John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Smith's Bill warrants serious debate in the House.

There is no doubt that we need more serious penalties for illicit Border trade activities. Organised crime remains a major challenge to law enforcement agencies. Garda sources have said that paramilitary involvement in organised crime extends to money laundering, smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking and cattle rustling. There is no doubt also that the issue is severely impacting on the lives of citizens and the profitability of small businesses, which not many speakers have mentioned so far, on both sides of the Border.

I am not convinced that an extra layer of bureaucracy will be enough to tackle this problem. Policing sources on both sides have indicated there is already a high level of co-operation between both jurisdictions. The Minister of State has indicated that she is not going to accept this Bill. Irrespective of whatever Bill and amendments to it is brought forward, we certainly need legislation that will provide for the putting in place of serious penalties. It will not be good enough simply to rubber-stamp whatever legislation is brought in and then move on, while we are pursuing policies which are encouraging this illegal trade, particularly of cigarettes. It is one thing to pay lip service to co-operation between both jurisdictions in tackling criminality but it is quite another to put in place the resources necessary for this to happen. There is no doubt that cuts in Garda funding have had a detrimental effect on policing in Border areas. Organised crime gangs were effectively given carte blancheto exploit the cut in Garda numbers in those areas, and many Deputies from Border areas will say that is the case. How much in additional Garda resources are to be allocated to the new task force? I trust the personnel required will not be taken from existing Garda numbers which, as we all know, are stretched to breaking.

Some of the Government's economic policies are also a significant factor in the escalation of cross-Border smuggling. The purchase, for instance, of tax-paid cigarette sales in this country has dropped from €5.65 billion in 2006 to €3.2 billion in 2015. This Government adopted the previous policy of Fianna Fáil of increasing the cost of cigarettes in successive budgets, which has led to a cumulative budget shortfall of more than a €0.25 billion. That is a massive amount of money that could have been spent on hospitals and schools.

As the price of a pack of cigarettes rose, so too has tobacco smuggling and trade in non-Irish duty paid cigarettes. In 2007, the percentage of cigarettes coming from untaxed trade was 6.7%. In 2014, it was as high as 23%. Revenue in a major report in 2011 concluded that "Further tax price rises will reduce smoking somewhat but they will also greatly encourage more untaxed consumption". I am just pointing that out: I do not smoke cigarettes and I backed the Government in increasing the price of cigarettes, but those are just the facts and figures.

I acknowledge that the illegal smuggling of cigarettes across the Border has been identified as a particularly problematic area that needs addressing by the new task force. The Cross-Border Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2014 emphasises that tobacco fraud was a "serious concern" for authorities in both jurisdictions. People who are involved in this activity are known to be extremely rich, having secured money from this illicit trade on which they do not pay tax. They are breaking the law not only by selling cigarettes illegally but by not paying tax on their earnings. That issue must be addressed.

In 2014 illegal cigarettes valued at €25.5 million and another €4.2 million worth of tobacco were seized. I am only speaking about the illicit trade in tobacco as I do not have time to speak about other illegal activities such as cattle rustling, human trafficking and so on. The value of such seizures shows the loss to the Exchequer in revenue and the amount of money being made by criminals in this trade, of which there is no question. All the experts in this area say that this trade will increase in future years.

The reason it will increase, and this is the dilemma we face, is that if we increase the price of tobacco, increasingly more people will get an opportunity to seek out the illicit trade. Wholesalers in my constituency know when these illegal cigarettes are being sold. When I told a chap who works in a shop that I was speaking on this Bill this morning he told me that he knows when the illegal cigarettes are coming into Waterford: he said all tobacco sales in the shop go down substantially for the few weeks that they are being sold. That means there are guys out on the street selling illegal cigarettes. This illicit trade filters all the way down to cities, towns and villages throughout Ireland. It is a serious issue and it has an impact on the Irish economy. It allows some of the people involved in this illicit trade to make a great deal of money at the expense of people's health and at the expense of the loss in revenue to the Exchequer.

Only two years ago a report by the British revenue and customs service suggested that prosecutions against cross-Border organised crime gangs were being "inhibited and delayed" because of problems with the exchange of evidence between authorities on both sides of the Border. That is a serious issue if it is the case. Matters may have dramatically changed in the meantime, as the Minister of State indicated in her speech, which I must read later. However, if there are such problems, they need to be addressed. In particular, concerns were expressed about the speed at which evidence was being exchanged between the two jurisdictions. I was surprised to hear that. I was of the opinion that we were working very closely, which I believe we are. If there are problems related to the speed at which evidence is being exchanged between the two jurisdictions, that is something we should be able to deal with fairly quickly. Addressing that should not be complicated. The point was made that the Garda and the PSNI had an excellent working relationship when it came to co-operating informally on intelligence-gathering and investigations. Problems arose, however, when it came to validating evidence to be used in criminal trials. It was difficult to get evidence asserted and brought together for trials. I do not know why that is an issue but my contacts and the people I have spoken to have said that it has been a problem to get clearcut and decisive evidence for trials. I was surprised to hear that.

I am a little disappointed that there is nothing in the Bill to address the serious delays in the prosecution of offenders, which apparently takes a long time. I fully acknowledge that problems may occur on either side of the Border. There is a great deal of red tape that must be gone through before a request is answered and that is impeding the successful conclusion of criminal proceedings, despite the best efforts of the authorities. We need to enhance this process if this task force is to have any effectiveness.

We should talk to the authorities on both sides, particularly since we have a process of formal detailed co-operation. There seems to be some difficulty when it comes to prosecutions with respect to the gathering, presenting and bringing of evidence before the courts which is holding up the process. While this illicit trade is increasing, how must it appear to the criminals if they find that even if they are caught it will be very difficult to prosecute them and that it could take a year or two years to do so? That gives criminals who are caught an opportunity to flee the State or, alternatively, they will have plenty of money to hire the best barristers because of the money they are making from this illegal trade.

This Bill is worthwhile as is the debate on it. It is a pity that there was some argument between Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil about the purpose of it, about what was said and what was not said, what the Bill was about and the real reasons for bringing it forward. However, I must take it on face value that the Bill has been brought forward for good general purpose, namely, that we need to tackle this very serious problem of criminal activity and illegal Border trade.

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