{"id":361547,"date":"2026-03-23T22:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361547\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:24:07","slug":"price-of-diesel-and-petrol-set-to-fall-as-government-agrees-new-excise-duty-measures-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361547\/","title":{"rendered":"Price of diesel and petrol set to fall as Government agrees new excise duty measures \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government is set to cut the price of diesel and petrol<\/a> from 12am on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> will bring forward proposals at Tuesday\u2019s Cabinet meeting to cut excise duty on diesel by 20 cent and on petrol by 15 cent until the end of May. <\/p>\n

These excise measures will take effect from 12am on Wednesday, subject to a financial resolution being passed in the D\u00e1il<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, expected changes to the National Oil Reserve Agency (Nora) levy will mean an effective cut in Government levies of an extra 2c each on diesel and petrol. The timing of the changes to this levy have not yet been announced. The changes to the Nora levy require primary legislation, but Government sources have said that it will be pushed through the Oireachtas<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

The changes were agreed at a meeting of Coalition party leaders on Monday night, attended by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, Harris, and Se\u00e1n Canney<\/a> representing Independent TDs in Government. <\/p>\n

There will also be a diesel rebate scheme for hauliers and bus operators, which will be backdated to January and keep supply chains functioning.<\/p>\n

The measures will be temporary but will be reviewed. <\/p>\n

It is also understood that the fuel allowance, currently worth \u20ac38 per week, will be doubled to \u20ac76 per week for the 470,000 people in receipt of the allowance. The season was due to end on March 31st, but is now being extended into April.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, Martin had pledged there would be short-term targeted measures to ease the pressure on the public caused by rising energy prices.<\/p>\n

Martin earlier responded to concerns raised by Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> that the mooted tax rebate for hauliers would limit scope for cutting excise on diesel for other motorists, with the Taoiseach stressing the importance of the haulage industry.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference at a housing development site in Dublin, Martin said: \u201cWe will be looking at, first of all, it\u2019s an immediate set of measures, short term, targeted in terms of the immediate pressures on the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that more broadly the Government would be looking at \u201cenergy efficiency\u201d when asked if steps such as increased grants for solar power or reducing speed limits on motorways would be looked at, though he also said: \u201cWe already have a very proactive grant system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil prices fell in the wake of US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s announcement that he was postponing threatened attacks on Iran<\/a>\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Government would take such oil price reductions into account when considering support measures, Martin replied: \u201cI\u2019m not getting into specifics of that kind. The figures are volatile. We know that. They\u2019ve been up and down, but if you look at it cumulatively over the last number of weeks, they\u2019ve had impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MinisterMinister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni <\/p>\n

Earlier, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said the Government\u2019s supports to help ease rising energy prices would be strictly limited and withdrawn as quickly as possible. <\/p>\n

Warning of the scale of the crisis, he said the Middle East conflict threatened \u201cthe biggest impact on the global economy for decades if it continues\u201d, and had \u201chuge ramifications for the growth trajectory of every economy in Europe and the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

During an interview on Newstalk on Monday, Sinn F\u00e9in finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the rebate for hauliers and transport operators would mean \u201cthat less support will be given to the general public because it all comes out of the same pot\u201d.<\/p>\n

He argued for maximum cuts to excise duty instead, saying: \u201cThe way that you support hauliers, transport operators and the general public is giving them the reduction at the pump. <\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately you give all three the reduction and you cut excise duty by the maximum amount.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government is set to cut the price of diesel and petrol from 12am on Wednesday. Minister for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[943,160,15910,969,5485,37635,26934,42,11829,150432,13808,1843,43,19383,3415,5066,40,38,41,39,9688],"class_list":["post-361547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cost-of-living","tag-covid-19","tag-darragh-o-brien","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-costs","tag-energy-crisis","tag-fuel-allowance","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-jack-chambers","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-pearse-doherty","tag-sinn-fein","tag-tax","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361547","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=361547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}