We must not ignore fuel smuggling

A Committee of the British House of Commons estimates that the Northern Ireland exchequer is losing £380 million a year in taxes as a result of people bringing fuel across the border. At present fuel is much cheaper in the Republic, where diesel is typically 29p a litre - 38% - cheaper. About half of that tax money is lost in legitimate trade as a result of people coming south to fill up as part of normal shopping.

People do not have to be very old to remember when the proverbial shoe was on the other foot in the Border counties.

During the 1980s, filling stations south of the border were selling meagre amounts of petrol and diesel, mostly to people who feared they would run out of fuel before they could reach a filling station in the North. Then the fuel trade was going in the other direction.