Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. A "qualifying transport operator" for the purposes of the repayments scheme, as Deputy Sean Fleming has outlined, is defined in subsection (1), by reference to the provisions of national and EU law, under which transport operators are required to be licensed. The proposed amendment No. 19 would add two EU regulations, as outlined by Deputy Sean Fleming, in the areas of food hygiene and livestock transport, to the provisions referred to. The amendment is not required because even though these regulations set down requirements for the transportation of animals and food products, they do not provide for transport licensing requirements. The transport licensing requirements, as they stand, are adequate and comprehensive for the purposes of the section.

The amendment also provides for the extension of the relief to own account operators. In introducing this rebate of excise duty on auto-diesel the Minister was seeking to reduce costs in respect of export-led growth for small businesses and to assist the tourism industry in the year of The Gathering. He is very conscious of the costs involved to the Exchequer and the extent to which such a scheme could be open to abuse. Accordingly, one means of facilitating compliance is to restrict access to the scheme to tax-compliant and licensed operators. In providing the relief it is not believed own account operators are, for the most part, in competition with hire and reward operators, as most are, by their nature, providing transport services for their own products. In this regard, while the Minister appreciates that companies have reduced overheads as far as possible, own account operators do have a greater facility to incorporate transport costs within the overall cost of the product.

As the Minister stated on Committee Stage, his main concern in this area is to ensure the risk of fraud around the rebate scheme is minimised and the need to hold an operator's licence from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, or an equivalent licence recognised under EU law, is a significant element of the compliance regime in this regard.

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