Ms Tara Buckley:

As I said in my presentation, RGDATA receives no funding from and does not do the dirty work of tobacco companies. Our members who are licensed to sell tobacco sell it under the control and regulations of the State and are happy to follow whatever controls and regulations the State sees fit to apply to them. The only thing we do is produce one publication per year where we take advertisements from any suppliers, including tobacco companies. We would also take advertisements from the Office of Tobacco Control or any other body that would like to give us the opposing view. I am not sure there are any other questions directed at me.

We were asked about deficiencies regarding the illicit trade. RGDATA is involved with many groups that liaise with the gardaí and Revenue to tackle the illicit trade and provide information. Quite often, the information, unfortunately, may be a bit anecdotal. It can be reports of taxi drivers in the town providing cigarettes or white vans delivering cigarettes to housing estates but my member would not have the actual registration number of the car, which would be more useful for the gardaí. However, we try to assist the gardaí and Revenue. We canvass our members before going to meetings about any activity of which they are aware so we can bring it to the meeting. Certainly, we are very happy to supply any of that information.