Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being here for all of the presentations. I had a competing meeting. A lot of my questions have already been asked but I have some particular ones for the three organisations representing the retailers - the National Federation of Retail Newsagents Ireland, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association and Retail Excellence Ireland. We had a series of hearings with the assistant commissioner, the Criminal Assets Bureau, Revenue and customs who told us they are assured that the tax stamp referred to by Deputy Mitchell O'Connor will be enough to ensure that we will be steadfast and damp down the illicit trade. What do the people represented by Retail Newsagents Ireland, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association and Retail Excellence Ireland do in terms of informing the gardaí or passing on information? In the run up to these hearings, I and other colleagues were lobbied by members of the aforementioned organisations in respect of their concerns about demand going down. They were able to identify months in a calendar year where their trade was down. That is invaluable information that should be passed on to the gardaí because if there is a month where the sales of cigarettes are down in a particular shop, that information should be shared with the gardaí because, obviously, the supply is coming from somewhere else. Could representatives of the Retail Newsagents Ireland, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association and Retail Excellence Ireland tell me what engagement they have with the gardaí in respect of the illicit trade, whether they are involved with the joint policing committees and the steps they will take to play their part in combating the illicit trade? We are looking at this from the perspective of a health committee. I understand these organisations' concerns but our number one concern is health and we know that cigarette smoking kills.