There was uproar when it didn\u2019t happen<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Prices were slightly cheaper at Circle K in Ballina, Co Mayo, at 215.9c for diesel and 194.9c for petrol.<\/p>\n
Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), said fuel prices are unlikely to drop below \u20ac2 a litre any time soon.<\/p>\n
The CSNA represents more than 1,500 retailers and 300 filling stations across the country.<\/p>\n
Mr Jennings said prices could rise to \u201cnorth of \u20ac2.30 or \u20ac2.35\u201d, and benefits of a potential 20c cut to excise on fuel \u201chave already been eroded by these most recent increases\u201d.<\/p>\n
Even when supports are introduced on Tuesday, he said, stations will have to continue selling older stock bought at higher prices, meaning the cut to excise will take time to filter down.<\/p>\n
![\"Transport](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c655181a-46fd-4e27-91c0-56c73bda3614.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien. Photo: Getty<\/p>\n
\u201cThat won\u2019t wash through to the people who have not got deliveries due until Friday or Saturday of next week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven with the good weather, there will be less sales this week in anticipation of a drop, so it\u2019s going to take longer for the old stock to wash through.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there are concerns that, should fuel prices continue to rise at pace, next week\u2019s state intervention will be appreciated, but could only amount to \u201ca drop in the ocean\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t a single person who can tell you what the price will be this time next week. You\u2019re not going to see something below \u20ac2 for a little while, much and all as we want it to be that, because the economy requires it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the last drop in excise duty following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine four years ago, Mr Jennings said the messaging around that was \u201cappalling\u201d and it has to be made clear by the Government that a cut to excise will not bring an immediate drop in prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment came out and said we\u2019ve dropped the price of excise from midnight and the expectation was that\u2019s going to be there on the pumps tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was uproar when it didn\u2019t happen. This will happen in a graded fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe retailers didn\u2019t all of a sudden become greedy, but we have to stay in business, and you can\u2019t stay in business if you\u2019re selling for substantially less than what you\u2019re buying it for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019ve also had a commitment from them to have a dialogue every two weeks<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Mr Jennings reiterated calls for members of the public not to take out their frustrations on members of staff on-site at the forecourts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe kind. That\u2019s the most important thing, be kind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) met Transport Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien on Thursday, and the Government is set to work through the weekend to finalise a support package, including supports for hauliers.<\/p>\n
IRHA president Ger Hyland said he is \u201cabsolutely\u201d confident the supports delivered by the Government next Tuesday will be sufficient, even with fuel jumping in price again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be in constant contact with the minister, and he has promised that by the time Tuesday comes, we will have a package fit for purpose to bring to our members,\u201d Mr Hyland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs well as a commitment from the Government, we\u2019ve also had a commitment from them to have a dialogue every two weeks. We can change this going forward if we have to, this isn\u2019t going to be written in stone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever we thrash out with the Government, we will be able to renegotiate with them again.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no fear of a cliff-edge scenario for hauliers, as Mr Hyland said it has been made clear the sector will require further supports, even if the conflict in the Middle East were to end tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this conflict is over, and who knows when that will be, it will take at least six months of extra supports for our industry before fuel returns to what would be \u2018normal\u2019 prices from before the conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish Independent survey of prices at pumps around the country found a number of stations pricing diesel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,2190,8335,13458,18,19,18929,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-397486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-darragh-nolan","11":"tag-darragh-obrien","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116270366009679959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}