Calls for 'full cost review' into Govt carbon tax plans

Fuels for Ireland is calling for a full review before the Government changes the planned path for carbon-tax increases. The campaign group said ministers should not weaken the policy without examining its costs and effects across the fuel system.

The Government had planned increases linked to climate action measures. By the end of the decade, those increases would add €53.50 to the price of home heating oil, €4.86 to a tank of petrol and €5.76 to a tank of diesel.

Summer increases were postponed because of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. That decision has prompted suggestions that further increases could also be delayed as part of October’s budget.

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Carbon tax has a clear emissions-reduction purpose. Before Government changes its trajectory, it should examine the whole fuel-policy system, what each measure costs, what it delivers and how the measures interact.

Fuels for Ireland chief executive Kevin McPartlan said carbon tax had a clear emissions-reduction purpose. He called for an independent examination of the public-policy costs affecting fuel prices, including how different measures interact.

McPartlan said the group was not arguing against lower fuel taxes. Instead, he said it wanted a smarter, long-term strategy before ministers altered the carbon-tax timetable.

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This is not an argument against lower fuel taxes. It is an argument for a smarter, long-term fuel tax strategy.