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The representative body for petrol stations and fuel providers has accused the Government of “misleading” the public, to believe the price of fuel would drop as soon as excise cuts came into effect.
Excise cuts of 20 cent per litre of petrol and 15 cent for diesel came into effect from midnight on Wednesday, as part of Government efforts to curb a sharp increase in fuel costs linked to the war in Ukraine.
Fuel providers received sharp criticism as prices for petrol and diesel failed to drop on Thursday.
Kevin McPartlan, chief executive of Fuels for Ireland, said it was “misleading” to suggest providers had been “engaged in any sort of profiteering”.
In an email to Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Thursday, Mr McPartlan said he was “proud” of the efforts of fuel providers and petrol stations during the challenging period.
“These times are made even more challenging when misleading comments find their way into the public domain,” he wrote.
The industry representative said the Government had given the public the “false impression” that prices at the pump would reduce from midnight on Wednesday, when the excise cuts came into effect.
“This was simply never going to be the case, and was flagged in advance, given that excise has already been paid on supplies presently on forecourts,” he said.
“It has given people a false impression that prices would reduce immediately, which was impossible as excise on those supplies had already been paid,” he wrote.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has been called on to investigate alleged price hikes by fuel providers just before the excise cuts came into effect, with both Opposition and Government TDs criticising the increases.
The consumer watchdog has said there were “no legal barriers” to filling stations independently raising prices, and it required evidence of cartel behaviour before launching an investigation.
Ministers are to meet with Mr McPartlan, as well as executives from several fuel providers on Friday afternoon.
It is expected the meeting will be attended by Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath, Minister of State for enterprise Robert Troy, and Minister of State for retail Damien English. The time of the meeting is to be finalised, but it is understood it may be after 3pm.
Speaking at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on Thursday evening, Mr Martin said reports of profiteering around rising fuel prices was “completely unacceptable,” and any exploitation of the war in Ukraine was “morally reprehensible”.
In his correspondence to Mr Martin afterwards, Mr McPartlan said the comments were of “great concern,” and suggestions petrol stations were profiteering was “offensive”.
The industry would “continue to transact our business ethically and in an open and transparent fashion,” he said. It would also defend itself against “faulty assumptions as to our industry’s ethics of operation,” he said.