Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Finance if there is an operation in place to test trucks crossing the Border from Northern Ireland to ensure the fuel is not going to underground filling stations in the Republic. [5499/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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All consignments of mineral oil from Northern Ireland are subject to requirements of EU law for the Intra-EU movement of excisable products. These requirements include the paying or securing of the excise duty due in the State, and that the consignment is at all times under cover of the appropriate documentation. In keeping, however, with the principle of free movement of goods in the EU, there can be no systematic or random checking of these consignments at the border, and a consignment may only be stopped and checked where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that there has been a breach of requirements. The consignment may then be stopped by Revenue officers, and documents may be examined and the mineral oil sampled and tested.

Revenue employs a broad range of compliance and enforcement strategies to detect illicit practices involving mineral oil fraud, including optimum deployment of resources to intercept illicit product, and sampling and testing of mineral oil, both in the course of consignment and at retail outlets.