A few days after the announcement of the €250 million package to lower fuel costs and extend the fuel allowance payments for four weeks, I was chatting with a small group of Dublin-based foreign diplomats at the fringes of an event.

Most had variations on the same two questions. Why did the Government move so quickly to introduce the measures? And why were they reducing the cost by so much?

There were surprising questions.

Given all the “are we there yet? Are we there yet?” media coverage of the past few weeks, and the incessant pressure from the Opposition, the abiding impression many had was that the Government had tarried before introducing measures. And when they were introduced, they were far more modest than those announced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Back then, in addition to decreases in petrol and diesel prices, there were once-off payments to every household in the State to help meet energy bills. All in all, there were three lump-sum payments of €200 in 2022, which cost the Exchequer a total of €1.3 billion.

The payments continued into 2023 at a slightly more........

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