Ireland cannot be insulated from the costs and consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite tax cuts and payments to consumers by the Government, senior ministers have warned.
Speaking today, Cabinet ministers said upward pressure on energy costs and other consumer prices will continue as the war forces millions of people out of Ukraine and disrupts energy and food markets, as well as supply chains, while sparking wider instability in financial and currency markets
The price of a 60 litre tank of petrol will reduce by €12 from tomorrow, with a €9 reduction in the cost of a tank of diesel, under excise cuts that will run to the end of August.
Announcing the cuts, which will come at a direct cost of €320 million, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said: “We cannot protect citizens and businesses from the entire cost impact. We are experiencing the consequences of a war”.
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“We can help with many of the consequences that our country will face as a result of this war of terror, but we as a country cannot fully insulate our economy, our businesses or ourselves from the costs that Ireland, Europe and the world will face.”
He said: “We are in the early days of an event that, at the very least, is going to change Europe”.
Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan said prices for gas will stay high over the spring and summer as Europe focuses on storing volumes of fuel for next winter, and while Ireland’s direct dependence on Russian fuels is small, he said supply constraints or cuts introduced elsewhere will have an impact here.
Urging greater energy independence, the Green Party leader said: “The way we put it up to Mr Putin is to stop buying his gas, oil and coal”. Michael McGrath, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, said the State is facing a “challenge of a different order”.
Mr McGrath said the exchequer impact of providing services and supports to tens of thousands of refugees who are anticipated to come to Ireland from Ukraine will run to the hundreds of millions of euros. He said, however, that he expects overall state expenditure will be contained under the budget day ceiling of €87.6 billion. “The Government will meet the costs that are associated with supporting the Ukrainian people. There will be a cost, but whatever the cost is, it is a cost that we can afford.”
“There is no target or limit how many people we will support,” he said. “The war on the Ukrainian people will impact us in a way we could never have envisaged a few weeks ago. This war will cost all of us, but whatever the consequences are for us here in Ireland, it pales into insignificance when compared to the human suffering and pain that Ukrainian people are experiencing.”
Mr Ryan said the current risk of fuel rationing is low but simultaneously said that anything is possible in this “very mad world”. He said there would be difficult challenges ahead in dealing with service provision for refugees. “We recognise in six, nine, 12 months time that may be much more difficult and we will have to put resources into our education, housing and other systems to help cope and manage - but I think we couldn’t close our doors at this time, we couldn’t turn our back.”
