EU regulations prevent diesel being reduced by 25 cents - Taoiseach

The government is unable to reduce the cost of diesel by up to 25 cents due to EU regulations, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.

"We can't bring it down by 25 cent for diesel, because of the energy directive," Micheál Martin said. 

"The reduction in excise for diesel of 15 cents is the most that can be provided when taken in conjunction with the diesel rebate scheme," Mr Martin said, in context with the EU energy directive. 

He accused the opposition of not doing its homework. 

He said everybody knows about the "massive increases in the price of oil" due to global factors. He said the price increases are beyond the control of the Irish government, and most government's control. 

"The impact of the war in Ukraine has had a stark effect," he said. 

"We want to reduce the pressure on people.... That's we we are reducing by 20 cents on petrol and by 15 cents on diesel. We would like to do more on diesel but there are regulations and frameworks under EU law which will not facilitate that right now," he said. 

The government is working with its European Union colleagues to see can they bring greater flexibilities on the issue. 

blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">

Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD says the Government can't bring diesel prices down by 25c because of the Energy Directive. He adds, "we would like to do more on diesel" but there are EU regulations that will not facilitate that right now. | More: https://t.co/7mr93ClGoI pic.twitter.com/ZSytBJHcho

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 9, 2022

He also said if you reduce the VAT rate of 13 and half per cent, you run the risk of it going higher once the crisis eases. He said it was important to protect their derogation on energy rates which they want to protect in the long-term, "which keeps the VAT rate lower than it otherwise would be". 

He said €6.2 billion will be spent importing fuels into the country this year. He said this was a significant increase on previous years. 

"Home heating has gone up €400 in one year, because of global factors, nothing else" he said.