Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the contribution made by colleague, I should state a personal interest in the matter because Deputy Naughten suggested a payment, or a fund be established, for affected people. I was a victim of laundered diesel during the summer and it put my car off the road permanently. It is a huge revenue loss to the State. The Revenue Commissioners are active on the ground but it appears to me - I am open to correction and the Minister might comment on this - that their efforts are, by and large, in dipping motorists' cars to see what fuel they are burning, lest they be burning agricultural diesel when they should be burning the other type. Is there sufficient impetus in Revenue to dip at forecourts?

I listened to a Revenue official recently, on foot of a very welcome investigation on the Border where a very significant diesel laundering plant was uncovered, say there was a network of approximately 150 filling stations around the country where this diesel was regularly laundered. This is not rocket science in that if one chases cheap diesel at the forecourt, one is very likely to run into this problem of laundered diesel, although, as Deputy Naughten said, there are operators who are striving to be as competitive as possible and who are doing so legitimately.

Revenue has scarce resources and as much as there is something to be gained from dipping motorists' cars at marts or wherever - the agricultural community seems to come under the spotlight - far more significant progress would be made at source if Revenue concentrated on dipping at the forecourt. There should also be an obligation on forecourt operators to retain a sample from each filling they receive - maybe this is already the case - and details of who supplies them. Revenue knows there are approximately 150 filling stations around the country which deal with this and are selling it at very competitive prices relative to their competitors, which is unfair, so it is not rocket science to target the scarce resources in that direction.

There is nothing we can do other than significantly ramp up the penalties in this legislation, if possible, on forecourt operators because they are putting their legitimate colleagues out of business, are costing the State a significant amount and are impacting very significantly on individual motorists. The issue of Revenue and resources is probably an endless debate. We have had the debate about cigarette smuggling. I do not know whether it should involve a combination of Revenue and the Garda. The old weights and measures section, which used to ensure one was getting a gallon of petrol when one bought one, could be involved in sampling.

We have a lot of State resources, including personnel, knowledge and equipment. Could we be assured we are getting the maximum return from the effort being made and that it is adequately targeted? I do not know if the Minister can answer that in detail but this is a significant cost to the Exchequer. By the nature of the game, these people will always be a step ahead of the State. One can have a car which is motoring fine but the next thing it will not go and one is faced with replacing it, something for which one has not budgeted, and that is a huge cost on any household. It is happening quite a lot. It is only since it happened to me in August that I have become aware of dozens of people to whom it has happened. It is something on which we could make more progress.