What's the news?
According to the AA's latest survey of prices per litre at the pump, petrol prices have fallen back to their lowest level in 18 months.
The AA's figures show that the average national price of a litre of petrol is €1.32, the lowest level since August 2017. Diesel is down to €1.27 per litre, on average, and that's the lowest price since April of last year. Both prices have fallen by around 4c since December.
"2018 felt like a year of unrelenting surges when it came to pump prices, so it's certainly reassuring for motorists to see prices trending in the opposite direction to start the New Year," Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. "However it's important to remember that we are not seeing this drop as the result of an act of kindness from government or an easing of taxes, but as a result of international factors which are always vulnerable to reversing in the opposite direction at any instance."
The primary driver of this fall in price has been the cost of a barrel of crude oil, which has come down from a mid-2018 high of $85 per barrel, down to between $55 and $65 in recent weeks. While the fall in the cost at the pump will be a relief to many motorists, Faughnan says that this shouldn't relieve the need for a debate on the high levels of tax levied on fuel, nor on how that taxed money is spent by the Government.
Currently, the AA estimates that 64.42 per cent of the cost of each litre of petrol sold in Ireland is made up of various taxes. Meanwhile, 57.77 per cent of diesel's pump price comes from government taxation.
"For many people in Ireland, particularly those living in rural areas, the car is their only means of reliable transport and as a result crucial to their ability to get to work and continue to contribute to the Irish economy. The current levels of taxation only serve to punish these people for the failure of the current governments and their predecessors to improve public transport options across the country," said Faughnan.
"At the very least, if government persists on maintaining such a high level of taxation, then that money needs to be used wisely and invested in providing people across Ireland with reliable public transport options so that they have legitimate alternatives as opposed to simply forcing them into a corner and punishing them when they try to escape by their sole reliable transport option."
In the meantime, to keep control of your own spending, as opposed to Government spending, Faughnan says that the best plan is, as ever, to shop around.