President of the Irish Road Hauliers Association Eugene Drennan said there is an "imminent threat" to the industry over the price of fuel.
Hauliers said last night that they won't be able to go to work in the coming days if the price of fuel is not further reduced.
"There's a very real danger that we cannot go to work tomorrow let alone next week; [supermarket] shelves will not be long emptying," he said. Mr Drennan was speaking ahead of a late-night meeting with Eamon Ryan.
It comes after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said fuel price-fixing is a "barbaric act of cruelty on a civil population" especially as the Government has committed to reducing excise duties.
It was confirmed yesterday that excise duties would be cut on petrol and diesel by 20c and 15c respectively from midnight last night. The measures will remain in place until August 31 at a cost of €320million.
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But as news emerged of the impending cuts on Tuesday evening, prices at the pumps increased ahead of the announcement.
Some companies were accused of "price gouging" as the cuts in excise duty were effectively wiped out before they were even introduced.
There were some reports of petrol rising from €1.99 per litre to €2.14 per litre overnight.
Speaking at a private meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, Mr Martin said: "Any exploitation of a barbaric war such as this is morally reprehensible. Such profiteering is completely unacceptable on fuel prices. It is a barbaric act of cruelty on a civil population."
Fianna Fáil's Cathal Crowe told the Dáil last night he had heard stories of 15c and 20c being added to fuel prices to negate the excise cuts.
He said: "That could be in the realm of price gouging. It is unforgivable that you would have forecourts trying to get ahead of Government and upping prices before policy gets there."
When asked if they believed there was price gouging going on or whether this was part of the general increase in the price of petrol, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said "prices are rocketing up and down".
He said: "The price at the pump, there's a 10-day [to] two weeks lag. The excise reduction will have an immediate effect. But, in truth, there are still further price rises coming."
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice said he has lodged a complaint with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, asking them to investigate price hikes.
He wrote: "I believe the larger distributors and importers of fuel altered prices to take advantage of the rising global costs prior to old stocks being exhausted.
"I believe this would have allowed them to extort a much higher margin on fuel that was purchased at lower prices but resold or distributed to garages at the higher end of the scale under the guise of the rising tensions and unrest caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"These actions, if proved true, equate to scandalous behaviour and opportunistic greed - taking advantage of global conflict for personal gain."
People Before Profit's Paul Murphy said the Government needs to put in price controls to limit the cost of fuel.
Minister McGrath said the Government cannot fix the price at the pumps or set a cap as it would "create enormous difficulties and uncertainties and probably result in the closures of businesses".
However, Labour's Ged Nash said that under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the Government has the power to introduce a "maximum price order" for certain goods in a "state of emergency".
"This isn't the case of not being able to do it," Mr Nash said. "It's a case of the Government being unwilling to do it."
Minister Ryan suggested people should drive slower in order to make their petrol go further. It comes as the AA confirmed that cutting speeds from 120kph to 100kph on motorways can cut fuel consumption by 20%.
Government sources insisted yesterday that the Coalition is not looking at officially cutting speed limits.
Such a measure was taken in 1979 during the energy crisis when speed limits were reduced from 60mph (97kph) to 55mph (89kph). The speed limits remained in place until 1992.
