Ireland also In the cold"

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 4

Ireland also In the cold"

NZPA London New Zealand no longer seems to be out in the cold with its acute fuel shortages.

Ireland has run short amid warnings that European supplies could dry up later in the year unless conservation measures are taken immediately. According to the “Irish Times,” motorists, householders, and farmers are finding “considerable difficulty” in obtaining petrol, heating oil, and diesel fuel.

The Irish Government officially denies an oil crisis, but its .Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Energy (Mr Desmond O'Malley) has threatened to impose a tank-topping limit of about SNZ9.7O on car owners unless consumption falls. Oil companies in Ireland blame what they call a “shortfall” on the Iranian revolution and continuing cold weather m Ireland. Mr Leo Keogh, a spokesman for the Society

of the Irish Motor Industry, was quoted in the “Irish Times” as saying that unless motorists exercised sensible restraint, shortages would continue for the rest of the year. “The position is tight at present and will continue to be tight for several months to come.” he said. “While we would not want to ueprive anyone of the use of their motor car, we fell that sensible conservation measures are called for,” The paper quoted oil company sources as denying that .the real reason for the shortages was that oil destined for Ireland had been diverted elsewhere for higher prices. The sources conceded, however, that some countries were paying above O.P.E.C. rises, thus exacerbating the lack ot fuel in other countries. Other examples of the growing crisis are that Irish farmers are only receiving about one-third of the fuel they order, and that in a Dublin nursing home, 32 persons in their 90s are confined to bed because the home has run out of heating fuel and inspite of repeated attempts, can get no more. Meanwhile Greece has raised the price of petrol by 18 per cent and restricted private motoring at week-ends as a Government minister said that petrol rationing would be introduced soon. To make up for O.P.E.C. crude oil price increases agreed last week, the price of high-octane petrol, already among the highest in the world, was raised to 26 drachmas (68c) a litre (5NZ2.99 a gallon) and that of ordinary pet-

rol was raised to 23 drachmas (60c) a litre. The Minister of Co-ordi-nation (Mr Constantine Mitsotakis) said that only half of the country’s private cars would be allowed on the roads at week-ends Cars with odd licence n_. >er would be allowed on the roads one week-end and those with even numbers the other, he said. Greece spent more than

a billion dollars on crude oil imports last year and the latest O.P.E.C. price increases were estimated to add a further S2ISM to its foreign exchange costs. Mr Mitsotakis announced other energv-sav-ing measures, including speed limits on the roads of SOkm/h. a ban on fluorescent shop lighting after U> p.m., and restrictions on fuel for central heating.