29 July 2024
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Fuel Prices will increase again on August 1 because of government-imposed fuel excise taxes, after a previous rise in March. That means the cost of everything will increase. “When the price of fuel increases, the price of everything else increases – food, clothing, building supplies, and so on. Continuing to raise prices during a cost-of-living crisis demonstrates the government does not care about ordinary people in Ireland,” said Leader of Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins in remarks today.
File photo of West Cork TD Michael Collins (Leader of the Independent Ireland Party)
Taxing people with reckless abandon to fund pipe-dream programs is not just bad governance, it is economic malpractice. The Green Party represents fewer than five percent of the Irish people, yet Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil allow them to impose their radical agenda on the rest of us. “The government will tell you that the tax increase is just three cents, which is a drop in the bucket. It’s not a drop in the bucket, it is death by a thousand cuts,” Collins said.
Back in March – before the April fuel excise tax increase – we learned the government raised €3.2 billion in fuel excise taxes in 2023 – the highest on record. What did the government do with that money? They directed it to well-connected supporters in the NGO sector who increasingly encourage the government to adopt self-destructive policies.
“Just remember the next time you buy petrol, or eggs, or replace a window – that the reason for increased prices is the government’s irresponsible fuel excise taxes. Remember it, and vote accordingly in the next election,” Collins said.