Petrol station proprietors and oil companies have responded angrily to suggestions that they have not reduced prices sufficiently.
The owners are getting a raw deal from Government and the media, Mr Hugh Sweeney, a station owner in Tipperary, said.
He was responding to criticisms levied by the Minister of State with responsibility for consumer affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, in The Irish Times yesterday.
Mr Kitt had said it was disgraceful that a number of petrol station proprietors had not passed on reductions in VAT and duty to consumers. He was also concerned about stations selling the same brand of petrol for different prices.
Local circumstances dictated the prices, Mr Sweeney said. "There are three forms of petrol station: the company-owned sites; the station where the owner is under contract to buy from a particular company for a period of time; and privately owned stations which are not under contract to any company. All three stations may sell the same brand of petrol but they all have different overheads."
A Texaco spokesman said the company sells petrol at the same price to all retailers but service stations charge different prices as they are competing in different trading areas.