Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to echo my gratitude and that of the Government for the work carried out by Senator Paul Coghlan's committee of which Senator Walsh was an integral member. The report has given us plenty of food for thought. The interesting recommendations and findings contained within it will be given due consideration by the Department of Finance, and I am also sure by the Department of Justice and Equality, in advance of any forthcoming Finance Bill. It is important that we do so. I shall ensure that the transcripts of this debate are seen by both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Justice and Equality in terms of their deliberations.

Some of these issues also relate to our counterparts in Northern Ireland, which is where the success of BIPA lies, and it is important to acknowledge this. As a younger parliamentarian, when I had the opportunity to meet with BIPA recently in Dublin, I was struck by the commitment of members, who had varying political views and came from different geographical locations, to working together on a north, south, east and west basis in terms of this island. I had an opportunity to talk to people who had worked together on relationships, between the North and the South and between Britain and Ireland, in years when it must have been a lot more difficult to do so than it is now. I saw the personal relationships and culture of trust that they have built up among each other which allowed Senator Paul Coghlan and his committee to arrive at the point where politicians of a variety of persuasions, backgrounds and geographical locations can sit down and work together to produce such a substantial and thoughtful report, as is this report by committee A. The Senator is truly to be commended. I wish the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly all the best for the next 25 years and hope that it will build on its success to date.

Today we have had an interesting debate here. I would like to pick up the point made by Senators Mullins and Jim D'Arcy about the need to acknowledge the successful work done, by the staff in Revenue and the Customs and Excise unit, to date. The hardworking men and women of those organisations often have to work in very difficult circumstances. They do not have the luxury, as we do in this House, of discussing solutions in the comfort of this Chamber. They have been out on the ground and have operated in very difficult and complex situations over a long number of years. It is positive and encouraging to see the results and achievements they have yielded to date. I have alluded to some of them already but it is worth repeating. Since mid-2011, due to the work of Revenue's strategy, we have seen 134 filling stations closed for breaches of licensing conditions, over 3 million litres of oil seized and 31 oil laundries have been detected and closed down. Those results are a testament to the men and women of the Revenue Commissioners and their strategy.I accept the point made by Senator Mooney. It is encouraging that staff levels have been maintained at 2,000, even during the moratorium on public service numbers. The Senator is correct that it is an indication of the scale of the operation when one considers that 2,000 people are working on detection.

The Minister for Finance continues to keep legislative measures under review, and the Finance Act 2014 contained new measures to strengthen further the Revenue Commissioners' ability to refuse or revoke a mineral oil trader's licence where a trader does not comply with excise law. This is about using all possible tools in the State's toolkit to tackle what is a complicated and dangerous scenario. When we have conversations and debates about this there is a risk that it can almost sound victimless. It is anything but that. Victims range from the people who have been mentioned in this debate, who innocently go about their business and put fuel in their cars only to find their cars destroyed because of this illegal activity, to the loss of Exchequer revenue.