Westmeath members of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA ) have this week called for the abolition of the Carbon Tax on marked green diesel as it is having a crippling affect on the Irish farming industry.
As prices continue to rise at pumps, due to the spiralling costs of the price of crude oil attributed to the worsening conflict in the Middle East, the knock on results have seen enormous pressure put on Irish farmers.
The Carbon Tax, which was introduced in 2010, on average places an extra 3.9 cent onto every litre of fuel. Green diesel now stands at over 90 cent per litre and this is having a detrimental effect on the farmer.
Paddy Kent, Leinster vice-president of the ICSA, said, “The situation has now reached breaking point for Westmeath farmers. Every farm uses agri marked diesel and as prices increase, farmers continue to lose their competitiveness. Agricultural contractors in particular are going to be put under significant pressure; this in turn will lead to a greater cost on the farmer as the difference will be moved to the customer too. The new Government has a made a recommendation to exempt green diesel from any further Carbon Tax increases and while we broadly welcome that, we feel that a full abolishment of the tax is what is required to ease the financial burden on the Irish agri sector.”
