The average price of home heating oil rocketed by 67.5% between February and March of this year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The average price of diesel rose 18.1% and petrol increased by 7.7% last month.
The CSO said the rate of inflation increased by 3.6% in the last 12 months, which was in line with an estimate published last week, amd the highest level in more than two years.
But it was significantly higher from the rate of inflation in the 12 months to February which was 2.7%.
Transport costs increased 5.2% on the month, with Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels up by 3.9%, today's figures show.
The CSO said the rise in home heating oil was at its highest level since 1996, while the increase in petrol and diesel were at their highest levels since the summer of 2022 in the months after the war in Ukraine began.
The CSO said the national average price of diesel in March was €2.05 - an increase of 31 cent per litre compared with February. The average price of petrol was €1.88 last month - up 13 cent in the month.
The prices were collected for petrol and diesel between March 10 and 18 by the CSO before the Government cut the excise on fuel but before prices had peaked. The price of home heating oil was collected on March 10.
"Home heating oil contributed 0.52 percentage points towards the overall inflation rate in March 2026," the CSO said.
"Diesel and petrol contributed 0.27 and 0.11 percentage points towards the overall inflation rate in March, respectively," it added.
Professor Lisa Ryan from UCD said that heating oil is mainly derived from kerosene which is traded internationally with aviation fuel.
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The Professor said Ireland gets 40% of its keresone from the Middle East, which is why the price of home heating oil has risen "much more sharply" than motor fuels, which are derivatives of Brent crude, most of which Ireland gets from the North Sea.
She said they are "two different markets," and households in Ireland, along with the UK, are "very reliant" on heating oil compared with other countries.
She noted that Ireland has about 700,000 homes that use heating oil as their main source of heating," adding that while it is a fortunate time of year as less heating will now be needed, "we need to be moving away from it."
She said it is possible the spike in oil prices could "a last a while" and this summer is an opportunity to "target" homes that use heating oil and "try and switch out their heating so they're not reliant on heating oil next winter if prices remain high."
