However, one local fuel trader has explained to the Herald how little will actually change at the pumps, and warned a carbon tax could soon be introduced here too, in some form or another. 

Fuel prices in the south were expected to jump last week after the controversial carbon tax was introduced by Leo Varadkar’s government. 

The first of ten planned fuel price increases came into effect in the south as of midnight last Wednesday, which was supposed to see an increase of around 2c per litre. 

That hasn’t happened along Fermanagh’s border, though. 

Terry Hughes of TJ Hughes in Belleek, where the petrol pumps are south of the border, said their prices had remained the same following last week’s budget announcement in Dublin. 

Mr Hughes said the carbon tax was simply the Irish government’s way of keeping to the terms of an international agreement, which the UK is also subject to.  

“This is going to be standard enough for EU countries, it isn’t going to make a big difference,” he said. “What’s going on here will also be going on in the UK. They have signed up to that agreement too, whether they in the EU or not.” 

He added: “Every country has the same problem, they have to start getting their carbon output down. 

“The way they are going to that is to get people into electric vehicles. “It’s about getting to carbon neutrality.” 

Mr Hughes said that his station had managed to keep the pump prices down through a combination of factors, including a drop in wholesale prices, currency rates, and by absorbing a small amount of the new tax.