Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

It is my contention that there has been a massive fraud in regard to the use of VAT numbers from the South into the North. There is no control whatsoever. The scam is that one brings a number from the South to a shop in the North and one gets ones supplies. No record is kept. There is a need for a cross-Border agreement that the supplier will verify the legitimacy of the number in terms of the person purchasing the goods.

Customs and Excise and the Revenue Commissioners are turning a blind eye to this trade. I challenge them as to the reason they are not taking control of the excessive purchase of alcohol from the North into the South. Crates of drink – whiskey, vodka and gin – are coming into the South from the North and it is totally against the rules of cross-Border trade. No one is taking any action in this regard. I challenge the Revenue Commissioners and Customs and Excise to do their duty and to ensure a clampdown is introduced because we are haemorrhaging jobs. Some 90,000 people are employed in the drinks industry in Ireland, but the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland expects a 10% loss of jobs due to what is happening in the North. I want to see a clampdown on fraud and a level playing pitch, and if that requires a drastic drop in the rate of VAT, down to 15%, so be it. Something must be done because we are losing jobs. We want an all-Ireland economy, but we must have a fair and level playing pitch.