In 2023 Escapade took fuel by road tanker at Dingle and Galway. Both were very easy to arrange and the prices seemed competitive. That said, we were taking 150 litres... 
So if you want smaller quantities, the arrangements at Dingle were quite practical: the (quite outstanding) harbourmaster can loan you some jerrycans and a wheelbarrow and it's not a long hike to the nearest garage (unless you stop in the pub on the way). 
The harbour authorities at Galway were very apologetic about the relatively yacht-unfriendly nature of their current setup. No wheelbarrow! There are plans/dreams but these are currently unfunded. We did find that local taxi drivers were more than happy to help, though.

+x

 

Daria Blackwell - 2/20/2020

+x

 

Daria Blackwell - 1/16/2020

As of January 2020, marked green diesel (no VAT) is no longer permitted for use in pleasure craft in Ireland. Many pumps will continue in service for fishing and commercial vessels but will not be permitted to serve yachts. Penalty for having green diesel in tank can be up to €5000. We have been advised that white diesel will be available at the following locations:

Pump: Howth, Dun Laoghaire, Greystones, Crosshaven, and Kinsale.
Tanker: Castletownbere (Beara Oil), Bantry (Biggs) and Dingle (McSweeney)
Towable bowser by arrangement: Kilrush Marina
Cans: Carlingford, Arklow and Dingle.
Filling stations within walking distance: Roundstone, Sligo, Killybegs.

Naturally, it will take some time for green diesel already in tanks to be used up and, of course, the dye may persist for a long time. Some leeway is expected to be given in a transitional period. 

It is unknown if the UK will continue to make red diesel available to pleasure craft once it leaves the EU. 

Here is an update from Afloat magazine as to where white (taxed) diesel will be available in Ireland in 2020. 


White diesel supply is improving around the Irish coast, with marinas at Kilmore Quay and Kilrush the latest to switch their pumps, writes Gail McAllister.

In particular, this provides a welcome source of fuel midway between Dun Laoghaire and Cork, at a strategically placed harbour which is a key landfall port.

Lawrence Cove Marina has recently announced that it will provide white diesel in cans in 2020. White diesel will also be available in cans at Dingle and Carlingford.

Howth and Dun Laoghaire marinas, at least two at Crosshaven, and at least one in Kinsale will have white diesel available from their pumps.

Oil suppliers at Castletownbere, Bantry and Dingle will have white diesel available by tanker on the same basis as they used to supply green — in modest quantities and at relatively short notice.

Leisure boaters who still have green diesel in their tanks from last year have been given some reprieve by the Revenue Commissioners “on an operational basis”, though it is expected that “such residue will be used up very quickly”.

This may raise concerns over Revenue’s understanding of how leisure craft are used and refuelled as opposed to road vehicles.
Tax matters

In order to protect against any possible future prosecution for misuse of green diesel, leisure sailors are advised to pay the additional excise duty on green diesel purchases made in 2019 before the deadline of Sunday 1 March.

This can be done by completing form PPN1, available on revenue.ie (search on the site for ‘form PPN1’ or ‘private pleasure navigation’), giving details of the fuel source and quantity (receipts from suppliers not required). The current rate of tax is 47.9c per litre.

The easiest way to pay the tax and get a receipt is to use the Revenue Online Service (ROS). Find a page with ‘Marked Gas Oil tax’, pay by bank transfer, take a screenshot or save a PDF of the payment page, print it and keep a copy aboard the boat.

Be sure to measure your current tank contents, and keep a log of your engine hours, diesel consumption and purchases. And of course buy only white diesel; quayside suppliers and tankers will, in any case, refuse to put green diesel in the tank of a leisure vessel.

In the event that your tank is dipped by Customs and you are accused of using green diesel when in fact what you have is a mixture, insist on a quantitative measurement of the mix. They can do this easily by measuring the concentration of a marker called Accutrace, which is added to green diesel along with the dye.

If you have diesel in your tank from another jurisdiction, such as red from the UK, it is considered very unlikely that Customs will be concerned. Tax-paid diesel from Spain (Gasoleo A) is faintly green in colour, but apart from that, nobody else in Europe uses a green dye.

