State has contingency plans for fuel rationing this winter, Varadkar says

By David Young, PA

The Government has drawn up contingency plans in case fuel rationing is required in the winter, Leo Varadkar has said.

But the Tánaiste made clear that he does not believe Ireland will face supply issues.

His comments came after Ireland’s EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness warned of the prospect of fuel rationing in Europe if Russia moves to cut off supplies in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Brussels in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Varadkar said while there was the prospect of prices going higher in Ireland, he did not think the country would experience issues with supply.

“We have contingency plans if it turns out that we end up with restrictions on supply of gas and petrol and diesel in the country,” he told RTÉ.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.

“In the last year or so we’ve been through a pandemic, we’ve been through Brexit and we’ve been through a war on Ukraine by Russia and we actually have had real problems with price stability [but] we haven’t had problems so much with supply and we do have 90 days’ reserves.”

Mr Varadkar added: “I envision price being a problem, I don’t envision supply being a problem.

“But we do have contingency plans if that were to arise and we have reserves and if the reserves are on edge, we have contingency plans as to who gets prioritised.

“But we don’t think they’ll have to be implemented, but they’re ready if they have to.”