Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We talked about the pinch point where you drive more into the illicit market, the illegal market, and more sales from outside the State in the form of duty-free. The Minister helpfully provided the figures which show there is trend there. I will make the point again that I am very concerned that the illegal cigarette market is normalised. It is acceptable. You go to any pub or any gathering and people will talk about how they bought dodgy cigarettes. I think 17% of cigarettes now are estimated to come from the illegal market. That is a substantial amount of tobacco being consumed from that and a substantial number of people knowingly purchasing illegal cigarettes. That is a wider policy discussion as to what happens when we continue to increase the price of cigarettes, which we are doing for really good, valid health reasons. These cigarettes have to be smuggled into the country and they are being smuggled in in greater quantities. What is Revenue's ability to detect that at a large scale?

On a separate issue, I have made the point before that you can now, with your partner, book a flight to Europe and get a night's accommodation and, if you are a smoker, by buying cigarettes duty-free you will have paid for the flights and the accommodation and your cigarettes for the next couple of weeks will be cheaper because of the differential there. Some people, I imagine, are not carrying just the carton to which they are entitled; there might be an extra carton. What is Revenue's capacity first and foremost as regards policing the smugglers of large cigarettes? Are we losing that battle, given the amount now in circulation?