Irish follow UK on fuel
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• Irish hauliers are complaining to their government about fuel costs, despite paying much less than their UK counterparts.
Diesel costs in the Republic have risen by 16% since March to 41p/lit (ex-VAT). Now the Irish Road Haulage Association has approached the Minister for Finance to ask him to exclude diesel from a tax hike in the forthcoming budget.
"Every penny increase in the cost of fuel is a net drop of 10% in retained profits to a haulier," says IRHA president Gerry McMahon, in a formal submission to the minister. Retained profits are the only way hauliers have of re-investing in their fleet, the IRHA warns.
Irish hauliers have not been able to pass on the increasing pump costs of fuel because of the need to be competitive. However, an excise increase would automatically be passed on, and would affect more than hauliers as its effects trickled through to the econon( A fuel tax increase, coupled with expected insurance increases from next year onwards and rising wage demands from a pool of scarce drivers, would have a serious effect on the competitiveness of Irish hauliers, says the !HA.