Fossil fuel subsidies rose by €1.9 billion in 2022 to a total of €4.7 billion in 2022, amid the sharp increase in Government supports for households after the spike in gas prices that year.
Direct supports such as energy credits accounted for 22 per cent, or 1.03 billion, of fuel subsidies in the year. Indirect supports such as tax expenditures account for the remaining 78 per cent.
It is the largest percentage increase in fuel subsides seen in the country since at least 2000.
Clara O’Hara, statistician in the environmental division of the central statistics office said temporary measures introduced by Government “included direct subsidies to households and businesses to reduce energy costs, as well as tax rate reductions on fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel”.
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In total, there was €2.8 billion in environmental taxes in 2022, down from the €3.2 billion previous year.
In 2022, consumers paid €220 per tonne of carbon dioxide on petrol. This was a drop from the figure in 2021 when it stood at €269. It means customers paid a net energy tax of 52 cent per litre for petrol in 2022, down from 63 cent per litre in 2021.
The rate paid on emissions of carbon dioxide for diesel dropped by 16 per cent to €164 per tonne in 2022, compared to €196 per tonne in 2021. This equates to customers paying a net energy tax of 44 cent per litre in 2022, down from 53 cent per litre in 2021.
The carbon charges on aviation fuel dropped 18 per cent to €144 per tonne in 2022. There was also a big rise in the carbon charges on jet kerosene, rising from €5 a tonne of carbon dioxide in 2021 to €26 a tonne of carbon dioxide in 2022.
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