Mounting pressure on the government to introduce measures aimed at easing the price of fuel

0:00While as the war continues, the price of a barrel of oil remains at more than $100. There's mounting pressure on the government to introduce measures, aimed at easing the price of fuel. It has said the situation is under review. This morning, the Social Democrats' deputy leader, Keanu Callahan, called for energy credits to be introduced and excised duties to be caught. There should be emergency measures brought forward by government to tackle the very steep rises that we've seen in petrol diesel, home heating oil costs, and there hasn't been even though the government has had several weeks to do so. So we're calling on the government to immediately and urgently introduce a targeted 400 euro energy credit for 800,000 households to help them through this immediate cost to live in crisis. And we're also calling for reductions, as has been done in the past, reductions in excise on the cost of petrol and diesel. Meanwhile, independent Ireland leader Michael Collins said it was time to reduce carbon taxes. One way I'm looking at this as the carbon tax, not alone freeze it for the time being

1:04would drop it. Give people a chance. So everybody is putting 100 euros of home heating oil into their tank, or 100 into the carage. As a chosen with home heating oil tank, you're looking at paying 50 to 60 percent on government taxes. That has to stop at this present time. I'm not saying stop for life, but it has to stop now to give people some ease, apacities of people to get up early in the morning and work hard. Everybody knows the situation. Each person is in their paying markets, paying childcare, retired people. All these people are at this present time, scared to go to the fitting station. Absolutely scared. Trying to watch which fitting station is one, couple of cents cheaper than the other fitting station. Well joining us to discuss rising energy costs is John Fitzgerald, adjunct professor with Trinity College Dublin. John, you heard the calls there. What code and should the government do in the current situation? Neither of the TDs said what taxes they'd increased to pay for what they're proposing. We the people of Ireland are going to be substantially worse off as a result of the rise in oil

2:05and gas prices. The government can't stop us being worse off, but what they can do is protect certain people who are going to be who are on low incomes. And in particular, I would anticipate there would be some further assistance for people on low incomes dealing with heating costs and electricity costs, because we're coming into the summer, it's less urgent. So probably what the government will do will be work out a scheme and introduce something in the summer. They probably do it before the budget and the autumn. But we don't know how bad it's going to get. So it makes sense to plan for this properly and introduce something in the summer for those on low incomes. But there's not much you can do about the fact that Ireland is going to have to pay a load more for oil and gas and it's going to hurt us. How exposed is Ireland to disruptions like this? Well, we've been exposed to oil prices and gas prices.

3:10Going back to 1956, my first memory is of the oil rationing in 1956. The answer to this long term is to make the economy greener and to rely our baby able to have renewable electricity and to electrify cars and heating. And then we'll be able to get away from this crisis. Every decade, really, we have an oil crisis and it's happening more frequently now with Ukraine and now, and now, and the whole administration so on. So the only answer long term is make us less dependent on oil and go ahead and you have the benefit that you're tackling climate change. But in the short run, the government can't avoid the fact that we're going to be worse off, but they can try and protect those who will be worse affected. What do you see happening looking at the wider political situation and at what's happening

4:11or not happening in the straits of hormones? What do you see happening over the coming days and weeks? I think this is going to affect us at least for the rest of the year because, first of all, the Israelis have got to decide they're going to tell Trump it's over and then Trump has got to decide it's over and he's going to stop bombing Iran. But Iran isn't going to stop and you need an agreed settlement because all Iran has got to do is sit there and send off the yard drone to attack, shape every now and again. And no ship carrying highly infantile cargo would be able to travel through the straits of hormones. So it doesn't just require the Israelis, it doesn't just require Trump, it requires the Iranians to agree some kind of a ceasefire and I don't see a prospect of that any time in the near future, in which case the world is going to be short and 15 to 20 percent of its oil and gas and prices are going to be extremely high and we're all going to

5:14suffer. And of course, no, just having listened to Sally in Lebanon, our sufferings are financial, they're much less than what's happening in the Lebanon, but nonetheless we are going to suffer. And I've seen several people sharing pictures over the past few days of the scenes from the 1970s when there were these long queues at petrol stations. Now back in those days there were far fewer of us living here and there were also far fewer cars on the road. Is it conceivable that something like that could happen again? No, because we paid the price for the oil, it's going to affect poorer countries, much worse, like India, Pakistan and so on, who are very dependent on, even more dependent on the home or the straight. And what happened in 1979 was the minister and government were mad. They said we're being ripped off so they cut the price of petrol and just there was no petrol because they weren't paying the world price of petrol and or huge queues.

6:15And actually in 1956 they did it better and they actually had formal rationing. And so you didn't have these massive queues, but it aren't kind of forward to pay the price we will use less because it's more expensive, but other parts of the world who won't be able to pay for much higher prices will suffer more. John, thank you for talking to us this afternoon. John Fitzgerald there adjunct professor with Trinity College Dublin.