A TD has called on the government to take action to offset increases in petrol and diesel costs for road users.

Offaly TD Carol Nolan has urged the government to take "immediate action" to reduce the tax burden on motorists.

Nolan said that prices for petrol and diesel are continuing to increase, while costs for heating oil have also risen.

The independent TD also pointed to the consequences for hauliers, saying that at traditional toll plazas, stopping and starting heavy vehicles wastes an estimated six million litres of diesel annually nationwide.

According to the TD, this equates to €26 million in unnecessary fuel expenditure each year.

"The government cannot blame the war in Ukraine, instability in the international markets or anything else for its own decision to keep increasing the carbon tax on fuels at an annual rate, which we know is a significant contributor to the problem," Nolan said.

"We are still very deep into a cost-of-living crisis and now we are seeing inflated fuel costs starting to creep in the wrong direction yet again," she added.

Nolan called on the government to reduce or remove the carbon tax.

She said: "There are things that the government can do, measures it can take to reduce this burden on motorists and households, and one of them is to look again at either reducing or eliminating entirely the carbon tax."

The TD claimed the tax is "utterly punitive and not in line with any meaningful conception of a progressive tax system".

"Government cannot play innocent on this one. It is standing over a fuel tax regime that is not sustainable for ordinary workers and action must be taken to address that plain fact immediately," Nolan said.