See all Motoring NewsYou may not think it as you pump your car full of what you imagine to be liquid gold, but Ireland actually only has the 13th highest petrol price of 27 European countries. Data available from the AA gives Irish motorists an average spend of €1.53 per litre of unleaded (that's actually quite expensive according to Pumps.ie, but the AA data is not real time), which compares favourably with our neighbours in countries such as Portugal (€1.54), Sweden (€1.62), Greece (€1.71) and Italy (€1.77). There are fewer countries to feel sorry for when it comes to diesel though with Ireland ranking 10th overall.
Spare the most thoughts for our Norwegian and Latvian counterparts who pay €1.86 per litre of petrol with the Latvians coming' top' of the league table for the price of diesel, which, at €1.83 per litre, is 9c more than in Norway.
The wholesale price of fuel is largely the same throughout Europe and the price hike expected from the crisis in Ukraine/Crimea has yet to materialise, with the differences between nations largely coming down to local taxes.
Which is what Irish motorists are likely to find the most galling, as historic data shows that, prior to 2008, we had amongst the cheapest petrol in Europe. Since then though excise duty on petrol has increased by 12 per cent with diesel going up by 10 per cent. Excise duty is only a small part of the near 60 per cent of the pump price that goes directly into Government coffers. A massive 30c per litre has been added since the middle of 2008.
Of course with new cars being more fuel efficient than ever, the amount you spend at the pumps may actually be coming down. Not that this will help owners of older cars (the majority in Ireland) who can hope for an average of only 30mpg (9.4 litres/100km). For those owners might we suggest holidaying in either Poland, where a litre of petrol costs €1.26 or for the diesel driver, Luxembourg, where a litre of the black stuff can be picked up for just €1.20.
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