Primetime highlights tobacco smuggling
Primetime investigates cigarettes smuggling in Ireland, at a time when retail reports show tobacco sales are down, on average 20%, yet more people are smoking.
Print15 December 2010
The spotlight was put on the scale of the tobacco smuggling problem we are now faced with in Ireland through a special Primetime Investigates documentary aired on 1 December.
The documentary focused on the sophisticated network of cigarette smugglers bringing counterfeit tobacco products on to the Irish market.
A recent EU study has shown that 31% of the population smokes (a rise of 2%) yet shop sales continue to drop, proving that people are continuing to smoke but they are not purchasing cigarettes through legitimate outlets.
Retail Ireland director Torlach Denihan is urging the authorities to take “vigorous action” to combat cigarette smuggling. “The Revenue Commissioners, the Office for Tobacco Control and industry sources estimate that in excess of 20% of all cigarettes consumed in Ireland are smuggled. The cost to the Exchequer is of the order of €500m in badly needed lost tax revenue,” he said.
Denihan said that it was “especially disturbing” that when smugglers are arrested the courts seemed to take a lenient view of this crime. “These people need to be hit with the maximum fine permitted by law in all cases and, evidence permitting, jailed as well”.
Retailers Against Smuggling, the representative group for Ireland’s tobacco retailers, welcomed the Primetime Investigates show. The 3,000 member group, which was featured in the programme, said that the national and international criminal element of cigarette and tobacco smuggling had brought the legitimate Irish trade to its knees.
In a recent Retailers Against Smuggling Survey, it showed that tobacco sales are down, on average 20%, yet more people are smoking.
Benny Gilsenan, national spokesman for Retailers Against Smuggling, said: “Tobacco products are vital to the survival of the convenience retail sector. On average, cigarettes and tobacco account for, on average, 20% of a retailer’s annual turnover. Ireland’s retailers lost €692 million in lost sales in 2009 with this figure forecast to rise to €786 million for 2010 despite an increased number of seizures this year. The Irish State loses approximately half a billion every year from non-Irish duty paid cigarettes”.
Related Articles
Lidl Ireland named Most Reputable Retailer in Ireland RepTrak 2024 study →
Roe & Co unveils Roe & Co Flor Single Grain Irish Whiskey →
Boots returns to Electric Picnic as Premium Beauty Partner →
Fans 0
Followers