asked the Minister for Finance if he can state what is the annual value of patent medicines sold within Saorstát Eireann; whether any duty is payable thereon, and, if so, what is the amount of revenue derived from such duty; or if no duty is payable, whether an estimate has been made of the revenue that would be obtained if a duty equal to that now payable on patent medicines in Great Britain were imposed.
CEISTEANNA.—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - REVENUE FROM PATENT MEDICINES.
TOMAS MacEOIN
The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The Patent Medicines Duty has never been levied in Ireland. The Act (the Medicines Stamp Act, 1802) under which the duty was last imposed was passed before the Irish and British Exchequers and taxing systems were unified following the Act of Union. The Medicines Duty was never extended to Ireland, and at the present moment the position is that patent medicines are dutiable in Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland or here. The answer to the second part of the question is that patent medicines are not liable to duty in the Saorstát. The answer to the third part of the question is that there is no information available at present as to the annual value or quantity of patent medicines sold in the Saorstát, and that in the absence of such information it is not possible to frame an estimate of the revenue that would be obtained from a duty on patent medicines.