Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed fuel supports for farmers and hauliers.

An Taoiseach said the government will be introducing a fuel subsidy support scheme for farming and fisheries.

Speaking tonight (Sunday, April 12), he announced that the increase to carbon tax due to take effect next month is being postponed until the budget in October.

He also said that the government is now extending temporary measures to reduce excise duty on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil from the end of May to the end of July.

The government intends to introduce a further 10c/L reduction in excise duty on petrol and on diesel, and a further 2.4c/L reduction on marked gas oil, effective from midnight on Tuesday, subject to Oireachtas approval.

The overall package announced today amounts to €505 million.

Transport Support Scheme

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Seán Canney has announced a Road Transporters Support Scheme.

The scheme will cover licensed hauliers but will also be opened up to certain other sectors within transport, he said.

It will be modelled on the Licenced Haulage Support Schemes of 2022 and 2023 deployed to assist the sector with the higher fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It will provide direct payments to haulage and coach operators.

An initial payment backdated for March 2026 will made to each qualifying haulage or coach operator.

The scheme will remain in place for three months. Payments will be made for April and May, if the national average price of diesel exceeds €1.90 per litre in the month.

"The payments will be effective from March 1, and we will keep it under review," Minister Canney said.

He said the scheme is intended to "help and support those who are vital in our economy".

He added that farmers as well as contractors will benefit from the scheme.

Speaking at the announcement, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that while the measures "will provide a further an important support to people, there is no government that can shield its people entirely from the full impact of the ongoing war".

Fuel protests

This comes following six days of protests across the country.

The protests, which began on Tuesday, have seen slow-moving convoys of tractors, trucks, buses and other vehicles and blockades on motorways, roads and ports.

Government ministers said this weekend that they held a series of "constructive meetings" with representative groups from the transport, agriculture and fisheries sectors as it moved close to finalising a "significant support package" to address the ongoing crisis.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, along with Ministers Timmy Dooley, Noel Grealish and Michael Healy-Rae, met with all the representative farm and fisheries organisations in both plenary and bilateral meetings over the last number of days.

The agriculture ministers said they took "onboard their concerns" as well as "suggestions and ideas to ameliorate hardship of all their members".

"All meetings proved to be very constructive."