Road policing gardaí in Co. Kilkenny brought a halt to a 4X4 driver for a number of offences, including having no drivers’ licence or insurance, and with the vehicle untaxed for 710 days.
The vehicle, which was stopped in Callan on Monday (September 11), was also running on “a tank full of green diesel”, according to gardaí.
The An Garda Síochána Waterford/Kilkenny/Carlow region took to social media to highlight this specific case, saying in a Facebook post: “Where do we start?” (for those unfamiliar with the phrase “shank’s mare” used in the below post, it means to travel by walking).
Green diesel, or marked gas oil, is charged tax at a reduced rate compared to auto fuel (road diesel), and can only be legally used in certain types of vehicles, mainly farm machinery and some commercial vehicles.
It is dyed green to distinguish it from auto fuel, and it is illegal to use green diesel in road vehicles.
The misuse of green diesel is an offence related to tax, and those who are found to have committed this offence are listed in the quarterly tax defaulters publication from Revenue.
The latest such publication, pertaining to the second quarter (April 1 to June 30) was released yesterday (Tuesday, September 12).
In that publication, 22 persons or businesses were found to have misused green diesel. They were charged fines ranging from €2,500 to €4,000.
One of those persons was a farmer, according to their listed occupation in the tax defaulters document. That person was fined €2,500.
Apart from that farmer, the latest tax defaulters publication includes eight other person whose occupation (or one of their occupations) is listed as farmer; as well as one agricultural contractor.
The contractor and seven of the persons listed as farmers were found by a court to have failed to lodge income tax returns.
Of these eight, the contractor, along with four of the farmers, were each fined €1,250. Of the remaining three farmers who were found to have failed to lodge income tax returns, two were fined €2,500 and one was fined €5,000.
Separately in the tax defaulters publication, one farmer received a fully suspended 12-month sentence for delivering incorrect income tax returns.