded action and said taxes and levies meant the exchequer was \u201cactually benefiting from the alarming rise in fuel prices\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The financial impact on Irish households of war in the Middle East could quickly top \u20ac1,000 if oil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,943,1523,61,60,150432,3589,9688],"class_list":["post-337680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-government","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-russia","tag-ukraine-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}