Ireland saw the fourth highest decrease in fuel prices across the EU in May, according to new data from Eurostat.
Irish diesel prices fell by 8.1 per cent in May, with higher drops only noted in Germany, Greece and Estonia.
While most EU countries saw petrol prices continue to climb, in Ireland they decreased by 2 per cent. A larger decrease was only noted in Germany, where petrol prices dropped by 5.6 per cent.
Despite these declines, Irish fuel prices are still higher than this time last year. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) wholesale price index for May, fuel prices, including fuel oil and gas oil, have risen by 37 per cent from May 2025.
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Fuel prices around the world spiked significantly in April following the global energy shock that emerged from the US-Israel attacks on Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The closure led to an immediate upswing in global prices as the loss of oil supply from the region was accounted for in traders’ prices.
Decreases in prices in May are likely against the backdrop of negotiations between the US and Iran on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Wholesale fuel prices were down month-on-month by 7.8 per cent compared with April, when prices had ballooned by 32.6 per cent to their highest recorded value since the CSO began compiling the figures in 2021.
“All energy fuels were down by 7.8 per cent in the month, largely driven by decreases in fuel oil (-9.7 per cent) and gas oil other than autodiesel (-6.6 per cent),” said Deirdre Toher, statistician in the prices division of the CSO.
The price of electricity was 33.1 per cent higher than in May 2025 but was 62.7 per cent lower when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022 (some six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine).
“They have fallen by 62.7 per cent when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022,” said Toher.
