{"id":353823,"date":"2026-03-19T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/353823\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T05:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:30:08","slug":"government-finalising-appropriate-intervention-in-response-to-rising-fuel-and-oil-costs-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/353823\/","title":{"rendered":"Government finalising \u2018appropriate intervention\u2019 in response to rising fuel and oil costs \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government is finalising \u201can appropriate intervention\u201d to deal with the surge in oil and fuel costs<\/a>, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

He told the D\u00e1il it would be agreed at the next Cabinet meeting, likely on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Harris, who is Minister for Finance was speaking after Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> introduced emergency legislation to cut excise on oil and fuel for six months and a private members\u2019 debate on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to confirm to this house that we are now finalising what we believe to be an appropriate intervention, for the areas in which is there is most acute pressure and challenge,\u201d the T\u00e1naiste said.<\/p>\n

He \u201cstrongly\u201d believed any intervention should \u201cbe for a short period of time,\u201d to allow assistance be applied quickly and \u201cto provide the Government with the time and space to adapt our response, should that be required\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minister for Energy Darragh O\u2019Brien said \u201cwe will bring forward supports next week for households and for businesses in a targeted, structured and sustainable way\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Ireland has 90 days\u2019 supply of oil but in relation to home heating oil prices, \u201cunquestionably we\u2019re unusually exposed to increases because we are heavily reliant on kerosene for residential heat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cKerosene accounts for over 90 per cent of home heating oil\u201d and Ireland is also the largest user of kerosene for home heating in Europe. <\/p>\n

This \u201cpoints\u201d to the areas \u201cthat we really need to assist people\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in finance spokesman Pearse Doherty who introduced the Mineral Oil Tax (Emergency Cost of Living Reduction) Bill said they were two weeks into a crisis when workers and families \u201care getting absolutely hammered by skyrocketing petrol, diesel and home heating oil\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the people could not wait any longer for a \u201cdithering\u201d Government. <\/p>\n

Earlier, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> said the Government would consider cutting excise duties in response to the surge in fuel and oil costs<\/a>, <\/p>\n

However, he told Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> that any such measures that are ultimately introduced would be targeted at \u201cindividuals who need them the most\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said there would not be a \u201cknee jerk\u201d response to a deadline from Sinn F\u00e9in or others but a considered and \u201cunited Government\u201d response. <\/p>\n

McDonald claimed, during their exchange in the D\u00e1il on Wednesday, that the Government \u201cdithers and delays\u201d while prices \u201chave spun out of control\u201d because of the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n

The Minister also defended the Taoiseach\u2019s performance in the White House for St Patrick\u2019s Day as Labour leader Ivana Bacik and People Before Profit\u2019s Richard Boyd Barrett criticised Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n

Bacik said he was \u201csilent\u201d and \u201cutterly sidelined\u201d while \u201cUS president Trump ranted and raved about Europe, Nato, wind farms, Keir Starmer, immigration and much more\u201d. <\/p>\n

Boyd Barrett said there was \u201cnot a single word of criticism of the flagrant murderous breaches of international law in which Trump and Israel are engaged\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan said the Taoiseach delivered \u201ca very important message\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a real advantage for the Taoiseach to be there yesterday, as the leader of a European country that is not a member of Nato,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he did Ireland and Europe proud in terms of setting out the values of Europe and indeed in setting back some of the rhetoric of president Trump, which, as everyone can appreciate, can be difficult at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

On energy price surges, the Sinn F\u00e9in leader said \u201cpeople are under massive pressure right here and right now, but the Taoiseach says that it\u2019s too early to act.\u201d She added: \u201cMy God, I\u2019ve never heard anything quite so detached or disconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlighting the dramatic increase in prices, she said \u201cpetrol is hitting \u20ac2 a litre, diesel hitting \u20ac2.17 a litre, home heating oil close to \u20ac900 for half a fill \u2013 unaffordable, crushing prices.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Dublin Central TD said up to 60 per cent of what people pay at the pumps goes to the Government in taxes and in one week it took in an additional \u20ac38 million as a result. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s blindingly obvious what you need to do,\u201d she said to \u201cpick up\u201d and \u201cimplement\u201d Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Bill.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan, taking Leaders\u2019 Questions for the Taoiseach, confirmed the Government would respond. But \u201cwhat we\u2019re not going to do is engage in a knee jerk response\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also important to note, that any measures that are going to be introduced, we hope, will be targeted at individuals who need them the most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government is finalising \u201can appropriate intervention\u201d to deal with the surge in oil and fuel costs, T\u00e1naiste…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5485,1523,42,11829,18573,3658,43,6000,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-353823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-energy-costs","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-news","tag-oil","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353823","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=353823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}