Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 15 November 2018
Public Accounts Committee
2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9: Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 17: Revenue's Progress in Tackling Tobacco Smuggling
Chapter 18: Management of High Wealth Individuals' Tax Liabilities
Chapter 19: Corporation Tax Losses
9:00 am
Mr. Niall Cody:
The reality is that imposing penalties is a matter for the courts. The penalties have been significantly increased by the Oireachtas over the last several years. Eventually we end up with a prosecution of somebody for selling cigarettes. There will generally be difficult circumstances, and the court will look at that differently. In a way it is part of the process.
I sympathise with the motivation behind Deputy Breathnach's Private Members' Bill but I am not 100% certain that if we were prosecuting someone for buying 20 cigarettes-----
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