Mayo households 'ripped-off while exchequer rakes in extra €38m. taxes on rising fuel prices' –TD

A Mayo TD has called on the government to ease the burden of soaring energy costs on homes and businesses by immediately reducing taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil.

This comes following the news that the Government raked in an additional €38 million in VAT on rising fuel prices since the US-Israeli conflict with Iran in the Middle East escalated last week.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh said: “In the last week alone, the Government collected an additional €38 million in VAT due to rising fuel prices.

"At the same time, workers, families and small businesses are being squeezed by extortionate fuel costs.

“They cannot keep ignoring the warnings from Irish hauliers and the growing pressure that soaring fuel prices are putting on people across the country.

“We were already in the depts of a cost-of-living crisis, where ordinary workers, families, pensioners and business owners were trying to make every euro stretch as far as possible.

“As people fill up their cars this morning on the way to work or doing the school run, and their heating oil tanks are running low at home, these extortionate increases simply cannot be absorbed.

“The government must abandon its ‘wait and see’ approach and intervene now. Waiting out this major global economic shock is simply not an option for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“They should scrap the planned carbon tax increase, reduce taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil during this crisis, and introduce a cost-of-living package that delivers real support for the workers and families hardest hit by this energy crisis.”