Dáil debates

Thursday, 24 March 2022

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Fuel Prices

2:45 pm

Photo of James O'ConnorJames O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I appreciate the information that has been brought to light and that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is aware of it. That is welcome. It is good to hear about the extensions. However, putting it in an overall picture, we must remember that more than 41 million passengers are taken to school by coach operators. That is a staggering statistics that indicates the scale of the service provided to people across the country. Two thirds of operators have experienced fuel cost increases of more than 60% in the past 12 months. That is very concerning and enormously costly. We need to mind the gap in this regard.

A particular issue raised at the committee - unfortunately, there was little time to discuss it because of the time constraints and the number of people who were present - is the lack of alignment in State contracts and Government procurement. The committee was told by the CCTC that the lack of alignment is troubling. It is seeking to have a legally enforceable fuel variation clause introduced in school transport contracts so that operators have protection against extreme variation in fuel costs. That struck me as a sensible suggestion that we could consider, particularly from the point of view of the Department of Transport. It would be welcome if a degree of security could be provided in that area. If that is something the Minister of State can bring back to the Minister, I would appreciate it.

I am very concerned about the national oil reserve. As all present are aware, under international law the State is obligated to have a supply of 90 days for the country in the event a supply crisis was to emerge. Considering how close we came to such a crisis a number of weeks ago in the context of the security situation in Russia and Ukraine, which looks like it will deteriorate, we need to be on standby as a Government because the damage that would be done to all sectors of the economy, including the sector to which I refer, if there is a supply crisis is enormous. This is an island nation and we need to be on standby to secure and access that reserve, much of which is kept off the island of Ireland. As an island, we need to make sure we have the security in place to access that reserve if necessary.

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