Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome that.

Finally, as regards the point the Minister makes about welcoming and being open to consideration of any additional powers, if 17% of cigarettes that are consumed are illicit, that means that one in six cigarettes smoked in this State is illegal and smuggled into the State through organised crime groups. I imagine that those organised crime groups are not just involved in the smuggling of cigarettes; I presume they are involved in other criminal activities as regards gangland crime and other issues. I am really concerned. If there is that level of consumption of illegal product, as I said, there is nearly a normalisation of this. When there is an increase in price, there is a greater incentive for both the consumer and the illegal operator to take this risk. I know the Revenue is doing what it is doing, but the figures are going in the wrong direction, even though there is detection, seizures and all the rest. There is still more illicit product coming in now than ever before, so, especially when there is a policy change for the right reasons, there has to be a policy on enhanced detection. Whether it is enforcement or not, I am not sure, but I would be very interested to hear the views of the Revenue as to how we deal with that. It is a bad thing for society if there is an acceptance that people will do something that is illegal or if that is normalised.