Fuel Protest Latest: Further 10 cent reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel

MAIN POINTS

Government will introduce a further 10 cent reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel.

There will be a further 2.4 cent reduction on marked gas oil or green diesel effective from midnight on Tuesday.

This is subject to Oireachtas approval.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said today's package is worth €505 million.

The increase on carbon tax will be postponed from May until the Budget in October.

new Transport Support Scheme to help hauliers and those in the food and agri industries will be backdated to 1 March.

Taniaste: There is no government that can shield its people entirely from the full impact of the ongoing war.

Taoiseach: "As we said consistently during the week, nobody has a right to blockade or country."

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A live press conference is underway as Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, and Minister of State Seán Canney speak from Government Buildings.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said: "As a Government, we hear you. We have acted and we are taking further action today."

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the Government had been "holding discussions with representative bodies and examining ways of getting our country through this very challenging moment."

"And 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 cents from the cost of petrol.

"We also extended a fuel alowance for a further four weeks, and these changes have already been worth about €50 million to households and businesses. But as we said then, we did so we would keep everything under review. And we've always sought to protect the prices and energy supplies.

"We've 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, fishermen and contractors, among others, who've taken the time to constructively engage with us throughout the last six weeks. They've 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 or motorways or 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 or 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 delay 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.

"The right to protest i critical, but it cannot operate with no limits, without any consideration of its impact on us as a society and economy. It should never undermine the fundamental d rights of others.

"I want to thank the Gardai and the Defence Forces for their professionalism 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've continued our programme of engagement with stakeholders and have been examining different ways of helping those worse impacted by this sudden increase in fuel crises.

Tanaiste Simon Harris said:

"We're living through an unprecedented global energy crisis. We know the pain, we know the stress, and we know the very real financial pressure, so many across our country, are feeling as a result of this, as a government, we hear you, we have acted and we're taking further motion today.

"Our initial response was a package of measures and tried to help at the public assess the most vulnerable team, their homes, and was designed to support key supply chains.

"We worked clear when we announced these measures that we would keep some economic powered dry, and that everything would mean to review. We were clear that we would have further engagement with key sectors in our economy. We ruled nothing out, and we noted at the time the need for continued agility, conscious of the enormous global instability that is ongoing.

"That is why today, as a government, we have taken the decisions to extend the temporary reductions introduced on the 25th of March and due to expire on the 31st of May until the end of July. It's why we've also decided to have ongoing engagement with the European Commission and in doing so to introduce a further 10 cent reduction in Excise duty, a petrol and diesel, and a further 2.4 cent reduction and marked gas oil or green diesel, effective from midnight on Tuesday. These are, in addition to the further targeted measures referenced for the agri food and haulage sector, details of which will be further announced by the relevant line ministers.

"Today, we've also taken a decision at Cabinet to defer the increases in carbon tax schedules to take effect on the 1st of May until Budget day. I believe the measures that were taking in the round makes up an appropriate package to try and ensure that everyone who's feeling under pressure right now has given some form of relief.

"We've taken these measures as a government following extensive engagement with those nationally representative, democratically run organisations, those who've engaged with for many years. This form of engagement has served us well as a country, during the main crises of the past decade, Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine.

"If these crises taught us anything, it said when we come together as a country and engage with key stakeholders and our society and our economy, when we work collaboratively, when we confront calmly and collectively the challenges before us in an increasingly unstable and volatile world, we can make progress.

"We would always engage in good faith with civil groups and elected representatives, but we cannot be expected to reasonably or rationally engage with self appointed spokespeople on elected bodies and those who would instigate an illegal blockade some of this country's most critical infrastructure at a time of a global energy crisis.

"Let me re-emphasise nobody in Ireland has the right to obstruct the free movement of people. Nobody has the right to dictate who gets free passage and who does not. These are not issues that are up for negotiation or for bargaining.

"Some of what we've seen in recent days has been extremely concerning, and it's been profoundly damaging and ordinary people right up and down this country, including the most vulnerable, trying to go about their lives.

"It has caused significant harm and significant challenge. And I do want to thank An Garda Siochana for the work that they've done to end the illegal blockades and to restore law and order to the streets of this country. They've done so in a gradual and respectful way, and I commend them for their efforts.

"Finally, I want to be clear that while the measures were announcing this evening, will provide a further and important level of support. There is no government that can shield its people entirely from the full impact of the ongoing war.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport Seán Canney has said the scheme will be based on the Licenced Haulage Support Scheme and is intended to "help and support those who are vital in our economy".

Minister Canney said the scheme will cover licenced hauliers and will also be opened up to "certain other sectors within transport".

A separate support scheme will be developed that will financially support Local Link and School Transport services, he said.

Minister Canney said the payments will be backdated to 1 March.

Farmers, fisheries, agricutlural contractors and island transport will all benefit, the minister said.

More to follow...