Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his remarks. A "qualifying transport operator" for the purposes of the repayment scheme is defined in the proposed new section 99A(1) by reference to the provisions of national and EU law under which transport operators are required to be licensed. Recommendation No. 29 proposes 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 the costs of small businesses that are driving export-led growth. He also wanted to assist the tourism industry in the year of The Gathering. I am conscious of the costs involved for the Exchequer and the risk that such a scheme could be open to abuse. One means of facilitating compliance is to restrict access to the scheme to tax compliant and licensed operators. I do not believe "own account" operators are in competition with hire and reward operators, for the most part, because most of them by their nature provide transport services for their own products. While I appreciate that companies have reduced their overheads as far as possible, "own account" operators have a greater facility to incorporate transport costs within the overall cost of their products. My main concern in this area is to ensure the risk of fraud under the rebate scheme is minimised. The requirement to hold an operator's licence from the Department of Transport, or an equivalent licence recognised under EU law, is a significant element of the compliance regime in this regard. Accordingly, I cannot accept the recommendation.

The proposed recommendation No. 30 would add two EU regulations, in the areas of food hygiene and livestock transport, to the provisions referred to in the Bill as it stands. The two regulations set out requirements for the transportation of animals and food products, but they do not set out any transport licensing requirements. The transport licensing requirements as they stand are adequate and comprehensive for the purposes of this section. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the recommendation. Recommendation No. 31, which seeks a doubling of the relief, cannot be accepted on budgetary grounds because it puts all the risk of price increases in auto diesel on the Exchequer and would be unacceptable at this time. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, made the point in the other House that we have gone as far as we can in this section to help people in the haulage area for whom transport is a lifeline. We want to provide an even playing field with regard to the competition they face abroad. We also want to get some funds back into the country. We know that auto diesel tourism is a reality.

The amendments made by the Minister in the licensed operators area have been very significant. I was struck by the arguments I heard from that group about the significant investments they have to make in their coaches and buses in the interests of the Irish tourism product. This important product is a key export. When people come to this country on coach tours, they want to sit in buses and coaches with good specifications. The point has been made that the exponential increases in the cost of fuel in recent years have made it increasingly difficult for people to purchase new vehicles.

This has made it increasingly difficult for people to purchase.

We conceded on the question of the haulage industry and in fairness to the Minister he has gone even further. Having listened to the arguments made by tour operators and coach tour industry, he tabled an amendment in the other House. That is as far as we can go without raising the possibility of an abusive regime emerging because one cannot attach this to licensed operators. I ask the Senator to understand the Government's position and accept the degree of flexibility we have shown. Unfortunately, we have minimal scope for flexibility because we do not have money. The arguments have been well made in respect of the haulage industry and coach tour operators but that is as far as we can go because we are limited in what we can do.