Independent TD Verona Murphy has expressed disappointment at Government efforts to reduce the cost of fuel.
Ms Murphy told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that there was no will in Government to do more.
“In the morning, the Government could reduce the price of fuel by 15 cent a litre” she said, by taking VAT off the excise costs
The former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association said that an acceptable price for a litre of petrol was €1 per litre.
“Fuel is the very commodity that affects everything, whether it's the food you put in your mouth, the shoes on your feet or clothes on your back, and inflation affects the cost of fuel.
“If we want to reduce the cost of living we have to tackle the cost of fuel. It's the only way,” she added.
On the same programme Kevin McPartland of Fuels Ireland explained why consumers now face paying €2 per litre of diesel at some petrol stations around the country, despite excise cuts last month.
Diesel had already risen 22 cent per litre on the wholesale market at the time the cut was being implemented, so on the day the reduction was implemented, it had already been “neutralised”, he said.
The situation in Ukraine had since put further pressure on European energy suppliers, as a result prices per barrel had gone up “very significantly” since March.
He warned that wholesale prices would continue to rise steadily.
