ICMSA say Govt in danger of hypocrisy – “State is actually benefitting from astronomical rise in fuel prices”

Noting that the Government would appear to have adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude to the issue of price surges on fuel caused by the war in the Gulf, the President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, said that it had not escaped public notice that  – on the present system of ‘add on’ taxes and levies – the Irish Government is actually benefitting from the alarming rise in fuel prices resulting from the war in the Persian Gulf. It was, noted Mr Drennan, one thing to be prudent in the state’s interest and to not indulge in ‘knee-jerk’ responses to what may be temporary circumstances, it was quite another for the State to appear to be benefitting from the astronomical rise in the price of fuel through its percentage take on the price at the pumps.

“The fact of the matter is that the State is actually benefitting from the price surge caused by this war. As internationally traded price goes up and the wholesale price goes up, then so does the price at the pump and so, quite shockingly, does the State’s very large proportionate ‘take’ of that price. If the Irish Government is as concerned about the ‘hit’ being inflicted on farmers and the general consumers as they keep telling the media they are, then the obvious thing to do is to adjust downwards their share of the price at the pump for so long as there are inflationary pressures on the wholesale market and try and keep the prices stable that way. Obviously, Ireland can’t affect price at source, but we can affect price at the pump through the Government adjusting downwards its ‘take’ and – more or less – trying to keep the price within an acceptable band of movement”, said Mr. Drennan.  

“One option that ICMSA thinks would be fair would be to forget about the State taking a percentage of the retail price for the duration of this crisis caused by war. The Govt should instead calculate their average ‘take’ based on the last three years and publicly announce and budget for that same amount this year. The retail price at the pumps can be adjusted downwards to reflect that predicted and fixed State ‘take’ with the savings passed back to the consumer.  Either do something like that or say nothing. But please don’t tell us that the State is worried about the rise in the price of fuel while the revenue the State is making from that rise surges in step with the price.  ICMSA suspects that’s too much hypocrisy for us – certainly too much hypocrisy for farmers who in addition to massive fuel bills will also be looking at massive increases in fertiliser”, said Mr. Drennan.

Ends        9 March

Denis Drennan, 086-8389401

President, ICMSA.

Or

Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758

ICMSA Press Office