Thanks go to Irish Sailing’s Cruising and Representation Policy Group representative, Norman Kean of ICC Publications, for his diligent research into this subject.

Update on diesel availability 2020
Rossaveal, County Galway has been added as a fueling station. Follow the link to see an image showing locations of all stations. 

https://afloat.ie/port-news/irish-marinas/item/46715-update-on-white-diesel-supply-at-irish-marinas-for-june-2020?mc_cid=52e39cde7c&mc_eid=ab5e6421a7

Vice Commodore, OCC 

+x

 

Daria Blackwell - 1/16/2020

As of January 2020, marked green diesel (no VAT) is no longer permitted for use in pleasure craft in Ireland. Many pumps will continue in service for fishing and commercial vessels but will not be permitted to serve yachts. Penalty for having green diesel in tank can be up to €5000. We have been advised that white diesel will be available at the following locations:

Pump: Howth, Dun Laoghaire, Greystones, Crosshaven, and Kinsale.
Tanker: Castletownbere (Beara Oil), Bantry (Biggs) and Dingle (McSweeney)
Towable bowser by arrangement: Kilrush Marina
Cans: Carlingford, Arklow and Dingle.
Filling stations within walking distance: Roundstone, Sligo, Killybegs.

Naturally, it will take some time for green diesel already in tanks to be used up and, of course, the dye may persist for a long time. Some leeway is expected to be given in a transitional period. 

It is unknown if the UK will continue to make red diesel available to pleasure craft once it leaves the EU. 

Here is an update from Afloat magazine as to where white (taxed) diesel will be available in Ireland in 2020. 


White diesel supply is improving around the Irish coast, with marinas at Kilmore Quay and Kilrush the latest to switch their pumps, writes Gail McAllister.

In particular, this provides a welcome source of fuel midway between Dun Laoghaire and Cork, at a strategically placed harbour which is a key landfall port.

Lawrence Cove Marina has recently announced that it will provide white diesel in cans in 2020. White diesel will also be available in cans at Dingle and Carlingford.

Howth and Dun Laoghaire marinas, at least two at Crosshaven, and at least one in Kinsale will have white diesel available from their pumps.

Oil suppliers at Castletownbere, Bantry and Dingle will have white diesel available by tanker on the same basis as they used to supply green — in modest quantities and at relatively short notice.

Leisure boaters who still have green diesel in their tanks from last year have been given some reprieve by the Revenue Commissioners “on an operational basis”, though it is expected that “such residue will be used up very quickly”.

This may raise concerns over Revenue’s understanding of how leisure craft are used and refuelled as opposed to road vehicles.
Tax matters

In order to protect against any possible future prosecution for misuse of green diesel, leisure sailors are advised to pay the additional excise duty on green diesel purchases made in 2019 before the deadline of Sunday 1 March.

This can be done by completing form PPN1, available on revenue.ie (search on the site for ‘form PPN1’ or ‘private pleasure navigation’), giving details of the fuel source and quantity (receipts from suppliers not required). The current rate of tax is 47.9c per litre.

The easiest way to pay the tax and get a receipt is to use the Revenue Online Service (ROS). Find a page with ‘Marked Gas Oil tax’, pay by bank transfer, take a screenshot or save a PDF of the payment page, print it and keep a copy aboard the boat.

Be sure to measure your current tank contents, and keep a log of your engine hours, diesel consumption and purchases. And of course buy only white diesel; quayside suppliers and tankers will, in any case, refuse to put green diesel in the tank of a leisure vessel.

In the event that your tank is dipped by Customs and you are accused of using green diesel when in fact what you have is a mixture, insist on a quantitative measurement of the mix. They can do this easily by measuring the concentration of a marker called Accutrace, which is added to green diesel along with the dye.

If you have diesel in your tank from another jurisdiction, such as red from the UK, it is considered very unlikely that Customs will be concerned. Tax-paid diesel from Spain (Gasoleo A) is faintly green in colour, but apart from that, nobody else in Europe uses a green dye.

