Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested the Government will look at reducing excise duties on fuel and energy supplies to help with inflation.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions, the Fine Gael leader said there is “concern” in Government about increasing energy costs.
He said: “The situation in Ukraine, as people will appreciate, is really unprecedented.
“We came through the shock of a pandemic that nobody could have predicted and we thought we were going to enter into stability or normality and Vladimir Putin by his actions has upended all of that.
“We are now facing another shock in terms of prices and energy in particular.”
He said a meeting of senior Ministers will look at how the Government can assist Ukraine both in terms of the political and humanitarian response.
He said there will also be a discussion on what more can be done to help households in Ireland who are going to be affected by the economic disruption caused in Ukraine.
He said: “There will be indirect effects.
“Even though our gas supplies don’t come from Russia, the impact on Russian gas being slowed or potentially being shut will potentially cause price rises, it already is.
“We’ve seen the price of oil, petrol, diesel and fertiliser rise very significantly in the last number of weeks.
“We’ll have to give further consideration to any further actions that we may take but we do need to bear in mind that the underlying cost of energy, coal, petrol, diesel, or home heating oil isn’t something that we can control.”
Sinn Fein’s Rose Conway-Walsh the price inflation is having a particularly harsh impact in rural areas where more homes are heated by oil and there are fewer public transport options.
And Mr Varadkar said we’re likely to see further price rises in the coming weeks.
He added: “We might look at excise to see if we can do something there.”
