Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all know in this House how difficult fuel fraud is for the Revenue Commissioners, who have direct responsibility for it, and the serious threat this criminal activity poses to legitimate businesses North and South. Senator Wilson recognises how well these people perform in their illegal activity dealing with stretched petrol and laundered diesel. I welcome the recent announcement by the Minister for Finance regarding the introduction on 1 April 2015 of a new and more effective product for marking rebated fuels that was identified as a result of a joint process conducted with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in the UK. The work of Revenue officers in testing fuel for the presence of the new marker will be supported by mobile equipment that will allow on-the-spot analysis of samples. We wish them well. Anything that can be done to strengthen the Revenue Commissioners' hand in combating this must be done.

I know the issue arose at the previous meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh. The report that was adopted in this Chamber at the plenary session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in February recommended that a task force be set up. The Revenue Commissioners cannot deal with this on their own. The PSNI in the North and An Garda Síochána in the South cannot deal with this on their own. There are 34 Border crossings in the Dundalk region alone. These people have been known to break roadblocks on occasion. Apart from that, it is impossible to police 34 Border crossings so we must get real. It must be done an all-agency basis that involves the Revenue Commissioners, Customs and Excise, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Environmental Protection Agency in addition to the Garda Síochána and the PSNI. These people have been in business on the Border for 20 or 30 years. If this is not adopted, they will remain in business for the next 20 or 30 years.