Thanks go to Irish Sailing’s Cruising and Representation Policy Group representative, Norman Kean of ICC Publications, for his diligent research into this subject.



Vice Commodore, OCC 

As of January 2020, marked green diesel (no VAT) is no longer permitted for use in pleasure craft in Ireland. Many pumps will continue in service for fishing and commercial vessels but will not be permitted to serve yachts. Penalty for having green diesel in tank can be up to €5000. We have been advised that white diesel will be available at the following locations:

Pump: Howth, Dun Laoghaire, Greystones, Crosshaven, and Kinsale.
Tanker: Castletownbere (Beara Oil), Bantry (Biggs) and Dingle (McSweeney)
Towable bowser by arrangement: Kilrush Marina
Cans: Carlingford, Arklow and Dingle.
Filling stations within walking distance: Roundstone, Sligo, Killybegs.

Naturally, it will take some time for green diesel already in tanks to be used up and, of course, the dye may persist for a long time. Some leeway is expected to be given in a transitional period. 

It is unknown if the UK will continue to make red diesel available to pleasure craft once it leaves the EU. 


Vice Commodore, OCC 

Irish Sailing and the Irish Cruising Club are keeping tabs on availability of diesel in Ireland post 2019. They report:

Howth, Dun Laoghaire, Greystones, Crosshaven (2 or 3 pumps) and Kinsale (1 or 2) will switch to white. No decision has yet been taken at Malahide and Kilmore Quay.

Castletownbere (Beara Oil), Bantry (Biggs) and Dingle (McSweeney) will have white diesel by tanker available in modest quantities and at relatively short notice (as traditionally for green).

Kilrush Marina will have white diesel by towable bowser available from a filling station by arrangement.

Carlingford, Arklow and Dingle will have white diesel in cans available. At Carlingford and Arklow the customer may have to provide the cans, but they'll be filled. Elsewhere, filling stations only.

Roundstone has a filling station within easy walking distance (200m) of the pier.

Sligo 500 metres walk, Killybegs 1 km walk to the filling station. 

If you know of a white diesel supplier along the coast or inland waterways, please pass on the details and we can update our list.

Many questions remain about British boats visiting Ireland. It is unknown whether Britain plans to comply or not. In addition, it will take some time for the diesel in some tanks to be replaced, and in some cases, the marked diesel will never be completely removed. The penalty for having green diesel in the tank could be up to €5000, as for cars. The average penalty for cars (300 prosecutions a year) is reported to be €2500.  The advice, for now, is to keep receipts when you fill so that you can prove you have ‘gone white’ - in other words, paid your tax. What colour is your diesel?

Vice Commodore, OCC 

It is now official, as of January 2020, marked diesel will no longer be permitted for sale to pleasure craft in the Republic of Ireland. Several marinas are planning to make unmarked (taxed) diesel available by truck or Gerry can. We will post updates on the OCC Forum as they become available. It is unknown if or how Northern Ireland will respond. 

Vice Commodore, OCC 

In October 2018, The Republic of Ireland was ordered by the European Court to cease selling green diesel to pleasure craft. It will be illegal for providers of green diesel to supply yachts with the marked fuel either at the pump or by tanker. As a result, diesel fuel is likely to be unavailable in many harbours to visiting yachts as of 2020. Most providers of marked diesel (untaxed, for use by fishing and agricultural equipment) have indicated they will not be installing white diesel pumps as the market is just too small, indicating that diesel will be difficult to obtain (Jerry can only) in many places and impossible in some.

Irish sailing organisations are petitioning the government to support strategic installation of white (taxed) diesel pumps around the coast. Three locations on the west coast have been identified: Killybegs, Rossaveal, and Dingle. There are massive safety implications if sailors are forced to sail without sufficient fuel to deal with emergencies on the exposed west coast. We will keep members posted as the situation develops.

It is our understanding that the UK has similarly been ordered to cease selling marked diesel to pleasure craft; but given the uncertainty of Brexit, there is no indication of how or if boaters in the UK will be affected.

Vice Commodore, OCC