DOZENS OF FILLING stations were shut down by the Revenue last year for unlicensed trading, while the number of seizures of “illegal fuel” from filling stations in Ireland has also significantly increased.
Last year, 32 filling stations in the country were shut down, according to the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan. Meanwhile, in the past four years the number of seizures of illegal fuel from stations has increased almost six-fold.
In 2008, there were nine seizures of illegal fuel from filling stations, with 45,500 litres of petrol or diesel confiscated. The number of seizures fell to just seven the following year, with 31,040 litres of fuel seized.
However, that figure doubled in 2010 to 14 seizures, amounting to 130,100 litres of illegal fuel uncovered, before surging to 53 seizures last year – during which 299,357 litres of fuel was confiscated.
Last weekend, AA Ireland released figures to show that the petrol and diesel had surged again last month – which, it calculated, resulted in an increase in the cost of running a moderate family car amounting to about €10 per month.
AA Ireland said that the cost of petrol rose to 154.9 cent per litre (up 7 cent) while the price of a litre of diesel increased to 153.1 cent (up 6.2 cent) in the past month. The increase is a result of a combination of the VAT increase imposed by the government and an increase in European fuel prices, Director of Policy Conor Faughnan said.
Faughnan estimated that approximately 2.4 cent per litre was added to the cost of both fuels by the increase in VAT.
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