There could be queues at filling station pumps and panic buying leading to supply issues as drivers try to beat the deadline for big fuel price hikes.
The cost of oil and petrol is set to rise sharply next month when the reduction of excise duty – which was brought in to help with the cost of living crisis – ends.
Now there are growing concerns any dramatic increase in prices could have people queuing at filling stations in the days leading up to the hikes.
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Fuels For Ireland chief Kevin McPartlan called for a gradual price increase to avoid potential chaos.
He said: “I think it’s really important that we don’t have any particular day where fuel goes up very dramatically.
“All that will do is create a spike in demand as we approach that period of time, which makes managing of stocks really really difficult.
“You might end up with garages running out of stuff.”
Mr McPartlan has been examining what impact the change will have on the average-sized family car.
He told Newstalk radio: “It would mean for an average family car an increase of about €12 for a tank of fuel, when it comes to petrol.
“It will be about [an extra] €10 for a tank of fuel for diesel cars.”
Transport expert Conor Faughnan said the tariffs will be “enormously high”.
He added: “No matter what way you do it, when you get to the end, if you reimpose those sort of pre-crisis taxes that were being levied on fuels, you have to remember for context, there are enormously high taxes.
“What they did effectively was to knock off about 21 cent per litre to the price of petrol and 60 cent per litre to the price of diesel and that helped, helped enormously.
“If they rip that bandage off, then that affects all consumers immediately. It goes straight back on the price.
“We make petrol and diesel deliberately very expensive in Ireland for policy reasons and for money.”
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