A business group says more details around Government emergency plans, in the event of of a major fuel crisis, should be published.
It comes as people could be ordered to work from home in the event of a shortage sparked by the war in Ukraine under the secret Government plans.
An emergency planning exercise was held several days ago between all the major State agencies and the Government, according to the Irish Independent.
Danny McCoy, CEO of business group IBEC, told Newstalk Breakfast we can take learnings from the coronavirus pandemic.
"I suppose the good news is post-COVID experience we know that the economy can function substantially with a large proportion of people working from home.
"But we also know that not everybody can work from home - in fact, less than half of the population is office-based.
"We're talking about office workers in the main here, so in prioritisation I think the Government's exercise was a prudent thing to do."
'Gradual rationing of fuel'
He says more details should be released.
"It'd be interesting to see the kind of details and modalities that are in there because that's an extreme, in terms of nearly a full cut-off to the economy.
"But what do we do in more gradual rationing of fuel - what gets prioritisation?
"I think that probably needs a little bit more decision-making at the level of the firm with the people involved.
"So who comes in, who doesn't come in".
And he says while he thinks the State should run such exercises, groups directly affected should be involved going forward.
"I think it's important that the State agencies actually do the exercise from the supply aspect, in terms of how that scarce resource would be rationed out into the economy.
"However on the demand side, which is from businesses and from households, I think there needs to be an input.
"And I would anticipate we'll have that level of engagement either at the Labour Employer Economic Forum with the trade unions, where we looked at the issues during COVID of safe return to work and those kind of issues.
"So I'd expect there will be a communication.
"We've had this in the past, where the State agencies would do the code red, orange and yellow - and what would happen in the case of hurricanes and so on.
"And I think we have some lessons to be learned from that in terms of putting a bit more nuance into kind of blanket prescriptions".
What will it mean for your pocket? Sean Defoe's latest episode of Let Me Explain tackles the rise in fuel prices.
