We’re running low on petrol stations

WHEN it comes to the issue of fuel stations that serve the motorist in Ireland, our progress seems to be going in a distinctly negative direction in recent years.

Increasing competition, a boom during which the low-margin business of selling fuel was bulldozed over to make way for more lucrative ventures, and short-sighted planning, all contributed to a sharp drop in the number of petrol stations.

Statistics from the Irish Petroleum Industry Association (IPIA) show that between 2000 and 2008, the number of fuel stations in the country more than halved (from 2,087 IPIA members down to 1,027). Although there has been a very slight improvement in the situation over the last four years, there are still a lot of black spots around the country that are showing no signs of recovery; areas that have given rise to the use of the term ‘petrol desert’.