{"id":596053,"date":"2026-08-17T13:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/596053\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:50:11","slug":"govt-sleepwalking-into-major-problem-over-excise-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/596053\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt ‘sleepwalking into major problem’ over excise cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The industry body representing the liquid fuel sector has expressed concern that the Government is “sleepwalking into a major problem” with the unwinding of fuel price subsidies.<\/p>\n

In April, the Government increased temporary fuel excise cuts to 32c on a litre of diesel and 27c for petrol.<\/p>\n

However, those reductions are due to be unwound on a phased basis between September and December.<\/p>\n

Ministers have repeatedly said they are keeping the situation under review.<\/p>\n

Fuels for Ireland CEO Kevin McPartlan this morning said the tone of rhetoric from people involved in the protests earlier this year is “getting stronger”.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9’s Today with Sharon Tobin, Mr McPartlan said: “We’re already seeing the people who were high profile in the protest the last time out talking about that.”<\/p>\n

He added: “They say that ‘if it gets to \u20ac2, we’re back on the streets’. The volume of social media posts on this, and the tone of them, are both increasing.<\/p>\n

\"Petrol
\nKevin McPartlan said those involved in the protests highlighted they will be ‘back on the streets’ if porces hit \u20ac2 a litre<\/p>\n

“The volume is increasing and the tone is getting stronger. I’m really, really concerned. I think we’re sleepwalking into a major problem,” Mr McPartlan said.<\/p>\n

He said Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin should recall the D\u00e1il from its summer recess to address the issue.<\/p>\n

“There is a procedure, Standing Order 26 from memory, that allows the Taoiseach to ask the Ceann Comhairle to recall [the D\u00e1il] for a specific purpose.<\/p>\n

“It just needs to be one quick meeting where they can say, ‘listen, we’re going to just reverse that plan that we had in place’.<\/p>\n

“This measure was always a temporary measure. It should be a temporary measure,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McPartlan added: “The Government requires the tax it takes from fuel.<\/p>\n

“I’m not foolish enough to suggest that we need tax reductions on fuel, but we do need to say we have an emergency right now and it needs to be dealt with properly.”<\/p>\n

There are signals within the Government that the timetable for restoring excise cuts on fuel may have to be revisited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The coalition had agreed a plan to reverse excise cuts on petrol and diesel in four phases between September and December.<\/p>\n

But prices at the pumps have remained high, casting doubt on that timetable.<\/p>\n

Figures from AA Ireland show the average cost of a litre of diesel has risen by 19 cent to \u20ac1.92 in the past month, with petrol rising by 9 cent per litre to \u20ac1.84 over the same period.<\/p>\n

There is a view in the Government that if prices remain elevated, the schedule will have to be revisited.<\/p>\n

The first of the price rises could still go ahead on 1 September as the D\u00e1il will be in recess.<\/p>\n

But the timetable for later cuts could change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The industry body representing the liquid fuel sector has expressed concern that the Government is “sleepwalking into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-596053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596053","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=596053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}