Motorists in Ireland are having a hole burned in their pockets at the moment.
A survey carried out by AA Ireland has revealed that the price of fuel in Ireland has risen to its highest level in 18 months.
The AA survey revealed that the average cost of a litre of petrol is now 137.7c, up a single cent on February prices, while the average cost of a litre of diesel is now 127.1c, an increase of 0.7 cents on the February figure.
The prices represent the highest cost for petrol and diesel since August 2015, when the average cost of petrol and diesel stood at 143.6c and 128.8c per litre respectively.
Gone are the heady days when a litre of diesel was available in some places in Ireland for under €1.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs, said: “While the latest increase is by no means the worst month-on-month hike that we’ve seen recently, it marks the sixth successive month in which we have seen prices climb and continues a trend which is of great concern to many motorists.
“While it’s easy to say that the factors which cause these increases are outside of our control as a country this simply isn’t the case,” Faughnan added.
“The majority of what we pay at the pump is made up of various taxes placed on petrol and diesel and the extent to which we tax fuel spend is something we have direct say over.”
Backing up Faughnan’s comments, the latest AA analysis revealed that 86.52c of the total pump price for a litre of petrol and 73.67c of the total per litre cost of diesel consists of various taxes including VAT and Excise duty.
The latest price increases, meanwhile, come despite the price of a barrel of oil falling by $5 within the past month.
“The continued rise of fuel prices is a major concern for Irish motorists and was one of the key reasons as to why we launched the AA Fuel Card offering members and customers 4c off every litre of fuel purchased at select garages. However, on a wider scale this latest increase further highlights the need for our government to reassess the extent to which they tax fuel,” Faughnan added.
“During the worst years of the recession tax on petrol and diesel increased by 20c and 18c per litre respectively and the fact that these taxes have outlived the ‘emergency’ actually acts as an anti-stimulus measure making it more difficult for people to commute to work every day.”
