Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Moran and Mr. Butler for their presentation. Most of this activity seems to be concentrated in specific areas in the west, and counties Roscommon and Meath. It does not seem to occur so much in the south. Is there a particular reason those areas are mainly targeted? There might be a bit in Dublin but it does not seem to hit the radar as much. There is obviously co-operation from certain people in those areas that is aiding and abetting the activity. Is it also a phenomenon that, where there are borders, whether in Europe or otherwise, there tends to be a lot of smuggling operations? I have read in the past about other borders in Europe where there tends to be activities relating to various kinds of smuggling. Could the witnesses elaborate on that?

Mr. Moran also said fuel fraud was not a new phenomenon. Is he referring to petrol stretching or the doctoring of diesel? Now that petrol prices have dropped so much, would that have an effect? Mr. Moran said that the revenues seem to be coming up and this is probably related to the drop in fuel prices. I am not too sure but maybe he could tell me.

The witness said there was a new diesel marker coming on-stream in March. We have been talking about combating the whole diesel issue for years. Is the new marker to apply across Europe or between the UK and here? I know there are different standards in different areas. I do not know whether we can get a cost to the Exchequer as to how much this is but the witnesses are saying revenues seem to be going up so there is obviously an impact in terms of how much of it is taking place at the moment.

Does Revenue have a role if a person is making a claim against an insurance company? Is Revenue asked for information regarding a particular station in terms of a case where someone is looking for insurance? I am curious about whether that happens.

Is there any way stretched fuel can show up or be detected in an NCT test? They seem to look at fumes and such. Is stretched fuel even listed on the tests? Is there a manual test? I know it is very dangerous to tell someone to check their fuel tank, and there is some prohibition on accessing the tank or getting into it. I would not be advising anyone to do it, but is there such a thing as a manual test?

There are also other ways in which petrol could be used, such as in machinery of various sorts. Is there any evidence of problems in that area? Besides cars, are there other areas that could be affected?

Mr. Moran mentioned that 130 filling stations have been dealt with since 2011. Have any of them been closed down, have they been reopened, or is it a case that penalties have been imposed on them by way of either closure or serious fines?