Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. When I studied the Bill and its digest this morning, I noted a number of references to EU legislation. Anything that consolidates legislation is to be welcomed. The Bill deals with issues under EU legislation, such as free trade and transferring goods with ease, but the reality is that we seem to pick and choose in respect of the EU. Some goods can be transferred from one country to another without bother but if, for example, one imports a car from the UK one must pay a serious amount of tax. In the context of Europe and free trade, we hold EU driving licences and speak about open markets across the EU but when we want to import a vehicle, there is a huge gap between the price in Ireland and that in other jurisdictions. Are we taking out the nice pieces of the dinner for ourselves while leaving behind the pieces we do not like?

I have been involved in efforts to deal with the issue of petrol stretching in recent months. Customs officials have a wide variety of duties, and I commend them on their efforts. However, there has been an awful silence in the last few months in regard to petrol stretching. Numerous families around this country have two cars lying at the side of the house because they cannot afford to fix them. We levied taxes on the petrol these families purchased from filling stations in various parts of Ireland but they were unlucky in not having comprehensive insurance. Even people who had comprehensive insurance found they were not covered by the small print of their policies. The insurance policy may have been cheap but it included clauses that ensured the customer did not get what he or she expected.

This issue is causing havoc. Deputies from both sides of the House have attended meetings on this issue. It is like finding a needle in a haystack. It is a sad reality that we cannot tell whether the fuel contained in a lorry coming from the docks in Dublin is good or bad. It does not require magic tricks to analysis a sample from each such lorry to identify where the problem lies. Everybody and nobody in this business is getting the blame. People are being blamed in the wrong, while others are left with ruined car engines because of petrol stretching. Revenue has to step up to the mark. If it takes the money, it has to deliver. It has taken taxes from these people, who paid them in good faith. In their hour of need, however, there is silence when it comes to offering a solution. They are told to go to the filling stations, the suppliers in the docks in Dublin or the insurance companies. They have gone to everybody but the stark reality is that people are being left high and dry, especially where they have third party insurance. The Department of Finance should liaise with Customs and Excise to address the problem because it will not be resolved otherwise. I have had similar issues where kerosene was used in diesel machinery. The only thing we could do was add engine oil to ensure the pumps did not break for the similar reason that a blown engine would cost €5,000 or €6,000 to repair. People who are already struggling cannot afford such costs.

Last week I read a newspaper report that Ireland was seen as a friendly place to do business. I was contacted by an individual who had been in business for 30 years. He told me he was packing up because he got a letter from the bank which blamed an increase in the price it charged for writing cheques from 20 cent to 60 cent on the Government's new centralised system for getting rid of cheque books. I hope this Bill does not put further costs on business. Consolidating legislation should be aimed at making us more efficient.

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