I move Financial Resolution No. 1:
(1) That the rebate of duty on mineral hydrocarbon light oil provided for in section 56(3) of the Finance Act, 1988 (No. 12 of 1988), shall, as respects mineral hydrocarbon light oil on which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that duty at the rate specified in section 40(1) of the Finance Act, 1989 (No. 10 of 1989), has been paid on or after the 1st day of February, 1990, be calculated at the rate of £2.56 per hectolitre.
(2) That the duty of excise on gaseous hydrocarbons in liquid form imposed by section 41(1) of the Finance Act, 1976 (No. 16 of 1976), shall be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 1st day of February, 1990, at the rate of £0.393 per gallon in lieu of the rate specified in paragraph 5(9) of the Imposition of Duties (No. 285) (Excise Duties) Order, 1987 (S.I. No. 19 of 1987).
(3) It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).
The purpose of this resolution is to give effect to a reduction in excise duty of 1.1p, including VAT, on a litre of unleaded petrol, which is the equivalent of 5p per gallon, including VAT, and also to give effect to an excise duty reduction of 43p, including VAT, on a gallon of auto LPG or, as it is commonly known, motor vehicle gas. It is intended that these two reductions will take place from midnight tonight and will have the following estimated effect on Exchequer revenue. The cost of the reduction in unleaded petrol will be £6.5 million in 1990 and the cost of auto LPG will be £0.8 million, making a total of £7.3 million in 1990.
I would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the reduction in unleaded petrol has already been referred to by the Minister for the Environment in his action plan and when it comes into effect it will mean a difference of 10p between leaded and unleaded petrol. This should give an impetus to the sales of unleaded petrol and is in pursuance of our environmental objective. The sales of unleaded petrol have grown from less than 1 per cent a year ago to 13 per cent of total petrol sales at present and we expect that this measure will result in an acceleration of that growth to 25 per cent. We hope that 25 per cent of all petrol sales will be in the form of unleaded petrol.
I will be pleased to answer any other queries that any Member may wish to ask.