Motorists and transport firms are facing new fuel price rises at service stations across the country, road-user groups and petrol companies have warned.
A round of forecourt petrol price rises of between three and seven cent a litre is already under way following similar rises in wholesale prices by the major fuel companies last week.
The round of increases is expected to be completed at the forecourts within days.
Figures collected by the AA, the motorist lobby group, reported an average price rise of 2 per cent by the end of last week.
The price rises have been driven by record crude oil prices, which have risen by 25 per cent this year, breaking the $41 a barrel mark on Friday.
Yesterday, continuing instability in the Middle East caused oil prices to rise further, where they reached $41.85 a barrel.
Before the current round of rises, motorists were paying an average of 90.6 cent per litre for standard unleaded petrol, and 83.5 cent per litre of diesel.
In the last two weeks, fuel distributors have introduced rises of between three and seven cent per litre of standard unleaded petrol.
These include rises of 3.25 cent per litre by Maxol last week, four cent a litre by Statoil, and two rises by Texaco since the start of the year amounting to 5.8 cent a litre.
A spokesman for the AA warned that another tranche of rises could be imminent, with no sign of a levelling off of crude oil prices. "We do expect another increase. Oil prices rose further again today because of the bomb attack in Iraq."
He urged petrol stations to maintain their current prices, and called on the Government to reduce the taxes and duty on fuel which accounts for over 50 per cent of the cost.
A spokesman for the oil distribution firm Maxol said if the refined oil prices continued to rise, the company would have no option but to pass on the rises.
"What we really need is stability relating to the security of oil refineries in the Middle East. It's a political issue rather than a commercial one."
According to the Consumers Association of Ireland, the rises were beginning to cause "considerable frustration" among the public, who the association says have been encountering price rises of up to 10 cent.
The chairman of the association, Mr Michael Kilcoyne, called on the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to rescind the extra five cent a litre excise on petrol introduced in the last budget.
"Internationally, the price of oil is on the rise, and already we see petrol outlets selling petrol for more than a euro a litre over the past number of days,
"The Government already takes 62 per cent in Exchequer returns for all petrol sold in this country, and the five cent additional charge introduced at the beginning of this year is simply too much in light of present trends."