The Government has succeeded in “turning people against each other” amid soaring prices at petrol pumps since the outbreak of hostilities in Iran, according to the owner of a filling station in County Galway.
Alan Burke, who owns FT fuels in Carthymore, County Galway, told Gript that retailers are not the ones setting the prices, and that family businesses are largely at the mercy of the supply chain. He hit out at comments made by Taoiseach Micheál Martin who last week warned against “price gouging” as the price of energy continues to rise.
The Athenry business owner said it is within the Government’s ability to cut some of the tax if it chooses to. At present, around 40 to 50 per cent of fuel cost in Ireland is made up of taxes and levies. This includes excise tax and National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) tax.
“There is no excuse for prices going up at the pump yesterday or indeed anywhere as our oil is coming from the North Sea,” Mr Martin said last week, while cautioning against companies taking unfair advantage of Irish consumers.
“Many people don’t understand the logistics behind all of this. What’s important to note is that most filling stations buy on a weekly basis, and get charged on the day of delivery – meaning there could be two or three full days of crazy increase in pricing before it actually gets to us,” said Mr Burke.
“I am a small business owner who is getting absolutely hammered by this government with taxes and levies, and electricity going through the roof, minimum wage increases, auto-enrolment for pensions – and we’re just expected to get on with it and motor on, while the leader of the country accuses us of being gougers. The Government takes around 65 cent from every euro of petrol that is bought.”
“Micheál Martin of all people should know that oil is sold as a commodity – it doesn’t matter if the oil hasn’t come to the country yet – he should know that in the position that he’s in,” said the Athenry based businessman.
Mr Burke told Gript: “All I seem to do as a business owner is pay tax, pay bills, and pay electricity and licenses. The latest license I have to pay now is €1,000 a year to sell cigarettes, and €800 a year to sell vapes.
“On a whim, out of nowhere, that’s just another tax for the retailers of Ireland, with barely any discussion about the impact it will have on business owners. Of course, all we hear when the government is piling more taxes on us is the argument that it’s for the greater good or for people’s health, but it’s really a matter of turning us all against each other. The attitude is, ‘Let us fight amongst ourselves’ while those running the country sit in the background.
‘TAOISEACH’S COMMENTS WERE INFLAMMATORY’
“A report from last week, for example, showed that the Government made an additional €38 million in tax as a result of prices going up at the pump. The logical thing would be for the Government to approach the terminals and regulate the terminals, to come up with a solution as to how we can reduce prices so that we are not hammering the general public,” said Mr Burke.
Amid the revelation that the Government collected this in VAT as fuel prices jumped following the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Mr Burke said that workers, families and small businesses are all feeling the squeeze due to exorbitant fuel costs.
“But Micheál Martin’s comments were so inflammatory that it was crazy. Those comments about price gouging also showed a complete ignorance about how the market actually works. Oil is traded as a commodity, the same as gold or silver or stocks and shares; so the market price on the day is dictated by the market price on the day. Him saying that we get our oil from Norway is actually completely irrelevant, because it’s just the market price. The person who holds the key to stopping the price at the pump is actually him.”
“There are six to eight main fuel terminals owned in Ireland, mostly operated by a Canadian company, a Dallas based company, one that’s partly owned by Circle K, and another that’s partly owned by AppleGreen. Then there are a couple more that are owned by Inver Energy. They take in the oil on a daily basis, so my wholesaler, which is Emo, as an Emo oil station, go to that terminal daily to get stock.
“The terminal will tell them the price today, and Emo will deliver that to me on the day with the one or two cent profit on top. I pay the VAT on top of their price. Say they charge me €1.46, I will sell that for €1.50, making four cent a litre, for example. That’s how it works daily when they lift fuel from the terminals. So when something like this happens, and I only have 20 litres of storage, there are issues.
“Last Friday, for instance, I could sell fuel at 176.9, making three cent a litre. By Tuesday, the next time I could get an order of fuel, it was actually costing me €1.99. I then had to sell at a loss for three days straight as I couldn’t shoot the price up at the pump, as a result of Mr Martin putting the words ‘price gouging’ out into the media.
“There was no way I could put it up at the pump to go to cost price, meaning I was losing €20 cent a litre, and €14 cent a litre the following day. It is a simple but effective deflection for the government, who take around 65 cent out of every euro paid for fuel. Somehow, though, we are the gougers. The reality is that I have lost money on fuel for the last eight days. We’re not the enemy – they are.”
‘STOP THE EXCISE IMMEDIATELY’
“The Government will come out with an energy credit or something now for every household in Ireland portraying themselves as being a great help to people. That’s no real help to the majority of people. What about the taxi drivers and the hauliers and the courier companies – those who have to buy thousands upon thousands of litres of fuel because they’re working – how is €200 off their electricity bill going to help them?” Mr Burke continued.
“The average person in this country is likely buying 40 or 50 litres a week, meaning 20 cent at the pump is costing them an extra tenner a week, over the next three months. That is significant, but it’s those who derive for a living who are getting absolutely hammered. The way the Taoiseach could help would be to stop the excise immediately, as they did when the war with Ukraine and Russia kicked off. Even if the price of oil goes through the roof, it would only cost four cent extra at the pump for the general punter if the excise wasn’t as high.”
Mr Burke said it is the case across the country that people are panic buying fuel, and have been for the last week, whilst supplies are drying up.
“I got a delivery on Thursday 26th February, which would normally have lasted me to the following Friday, or even the following Monday – over a week. But I was out of fuel four days later, on Tuesday. I had no supply, and at present, I cannot buy and sell kerosene (home heating oil) right now, or Agri-disel, because it’s gone up so much. I simply cannot afford to buy because of the price I would have to sell it to the customer.. Because of the narrative around all this, I would rather say to customers to get their home heating oil from the big wholesalers at the minute, because we are getting scrutinised and criticised all the time.”
Mr Burke said that he does not make money on fuel, and that he would rather sell at a euro than two euro a litre.
“If fuel is a euro, then customers might buy a protein bar or a bar of chocolate or a coffee, so I can actually make a margin. I don’t make money on fuel really – it’s just to get people in the door. I have twenty staff in total between the businesses I run, and I really need to protect those local jobs.
“These are local people, but we have so many people ridiculing us as gougers or robbers for simply trying to keep the business and the supply local, and keep people working in the shop. We are trying to make a few bob and keep people employed. The sort of inflammatory language from the Government is having a massive effect on people here, on the staff, and on the community as a whole. People need to realise that the people turning the screw are the companies that own the fuel terminals, and those who are benefitting most right now is the Government.”
“I’m trying to sell oil and fuel for the lowest price I can – but it’s getting harder to keep prices down. The price of gas took another whack today. We just got a notification that barrels of gas are going up by €3.20 – so it’s becoming harder and harder to make any money. The rhetoric from this Government and in the media is only making things worse.”