Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance the annual cost to the Exchequer of the use of illegally washed diesel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42260/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Revenue Commissioners advise me that it is inherently difficult to estimate the extent of any illegal activity with confidence and it is not possible, therefore, to put a figure on the cost of diesel laundering to the Exchequer. However, the Commissioners recognised it as a significant problem from early 2011 and implemented a comprehensive strategy to tackle it, based on rigorous supply chain controls, the implementation of a new fuel marker here and in the UK, and rigorous enforcement action.  As a result of the strategy, since mid-2011, 147 filling stations have been closed for breaches of licensing conditions, over three million litres of fuel have been seized and 31 oil laundries detected and closed down.

The industry view is that the measures implemented to date have been successful in curtailing fuel laundering in Ireland.  This view is supported by a significant increase in tax revenues from road diesel over the past three years.  An analysis of long-term consumption trends for road diesel and marked diesel in Ireland undertaken by Revenue also pointed to a significant change in the pattern of consumption following implementation of the measures referred to above. 

I am assured by Revenue that they remain very conscious of the threats posed by criminality in the fuel sector, and that action against such activities continues to be a central element of their work.