Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy has welcomed the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report into illegal fuel in Northern Ireland.
The Newry & Armagh MLA said:
“This latest report serves to highlight a problem which has been ongoing for decades now.
Illegal fuel is a major drain on the exchequer through lost revenue, it risks damaging vehicles and it funds criminal or paramilitary gangs.
I welcome the findings that progress is being made and that the estimates of £250 million worth of lost revenue five years ago has reduced to £70 million. However, this is still a very significant amount and this is money which has been denied to our schools and hospitals.
I sincerely hope that this report prompts a renewed inter-agency response to tackle the problem and deny criminals a vital source of funding and would urge that everything possible is done to equip HMRC with the most modern technologies available to eradicate this problem.”