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2005

SIPTU President accuses Government of complacency over fuel crisis and calls for immediate cut in duty on petrol to ease impact of inflation on workers

Date Released: 07 Sep 2005

The Government must learn from the lessons of the past and act on fuel costs now, says SIPTU General President Jack O'Connor, who has called for an immediate reduction in excise duty to reduce the impact of higher energy costs on the cost of living.

"I am flabbergasted at the complacency of the Government response to the clear evidence of a serious crisis developing before our eyes. The nine per cent surge in the price of home heating oil in the month of July alone has been followed this past week by a seven to eight per cent increase in prices facing the average motorist at the petrol pumps. There has been an overall increase of 25 per cent in petrol prices alone since January.

"This is a repeat of the crisis that unfolded in the second half of

2000, when a resumption of rising inflation almost led to the collapse of the then national pay agreement. Mounting demands by

SIPTU from that summer onwards calling for a review of Government policy and an anti-inflation package to roll back energy costs were only yielded to after the December 2000 budget, when it was almost too late.

"The Government should learn from that near miss and act now rather than waiting until the next Budget. Consumer prices should be eased by reducing excise duty and by the Government foregoing its own unexpected windfall resulting from the surge in prices.

"In this context the ESRI call for increased carbon taxes is indeed ill-timed and has unfortunately detracted from the more positive comments which the ESRI report has made in favour of the greater use of public transport.

"It is undoubtedly the case that our Kyoto obligations cannot be forgotten, but the ordinary worker who is now forced to commute long distances by private transport should not be penalised by the

Government's increased take at the petrol pumps.

"Working people must be offered the alternative of enhanced public transport provision and increased incentives to avail of it through attractive discounts on the purchase of seasonal tickets and similar measures".





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