Micheál Martin: Extends Fuel Tax Cuts and Condemns Blockades

First of all, thank you for being here today. Over the past six weeks, the world has been coping with a dramatic and unexpected increase in oil prices, as well as oil shortages. The impact of this has been felt here in Ireland, just as it has in most other countries across the world. The scale and nature of these increases have not been determined by this government, but we have taken real and substantive action to try to limit their impact. From the first days of the war, we have been actively monitoring the situation, holding discussions with representative bodies, and examining ways of getting our country through this very challenging moment. That is why, little more than three weeks after the increases began, we implemented a significant cut in excise duties, removing 22 cent per litre from the cost of diesel and 17 cent from the cost of petrol. We also extended the fuel allowance for a further four weeks. These changes have already been worth 250 million to households and businesses. But as we said then, we did say we would keep everything under review, and we have always sought to protect prices and energy supplies. We have also continued to engage with representative bodies about the practical impact of prices on vital sectors of the economy, particularly haulage and food production. I want to thank the representative bodies – hauliers, farmers, fishers and contractors, among others – who have taken the time to constructively engage with us throughout the last six weeks. They have been constructive, robust and comprehensive in these discussions, and we believe a significant package of measures has emerged. In recent days, a coordinated effort to blockade our streets, our motorways, our fuel depots and ports has been implemented by groups with a self-declared mandate. They have explicitly rejected the right of democratic representative groups to speak for them and have gone well beyond simply expressing their point. As we said consistently during the week, nobody has a right to blockade our country. In this free democracy, there are many ways to make your point publicly, and our streets are regularly full of people exercising their rights. But no self-appointed group has a right to prevent emergency services from operating normally, or delaying people going for cancer treatment, or to threaten the jobs and livelihoods of others. Nobody has a right to intimidate drivers attempting to distribute fuel, or to talk about having control of the country and government. No one should deny the fundamental right of freedom of mobility of people, goods and services. The targeting of our ports and depots represented a direct threat to basic supplies and, if left unaddressed, would have impacted on every business and job in the country. The targeting of Whitegate in particular was very serious. It was an imminent danger of seeing oil intended for Ireland being resold and redirected to other countries, and of refining being paused at Whitegate, which would have been extremely serious in terms of continuity of supply of finished product to the country. Higher fuel scarcity and higher fuel prices would actually have been the inevitable outcome of these blockades. The right to protest is important and critical, but it cannot operate with no limits and without any consideration of its impact on wider society and economy. It should never undermine the fundamental human rights of others. I want to thank the Gardaí and the Defence Forces for the professionalism of their actions over the last few days. At all stages, steps were taken to minimise conflict and to respect the right of people to make their point. We have continued our programme of engagement with stakeholders and have been examining different ways of helping those worst impacted by this sudden increase in fuel prices. As a result of this, we have today agreed to further mitigate the impact on households and businesses enduring energy price shock arising from the conflict in the Middle East. Government is now extending the temporary measures to reduce exercise duty on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil from the end of May to the end of July. Further reducing mineral oil taxes, the Government is by 10 cent per litre on petrol, 10 cent per litre on diesel and 2.4 cent per litre on marked gas oil. Postponing the increase in carbon tax from May until the Budget in October. Enhancing the transport support schemes for all haulage operators in the country, for local link and school transport providers and some commercial operators. Introducing a fuel subsidy support scheme for farming and fisheries. The Government recognises and understands the pressures that have arisen due to rising fuel costs as a result of war in Ukraine and in the Middle East on all families and businesses. I am very conscious of the fact that we have to ensure that we support people, protect key services and make critical investments. The package we have agreed today is a significant response to real pressures being felt here and globally. As we have seen during the week, the resolution of this conflict could lead to relatively rapid and significant falls in oil prices. In the meantime, we will implement these extra important temporary measures which will directly help people impacted by this unprecedented global crisis in energy supply resulting from the war in the Middle East.