The Government wants to avoid a significant rise in prices over the summer when cuts to excise on petrol and diesel are due to expire, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has said.
Chambers said the Coalition is “acutely aware” of the pressures facing businesses and households with the reductions due to expire at the end of July. A decision on whether to allow them to lapse or extend them in some form has to be taken in the next 10 days or so, he said.
“We’re considering it and also assessing the overall price dynamics around how oil prices are changing from the apparent resolution to some of the issues we’ve seen in the Middle East around the Strait of Hormuz,” said Chambers at the GPO in Dublin on Tuesday, where he was speaking about the planned redevelopment of the building.
“But what we don’t want to see is a big upward increase in energy prices or in oil prices which has an impact on consumers or on businesses,” he said.
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“We’ll assess the interim period between the end of July and the budget ... to ensure that there isn’t any major increase in prices affecting people between the end of July and the budget.”
Amid fears that fuel protesters could target the running of events around the State’s upcoming presidency of the council of the European Union, Chambers said that “no protester should seek to threaten or undermine critical infrastructure across the State. The threat of disruption is wrong and people need to respect the wider apparatus of the State.”
Meanwhile, the Cabinet agreed on Tuesday to transfer the responsibility for the redevelopment of the GPO from the Department of Communications to the Office of Public Works and to start a public consultation costing up to €300,000 on the future of the site.
It also decided to open up the complex to “meanwhile use” during the consultation period, which could mean cultural and community activities going on within the GPO, as well as its use for State agencies as office space.
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Chambers rejected the suggestion that decision-making at the project was a commercial matter, saying it was “being driven in the public interest”.
“We want people to get involved, be included and to shape the future of the GPO. The mandate and focus here isn’t a commercial one, it’s very much State-led and shaped community and people who understand the huge historical significance of the GPO and that will inform our investment plan,” he said.
Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Kevin Boxer Moran, said the decision taken at Cabinet was a “great day for Dublin, a great day for the country. This is a huge investment for the people ... Whatever we do here, we want to make sure the community is totally involved.”
