Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To be helpful to the Deputy, perhaps we need to distinguish between what is a customs issue, in effect, and what is an excise issue. If this amendment were accepted, its effect would be to introduce a new section in the Bill under which the Minister for Finance would be statutorily obliged to "lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the effect of fuel, tobacco and other types of smuggling on the economy and propose in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Assembly measures to tackle these crimes.". The Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners monitor the illicit trade in excisable goods on an ongoing basis and continually make recommendations to tackle the issue. The Minister has used successive Finance Acts to introduce measures to tackle the illicit trade in fuel and tobacco and will not hesitate to do so again in this year's finance Bill, if he sees a need to do so. I hope any such measures will gain the support of all parties.

Three reports in this field have already been completed this year. The Revenue Commissioners recently published an analysis of oil duties, entitled The Oil Market in Ireland: Duties, Prices and Consumption. This report included an examination of consumption and revenue loss to the Exchequer due to laundering and smuggling. This report indicates that the overall strategy being pursued by Revenue to combat fuel laundering is working.

A report recently published by a committee of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, entitled Cross-border Police Cooperation and Illicit Trade, found that "the current level of cooperation between An Garda Síochána and the PSNI was excellent with evidence that both police forces worked closely together, formally and informally, on many issues". It also found that "the joint Cross-border Policing Strategy, first launched in 2010, which has contributed to the detection of criminal activity and better public safety across the island of Ireland by enhancing the policing capabilities of both police services". It also found that "an all-island approach is necessary to tackle cross-border illicit trade". The committee welcomed "the development of the multi-agency Cross-border Fuel Fraud Enforcement Group and the Cross-border Tobacco Fraud Enforcement Group since its last inquiry".

The 2014 annual report of the Revenue Commissioners, which was published last week, states:

Revenue's response to the threat posed by criminal activities such as fuel and tobacco fraud and drug smuggling includes intelligence gathering, profiling of suspects and implementation of effective operational intervention programmes. Inter-agency cooperation involving other national and international law enforcement agencies is also critical. This includes the sharing of intelligence, proactive profiling of criminal networks, and joint operations.

The Minister for Finance and officials within that Department continue to monitor this issue through interaction with industry and with national and international customs and law enforcement agencies. It also operates on the basis of its own experiences on the ground. The Minister has always maintained that he will act on the advice received and introduce whatever measures are required to tackle the issue. It is on this basis that we do not propose to accept this amendment