Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We all want to see the benefits of international oil price reductions translated into cheaper prices for Irish consumers. Our transport sector is almost completely reliant on oil, which is the most prominent heating method for Irish homes. All our oil is currently imported, and this dependency makes Ireland particularly vulnerable to global price volatility. Ensuring a balanced and secure energy mix is therefore one of the priorities set out in the energy Green Paper published by the former Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, last May. My Department is currently considering the significant issues emerging from the public consultation that followed the publication of the Green Paper, and I will be publishing a new energy policy framework later this year.

Brent crude oil prices are currently at a six-year low of approximately $48 a barrel. Irish consumers are benefitting from falling oil prices at the pump. The European Commission's Statistics and Market Observatory, which produces weekly statistics on consumer prices of petroleum products for the EU, shows that the price of petrol in Ireland was €1.25 per litre, including taxes and duties, at the beginning of this week. The price of diesel was €1.19. This is a significant fall by comparison with the price in the same period last year, when petrol was €1.53 per litre and diesel was €1.47.

As the Deputy will be aware, having touched on it in his contribution, the Irish oil industry is fully liberalised, with free entry to the market. While it is Government policy to encourage price competition and consumer choice, neither the Commission for Energy Regulation nor I as Minister have any statutory function in setting oil prices.

Research previously conducted by the National Consumer Agency indicates that the price paid by consumers at the pump is determined by a number of factors. These include the internationally traded price of crude oil, the consequent price at which the refined product is traded in Europe, tax levels and, importantly, the level of competition in the retail market. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which was created by a merger of the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority, has a role in monitoring competition in the oil market to ensure the market is functioning correctly and that consumers are not being disadvantaged. This amalgamated body falls under the remit of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

The Deputy implied that consumers, residents and businesses have a reasonable expectation that when the price of oil decreases internationally, as has been the case, this decrease will find its way through to retail prices. In the past week, I have not been meeting oil companies but energy suppliers, namely, the suppliers of electricity and gas to businesses and homes. I sought to meet them to understand their perspective on this issue. The reasonable expectation of the Deputy and citizens, which I share, is that when the input cost decreases, the retail price paid by consumers, and residents in particular, will also go down. I have had very good conversations with pretty much all the energy suppliers in the residential market in the past week. I was happy to welcome the announcement by a number of those companies of reductions in the prices of gas and electricity. Those reductions, while arguably quite modest, are going in the right direction. I do not have a role in setting oil prices. It is not open to me to intervene in this regard, but I have an interest, as do the Deputy and all others, in ensuring that when the input cost decreases, the price of electricity and gas paid by the consumer goes down also.

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