Diesel for Agricultural use was found to be €60 cheaper north of the border, according to a recent survey by the Revenue Commissioners.
The survey that the average price in the Republic of 1000 liters Marked Gas Oil (Diesel) for non-auto diesel which can be used for home heating, commercial and agricultural use was €608 compared to €547 in Northern Ireland.
The Revenue survey also found that Taxes/duty on agri diesel was also lower across the border. Its figures also show that taxes/duty are €19.3 lower in Northern Ireland.
On 1000 liters of agri diesel taxes/duty in the Republic total €174.7 while North of the border the total is €155.4.
Meanwhile, in terms of Auto Diesel (1 litre) prices are lower in the Republic at 1.14c/L compared to 1.30c/L. However, taxes and duties on Auto Diesel are 20c/L lower in Northern Ireland are 69c/L compared to 0.89c/L in the Republic.
Hike in diesel prices
A number of TDs reacted angrily last week to proposals to raise the price of diesel to bring it in line with the price of petrol.
It is understood that the Government Tax Strategy Group’s report says Minister for Transport, Shane Ross has requested the equalisation of the rates for climate policy reasons.
The paper, which was published this summer, says it would be prudent to make this change over five years.
The pre-budget paper calls for a year-on-year rise of 2.18c/L for diesel over five years, as a way of discouraging people from buying diesel cars.
Green diesel sales stable
According to Revenue, the sales of agricultural diesel (Marked Gas Oil) following a decline remain stable.
This is believed to be due in part to Revenue’s successes in tackling the laundering of agricultural diesel.
In early 2016, Revenue carried out a random sampling programme which tested for the presence of the new marker in road diesel in the storage tanks of around 200, or almost 10%, forecourt retailers.
No samples tested positive for the Accutrace S10 fuel marker.
Revenue says the sampling, which was carried out under the independent supervision of its Statistics and Economics Research Branch, demonstrates that the selling of laundered fuel in the market is negligible and close to being fully eliminated.