Mr. Colin Fearon:

The first question was about the methodology and I will answer that first. We used much of the data that is already available, such as Revenue data and Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Advisory Council, ITMAC, data. Then we discussed the matter with retailers. There is a KPMG star report, which is a detailed EU-wide report which compares tobacco instances, the amount of counterfeit and contraband, etc., against Ireland. The committee will note that Ireland is still the fourth highest, at 19% of total cigarette consumption, for counterfeit and contraband. That is still very high.

I will move on to the Vice Chairman's main point, which is the €200 million difference to which the Minister for Finance referred. I acknowledge that is correct. I think it is approximately €182 million. In our report, we add it as a caveat. When we use that number, we have it noted below. That €182 million relates to non-domestic legal tobacco consumption. Given the fact that there is a free market, that is technically legal consumption and it should not be classified as illicit. The reason it has been included in our report is it has been widely accepted - the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, NFRN, will support this - that much of that is not necessarily being used for personal consumption. If I go to Spain and I buy a pack of cigarettes in Spain for €5 and then I come home and smoke it, that is perfectly legal. We put it in our higher-end estimate because, based on the current personal consumers of persons, it is not possible that the number is really being used for personal consumption.

We have included it but they are correct in saying it is not technically illegal. However, that is not to say people are not selling it. We do not know, but it is probably not possible that the sheer scale of the non-domestic legal consumption is all legal. It is a fair point. We wanted to highlight that in our report, and we included a point at the bottom of it to state that. I accept that the Minister for Finance is-----