Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister spoke about a press release going out at the end of last week after the Cabinet decision to bring forward this measure which in the Minister's view will increase the cost of diesel and petrol by another 2 cent from around 1 January onwards. Most people will not know this and will be asking what the hell is going on here. They are crippled with the cost of petrol and diesel. There is a view, definitely in the Green Party and maybe elsewhere, that we need to continually increase and increase the price of petrol and diesel and part of the pain is warranted. However, you cannot have those types of sudden spikes and then the Government adding another 2% on it. The Government is offsetting it and I recognise that but there is no guarantee that suppliers are not going to apply this charge to the pumps on 1 January or 1 February. The offset does not come in until 1 April. Why is the Minister not simply bringing it in on 1 January? This new 2% is only an estimate. Can the Minister give clarity as to whether it might be higher? Where are the estimates that it will increase the price of petrol by 2 cent per litre coming from? That is another euro on the fill of a car. If the increase is taking place on 1 January why do we not bring forward the offsetting measure until then? It is only lasting until October despite the other Minister saying it will last forever. One hand does not know what the other hand is doing. What guarantees does the pricing increases in the pumps will not be reflected and will not be a burden on homeowners and motorists until 1 April? Where does the estimate arrive from? Could it be more than the 2 cent suggested?

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