ISME has welcomed today’s Dáil approval of the financial resolution deferring the increases in motor fuel excise due to take effect on 1st September and 1st October, but has warned that the revised restoration pathway concentrates cost increases into the period when SME working capital is under greatest pressure.
Under the revised schedule, excise rates on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil will be restored in four stages between 1st November 2026 and the end of February 2027. The reduced National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) levy is extended only to 31st October and reverts to two cent per litre from 1st November. The enhanced Diesel Rebate Scheme has been extended to the end of December 2026.
ISME says the sequencing of these measures creates a compounding effect for energy intensive and transport dependent businesses alike. The first excise increase, the reversion of the NORA levy and the expiry of the enhanced Diesel Rebate Scheme all fall within a period of weeks in the final quarter, coinciding with peak trading and the point at which SME cashflow is most stretched.
The SME representative body noted that today’s Dáil debate focused almost entirely on household energy costs and said the cost base of indigenous business must not be treated as a secondary consideration as the taper is finalised.
ISME represents a broad affiliate membership for whom fuel and energy are unavoidable operating costs. Essential service providers such as nursing homes and early years childcare settings cannot reduce consumption without affecting the care of older people and young children. Grocery, convenience and forecourt retailers, bakeries, landscape contractors, animal collection operators and hair, beauty and spa businesses face rising costs across deliveries, plant, refrigeration, heating and hot water at the same time.
Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive of ISME, said: “Deferring the September and October increases was the right call, and we acknowledge that Government acted before a cliff edge formed. But our members do not budget in fortnights. For a nursing home, a crèche, a village shop, a bakery, a landscape contractor or an animal collection operator, fuel and energy are not discretionary costs, they are the cost of opening the door.
Our concern is now November, when the first excise increase, the reversion of the NORA levy and the end of the enhanced Diesel Rebate Scheme all arrive within weeks of one another, at the point in the year when SME cashflow is tightest. That is not certainty, it is a deferred shock.”
“Budget 2027 must deal with this properly. We are not asking Government to write a blank cheque. We are asking for a stated, durable pathway on business energy and transport costs that an owner manager can actually plan around, and for the enhanced Diesel Rebate Scheme to be maintained while the Strait of Hormuz situation remains unresolved.”
ISME’s Pre-Budget Submission 2027 calls for Budget 2027 to rebalance the economy in favour of indigenous enterprise and is available at https://isme.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ISME-Pre-Budget-Submission-2027.pdf
