![\"Fuel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2_petrol-station-prices-dublin-stock.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Government is set to finalise short-term measures to address rising fuel and energy costs at next week’s Cabinet meeting, amid growing pressure for immediate cost of living relief.<\/p>\n
Fuel prices shown at a Texaco garage on Dublin’s Northside. (Image: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
The Government will finalise \u201can appropriate intervention\u201d to rising fuel and energy prices<\/a> next week, the Tanaiste has said.<\/p>\n Simon Harris <\/a>said measures would be signed off at the next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Speaking in the Dail, Mr Harris said: \u201cThis Government<\/a> understands the pressures families and businesses are under.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are feeling it at the pumps \u2013 where the cost of filling a car has risen considerably in the space of a just over a fortnight \u2013 and they are seeing it in the cost of a fill of oil<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Finance Minister said he had spoken to his officials, the Taoiseach and relevant ministers, and added: \u201cThis evening, I want to confirm to this House that we are now finalising what we believe to be an appropriate intervention, for the areas in which there is most acute pressure and challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Government\u2019s response will be agreed at the next Cabinet meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Harris said he strongly believed any intervention should, in the first instance, be \u201cfor a short period of time\u201d.<\/p>\n Sinn Fein<\/a> TD Martin Kenny said it \u201cseemed a little bit rich\u201d that Government \u201ccould do nothing, only monitor it until\u201d his party brought the motion.<\/p>\n He told Mr Harris: \u201cNow you\u2019ve managed to find the road to Damascus and you\u2019ve turned and you\u2019re going to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n They were speaking during two hours of Dail time dedicated to a Sinn Fein motion on energy and fuel costs.<\/p>\n The party called on the Government to scrap plans to increase carbon tax on home heating oil on May 1, and to reduce the cost of fuels through emergency legislation on mineral oil taxes.<\/p>\n The Sinn Fein Bill would introduce reductions in fuel taxes for a six-month emergency period to provide immediate relief to households, workers and farmers facing escalating energy costs.<\/p>\n Earlier, Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty told the Dail: \u201cWe\u2019re two weeks into this crisis, two weeks where workers and families are getting absolutely hammered by skyrocketing prices of petrol, diesel <\/a>and home heating oil \u2013 diesel now well above two euro, and home heating oil has almost doubled.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Doherty criticised Government ministers for being \u201ctoo busy packing their bags for Paddy\u2019s Day\u201d to act on fuel prices.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cPeople can\u2019t wait any longer for the Government who is dithering and delaying.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to see action and they need to see a Government that is nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that this government is somehow monitoring the situation boils people\u2019s blood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means nothing to somebody who\u2019s out of home heating oil today. It means nothing to that elderly person in a cold house tonight, afraid to turn on the heating.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Harris said the Government had already extended the lower 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity until the end of the decade and increased and expanded the weekly fuel allowance.<\/p>\n He also argued that carbon tax is \u201cnot the cause of the current spike in energy prices\u201d and stepping away from the planned long-term approach would \u201cdelay the transition which ultimately gives us greater control over our energy future\u201d.<\/p>\n The matter was also raised during Leaders\u2019 Questions between Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n Ms McDonald said home heating oil had reached 900 euro for a half fill and \u201cpeople can\u2019t wait as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael twiddle your thumbs\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThe Government hauled in an estimated additional 38 million euro in taxes and levies due to these price hikes in just one week.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s blindingly obvious what you need to do, cut taxes on petrol, on diesel and home heating oil.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would immediately bring down prices.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr O\u2019Callaghan said: \u201cThe Government will respond to this. However, what we\u2019re not going to do is engage in a knee-jerk response, just for the purpose of being seen to do something immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the Taoiseach had \u201cindicated\u201d the Government would look at cutting excise duties, adding that any measures introduced will be \u201ctargeted at individuals who need them the most\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr O\u2019Callaghan said Energy Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien had written to retail electricity and gas suppliers as well as fuel suppliers in recent days to emphasise the \u201cimportance of reducing the exposure for Irish consumers from the price shocks created by geopolitical events\u201d.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government is set to finalise short-term measures to address rising fuel and energy costs at next week’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[943,61,60,25097,43,20673,150947,70,3415],"class_list":["post-353858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cost-of-living","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-government","tag-news","tag-oil-prices","tag-petrol-prices","tag-simon-harris","tag-sinn-fein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353858","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=353858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}