John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to put my name to this Bill, as brought forward and initiated by my colleague Deputy Breathnach, and I commend him on so doing. It is bizarre to think that so many years after the Good Friday Agreement, we are still talking about the illicit sale of alcohol, tobacco and fuel. While there are many crossing points on the Border, which have been much talked about this past year in the context of Brexit, this is still a small island. It really ought not to be beyond the capability of the State to somehow manage, or at least intervene, to reduce the scale of this smuggling. Deputy Breathnach made reference to the amount of tax and excise lost to the State over a period of time, and even in any one year. There is systematic organisation of these operations and when we consider the number of people who are involved in these mini-industries - which is far too generous a term - we see they are communities of industries that have been established to undermine the existing legitimate industries, jobs, trades and retail endeavours of those who act in good faith.

Deputy Breathnach mentioned some statistics and while I do not want to blind people with figures, I note the seizures of 34 million cigarettes valued at almost €20 million; some 2,000 kg of tobacco valued at almost €1 million; 95,000 l of illicit alcohol with a value of almost €1 million; and a staggering 125,000 l of illicit fuel. These are just the known figures as opposed to the unknown quantities.

I do not believe that anybody could disagree with the purpose of the Bill and I do not understand why the Government has set its face against it. The purpose of the Bill is to make it an offence for a person to buy illicit goods, including alcohol, tobacco or solid fuel. As Deputy Breathnach has said, one of the key aspects of the Bill is to develop and raise an awareness of the damage people do by purchasing these goods. They undermine existing retailers and by purchasing these illicit goods, they encourage the illegal trade in all of the three products that have been outlined.

I am happy to support the Bill.

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