Vol. 471 No. 1
42 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the estimated annual loss to the Exchequer due to illegally imported tobacco and cigarettes; and if the Garda or customs officials are responsible for policing city streets where on one recent occasion 38 sellers were observed on one street. [16777/96]
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that due to its clandestine nature it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the level of smuggling of tobacco products or its effect on Exchequer revenue.
The Commissioners have statutory responsibility for preventing the illegal importation of tobacco products and the sale of unstamped products within the State. In view of the specific street-trading dimension, Customs are working in close co-operation with the Garda in a series of on-street joint operations. It is intended to intensify these efforts.
Apart from efforts at street vendor level, investigations are continuing in an effort to trace the source of tobacco products feeding this illicit trade and urgent inquiries are being pursued in this area with the investigation services of our EU partners.
Overall, about 33 million cigarettes and 7,066 kilos of roll-your-own tobacco have been seized since January 1993 to date, at import points and from distributors and street traders. There has been an increased number of prosecutions for smuggling of tobacco products and prosecutions have been taken against certain street sellers.
In the circumstances I am satisfied that the Commissioners are taking steps to deal with this problem which include the extension of tax stamps to "roll-your-own" tobacco with effect from 1 October 1996. Additional measures will, of course, be taken as necessary.
