Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I compliment the Revenue Commissioners on the excellent work they have been doing in recent years to deal with the scourge of washed diesel and the illicit trade in diesel, in particular, but also in tobacco products. I know from speaking to those officials that they are dealing with a very difficult issue and have made substantial progress, which we welcome. We want to ensure that type of illicit trade is eliminated as far as is practicable. Being realists, we know that it is not possible for the Revenue Commissioners or any State agency or its officers to police on an ongoing basis the Border areas in the constituencies that the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, and I represent.

In his concluding sentence, the Minister said that the Revenue Commissioners would liaise with the bodies to which I referred. One of the fuel merchants made the point that they need assurance that there will be good policing in the new situation that has arisen with regard to solid fuels. Co-ordination is needed to ensure that if there is a marked decrease in the legitimate sale of products south of the Border, some action will be taken to deal with the illegal supply. When the Minister is planning the budget, I ask him to consider not applying the increase proposed for May 2014, because the British Government has not yet indicated whether its carbon charge will apply to solid fuel products in the North of Ireland. We need to plan as much as possible for the difficulties that will arise for this business south of the Border too.

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