THE Irish government’s decision to restore excise duty on fuel will encourage people from the Republic to go to Northern Ireland to purchase diesel and petrol, a motoring industry insider has predicted.
On Monday petrol increased by four cents per litre while diesel was raised by three cents per litre.
According to the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) president, Ger Hyland, with fuel now being “on par or cheaper” in Northern Ireland, the change will encourage “fuel tourism” and damage the Irish economy.
“We use approximately 14 million litres of fuel a week here in Ireland. We’re currently paying five taxes on that, there’s €7.84m [£6.7m] a week going into the government’s coffers from our industry, from the transport sector,” Mr Hyland told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“Our tolls have gone up twice already this year, the government’s coffers were never as full, we’re facing down the barrel of an election this year and we would’ve thought that the government would’ve kicked this can down the road.”
As the price gap widens due to the hike in excise duty in the Republic this week, the UK has postponed fully restoring excise duty for 12 months.
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