James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No, I have not.

I am delighted to support the Sale of Illicit Goods Bill and commend my party colleague, Deputy Breathnach, for his work and research in this area. With the House’s support, this Bill will tackle the trade of illegal goods, including the illegal sale of alcohol, tobacco and solid fuel. The Bill intends to make it an offence to buy these goods on the black market from unlicensed retailers among other measures. An on-the-spot fine will be incurred by some purchasers.

Smuggling is a major problem for our economy. I hope the Bill will strengthen our laws with the introduction of measures designed to reduce the demand for these illegal products. The Bill takes aim at the black economy which is estimated to cost the overall economy more than €2.3 billion a year with an estimated loss of €800 million to the Revenue Commissioners. Accordingly, funds for providing necessary services in healthcare, social protection and education cannot be provided. Alternatively, we are losing out on potential for tax cuts which could be provided to help stimulate the economy further.

The black economy is run by criminals. Most of those running these illegal tobacco, diesel and solid fuel sales are criminal organisations, as well as being involved in other criminal activity such as drugs and guns. Recently, 55,000 l of illegal alcohol was seized at Rosslare Europort. Wexford has one of the largest solid fuel wholesalers in the country, Stafford Fuels, which has invested millions of euro into providing smokeless coal and solid fuel which has less of an impact on our environment.

This has been undermined by illegal solid fuel smuggled into the country that does not meet the criteria. We have top-class local merchants in Enniscorthy, including Rowsome's fuels, O'Connor's fuels and Kehoe's fuels, and there are many others throughout the county. These honest decent retailers lose out when illegal solid fuel is brought into the country and sold. As I have said, it supports criminal activity. The Bill goes a long way to help target this. Something desperately needs to be done to target the sale and purchase of these illegal goods. The Bill is very timely with Brexit coming down the line and as it increasingly looks like there will be more smuggling if we are faced with a hard border, which I hope we will not be. I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Breathnach, for bringing it forward.

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