Government Must Suspend Carbon Tax Increases While Fuel Prices Surge - Peter Whelan
Thursday 12th March 2026, 10:39am
Aontú representative Peter whelan has called on the government to suspend carbon taxe increases while fuel prices surge
“This week sees fuel prices hit €2 a litre. Home heating oil has reached €880 for 500 litres. These are excruciating prices for many, with cold weather expected in the coming days. I spoke to an older man today who told me that he couldn’t purchase oil this week and now he can’t use his central heating. He is only got some timber to burn in an open fire so he has heat in one room. He will have a cold house and no hot water. This is no way for an older citizen to live and there are hundreds of thousands of people like him. Fuel is not a luxury good; it is a staple of life.
Carbon taxes are not progressive. They hurt low- and middle-income earners the most. They also hurt regional and rural Ireland the most. In 2024 Carbon Tax reached €1billion. It is now the largest tax on all fuels in Ireland and it will keep increasing for every year until 2030 irrespective of what the economic circumstance of the people. It is immoral for the government to proceed with their plan to hike up Carbon Taxes in 6 weeks. This government is carbon tax gouging hundreds of thousands of families who are already in energy arrears.
We are told that the purpose of Carbon Tax is to increase the price of fuel so that people change away from fossil fuels. But the market is rising prices anyways. There is no need for the increases. Also for many people there is no public transport alternatives. Volumes are growing on the Dublin Port Tunnel and on the M50 even though tolls are rising. If people had alternatives they would be switching already. These carbon taxes are not behaviour changing, they are punitive. We demand that the government suspend Carbon Tax increases and that they cut the tax during the current price surge.
