Government wins Dáil vote to cut fuel excise as pump prices to fall by 15c

Prices at the pumps will be cut by between 15c and 20c until the end of May as the Government moves to tackle soaring costs for motorists and hauliers. The cuts are due to take effect on Wednesday. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

In the Dáil on Tuesday night, the Government's financial resolution to cut excise passed by 118 votes to 39, with only Sinn Féin and Independent TD Carol Nolan voting against.

Prices at the pumps will be cut by between 15c and 20c until the end of May as the Government moves to tackle soaring costs for motorists and hauliers. The cuts are due to take effect on Wednesday. 

The opposition had criticised the Government's plan, with Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty saying that the rising price of oil both domestically and for motorists was "an emergency". 

He said the Government had "done nothing" for four weeks and that the package announced on Tuesday was "too little, too late". 

He said the Government could have cut excise further and had done nothing to address the cost of home heating oil.

"You're going through the motions as more and more people suffer," Mr Doherty told Tánaiste Simon Harris.

Mr Harris had earlier called on the petrol industry to "play fair" and pass on cuts quickly. He said the package would "make a real difference in the here and now".

Labour's Ged Nash told the Dáil that the "people of Ireland had waited for weeks" and that the Government proposal was "timid and anaemic".

"These are the very definition of half measures," he said.

Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said the Government had abandoned its commitment to targeted measures.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said she was concerned to hear that measures for hauliers and bus companies would be backdated.

More to follow...

• Paul Hosford is Acting Political Editor.