Ms Deirdre Drennan:

To follow from what Mr. Sweeney stated, at present there is no minimum fine for anybody convicted of selling smuggled or counterfeit tobacco. We know of people who have been fined as little as 50 cent. We would like to see an amendment to the Casual Trading Act 1995 to make the penalties in respect of the casual trading of tobacco products as strict as those which apply under section 109 of the Finance Act 2001. Under the Casual Trading Act the fine for a first offence is a paltry €63 and for a second offence the fine is only €317. We would like to see a minimum fine of €10,000. This would act as a more serious deterrent to selling this type of product and would also narrow the price point between legitimate tobacco and contraband and counterfeit tobacco as criminals would have to recover their costs. We would like the committee to consider introducing this minimum fine under section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 and amending the Finance Act and the Casual Trading Act accordingly.