Feeling a little light in the pocket at month-end? Filling up your tank is now setting you back an extra €18 every month compared to this time last year. That's according to new research conducted by AA Ireland, who say that petrol and diesel are up by five cent a litre, compared to December. In fact, the price of petrol had rocketed to its most expensive since 2015, with a litre of petrol coming in at just over €1.36 and the same amount of diesel a little under €1.27, as per the AA Fuel Prices Index. “While motorists were perhaps bracing themselves for an increase in fuel prices early in 2017 as the cost of a barrel of oil has steadily risen in recent months, the latest price rise represents the largest single month increase in prices since March 2015,” Conor Faughnan, Director of Consumer Affairs at AA Ireland highlighted. “While it’s impossible to know what the long-term future holds when it comes to fuel prices, currently all the factors which inform prices are trending into the wrong direction for motorists.” Incredibly, a whopping 85c of the cost of every litre of petrol sold in Ireland and 73c for each litre of diesel is due to tax. Mr Faughnan continued: “We have little no influence over the international events that affect fuel prices. But we do control Irish taxation and that is actually where the real damage is done. 63 per cent of the price of petrol is tax, and 58 per cent for diesel. That’s excessive. It has been excessive since the emergency budget of October 2008 and despite the end of the crisis period the taxes remain. As motorists contemplate empty wallets at the end of the month we should remember that it is the Irish government much more than global oil prices that sees us paying so much.” Despite improvements in the Irish economy, taxes which were once deemed a short-term measure have lived on, something the AA warns is having a negative impact on people’s ability to take up employment, particularly in the case of those living in isolated areas.