50. Deputy Martin Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the assessment that has been carried out of the impact of Government cost-of-living measures on grocery inflation and everyday household spending, particularly in rural constituencies where transport, fuel and food costs place disproportionate pressure on families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40744/26]

Government is aware that higher prices have placed very real pressures on households and businesses across the country. The Government’s role is to mitigate the impact on those households and sectors least able to absorb price changes. This is reflected in the substantial package of €750 million that we have put in place to support households and businesses.

This package of policy measures has included:

• Reducing the excise duty on diesel by a total of 32 cent per litre, on petrol by 27 cent per litre and on green diesel by 7.4 cents per litre.

• Delaying the scheduled May increase in carbon tax until later in the year.

• Introducing targeted schemes for the farming, fisheries and road transport sectors.

• Extending the Fuel Allowance season, which directly benefits a wide range of cohorts, including pensioners, lone parents, people with disabilities, carers and long-term jobseekers in the lowest income households.

Regarding the impact of these measures, those reducing the price of fuels are estimated by my Department to directly reduce the annual rate of inflation by c. ½ percentage point. This estimate is based on the weights for fuel products used in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). These weights are representative of the spending of all households and are updated annually by the CSO. Where fuel products make up a higher proportion of households’ spending, the impact of these measures will be greater.

This estimate does not take into account the indirect second-round effects of the supports for key industries such as agriculture, haulage and transport. It is expected that these supports will further lessen the impact of higher energy prices on consumer prices for other everyday goods and services, such as groceries.