Exice duty hikes: “Counterfeiting of alcohol will increase”
As a result of major duty increases on alcohol, off-licensees such as Kevin O’Brien have guaranteed that the counterfeiting of alcohol will increase.
Print22 November 2013
Kevin, a National Executive Council member of NOffLA with a number of off-licences in Mulhuddart, Ashtown and Tyrellstown, was responding to a question at the recent half-day ShelfLife conference on ‘Ireland’s illicit trade – The €1Billion Fraud’ held in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.
“You can dial up the white van man and get a delivery on a Saturday night,” he said, “We’re now coming close to the death of the independent off-licence in Ireland”.
Another speaker at the conference, Chief Executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association Vincent Jennings, took the Department of Health to task over its attitude to retailers of alcohol and tobacco.
The Department of Health whose representatives, he said, “… never go to meetings like this but sit in their ivory towers discussing how to de-regularise the products that we sell.”
The rise in illicit trade was an unintended consequence of ill-advised Department of Health policies “…. designed by people without any consultation with retailers or any others”.
He implored the Department of Health to come and speak to the people who’re selling this product.
“We did speak with the Department of Health at the time when we’d a way into them,” he told delegates, but this had all changed now with the Department refusing to meet with or listen to the trade.
He added that the penalties for those caught smuggling or counterfeiting were relatively light “…. so what can the Customs and Gardai do?” he asked.
“They need support but their hands seem to be tied in the absence of stronger legislation. It’s just not seen in court as a serious crime.
“There’s the loss of duty but no account is taken of the loss of jobs as a result of smuggling,” he pointed out, “It goes well beyond ‘lost duty’.
“Politically, we have to change our mindset.
“Do we need stronger deterrents? Yes, absolutely – it needs to be seen as a serious crime.”
Vincent Jennings didn’t see the legislative authorities doing much to combat the illegal importation of cigarettes but he did see them “…checking up on our shops to ensure that we comply with the law selling legal product on our shelves”.
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