There are growing fears that jet fuel supplies could be disrupted during the summer months if the war in Iran continues throughout April and beyond.
The concerns were raised by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, but also by senior Government figures here and the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
It comes as US president Donald Trump said the United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” but could return for “spot hits” if needed, in comments made to Reuters news agency.
In a separate social media post he said Iran’s “new regime president” had asked for a ceasefire, a claim denied by Tehran.
Trump’s comments came hours before he was scheduled to make a prime-time television address on Wednesday night.
Earlier he suggested that securing the key Strait of Hormuz transit route for oil is “not for us” and estimated the US will be done attacking Iran in two to three weeks.
Speaking to reporters in advance of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “we want the war to stop” and Trump’s timeline is “two or three weeks too long”.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said it “might sound like a relatively short period of time”, but the economic and humanitarian impact would be “extraordinarily concerning”.
A Government spokesman said there was discussion of the energy crisis on the margins of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting as well as at the meeting of Coalition leaders earlier in the morning.
There are said to be no plans for the Taoiseach to address the nation on the issue as other world leaders have done. The spokesman said it is a “volatile situation” that the Government is continuing to monitor.
Airline boss O’Leary suggested on Wednesday that disruptions to jet fuel supply could begin from early May if the war continues beyond the end of April.
He told Sky News: “The fuel companies are happy there won’t be any disruption until early May.
“But if the war continues, we do run the risk of supply disruptions in Europe in May and June.
“Obviously, we hope the war will finish sooner than that and that the risk to supply will be eliminated.”
Asked by reporters about these remarks, Martin said: “If the war continues and if the Hormuz strait remains closed then you have a supply shock hitting the economy, and one of the earlier areas it will hit will be aviation.
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“We will press for as early an end to this [war] as possible because the sooner this ends and the sooner we see de-escalation across the region, then the greater the prospect of restoring some degree of normality, although it will take a considerable degree of time.”
Amid the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said “the loss of oil in April will be twice the oil loss in March.”
“The biggest problem today is the lack of jet fuel and diesel. We are seeing that in Asia, but soon, I think, in April or May, it would come to Europe,” Birol told a podcast with Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
Minister for Transport and Energy Darragh O’Brien said the aviation fuel issue was discussed at a meeting of EU energy ministers. “If this doesn’t cease soon, there will be impacts on aviation,” he said.
O’Brien said the EU is “acutely aware of it, and I am too. Aviation is critically important to Ireland”. He said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to unveil a package of energy measures next Wednesday that would include aviation.
Harris said the commission’s proposals are expected to contain “sensible ideas that might be offered to the public” but that Irish people “are already saying ‘what can I do in my own home to conserve energy?’”.
Asked if the Government would be issuing advice to citizens to work from home, he said “the level of Government advice” would depend on how long the war goes on “because every day it goes on, the energy supply crisis worsens”.
He said measures such as those taken during the Ukrainian crisis, where lights on public buildings were not turned on at night, are “under review”. – Additional reporting: Reuters/PA
