Govt fuel measures ‘will do little or nothing to help farmers’
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has said that new tax cuts to agri-diesel announced by the government are “derisory and will have little or no impact at farm level”.
Today (March 24) the government confirmed a reduction of 3c/L to the cost of marked gas oil (also known as green diesel), as well as a cut to the NORA (National Oil Reserves Agency) levy.
The decision forms part of measures taken by the government to ease fuel costs that have spiralled in the wake of the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East.
These measures provide for temporary reductions in the rates of Mineral Oil Tax (MOT) - which is a form of excise duty - applying to petrol, autodiesel and green diesel.
Francie Gorman, president of the IFA said the association "was clear that the only effective way to address costs at farm level was to reduce carbon tax, but the government seems to have deemed this to be untouchable.
“By refusing to reduce carbon tax, the government only had excise duty and the NORA (National Oil Reserves Agency) levy as levers and only reduced the tax on agri-diesel by 5c, with much bigger cuts in other categories.
“We estimate the proposed cut will reduce green diesel prices by about 3% while the price of green diesel has increased by 50% over the past three weeks."
He added: “This is a classic example of the government giving with one hand while taking with another."
The IFA president said the cuts "will do little or nothing to help farmers and agri contractors deal with the escalating cost of fuel".
“The carbon tax cannot achieve its aim of encouraging substitution to non-carbon fuel sources as there are no alternatives available for agricultural vehicles."
He added: “The reality is that food prices will have to increase to cover these extra costs."
