Vol. 496 No. 1
166 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 235 of 13 October 1998 the reason there is no provision for repayment of excise duty for light oils including petrol; the possible justification there is for this position in view of the fact that some qualifying vehicles use petrol; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22185/98]
The reason the scheme is confined to diesel is essentially that the vast majority of public transport buses used diesel when the arrangement commenced and still use diesel. The existing concession is authorised by reference to an EU Council decision which authorises member states to continue to apply existing reductions in rates of excise duty, but not new reductions. Whether the EU Commission and Council would be prepared to extend or interpret this existing concession to fuels such as petrol or LPG would have to be explored.
