Hi All,

I currently work as a Community Support Worker. As everyone knows the prices for fuel (petrol, diesel, home heating oil etc) has risen dramatically over the last few weeks. The Irish Government cannot lower the VAT rate for fuel prices as the VAT system is part of the EU but they can lower the Excise Duty they charge. Currently the excise duty on petrol is 52% and on diesel it is 47% (avg percentages). If the Irish Government cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel by 10%, this would lower the cost of petrol and diesel by an average of .20 cent per litre. I am currently putting about €100 of petrol into my car per week and I cannot afford to sustain this much longer. Our government needs to know the seriousness of this situation. I work like everyone else to pay bills and I need my car to do that.  There are many people and families in Ireland that depend on having a car, they also depend on being able to afford heating oil to heat their homes. It's coming to a stage where families are cutting basic needs such as food, electricity usage just to be able to afford to fill their cars and heat their homes. Its time the Irish Government done something to help the people of Ireland by lowering excuse duty.