Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question 224 of 19 October 2010, if he will detail by year the number of persons who have telephoned Revenue’s cigarette smuggling hotline since its introduction; if he will detail the number of Revenue staff manning the hotline and the cost of operating the hotline; if he will provide a breakdown by region of the origin of calls to the hotline; the number of these telephone calls which have directly led to cigarette seizures; the value of these cigarette seizures; the number of convictions resulting from these seizures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3362/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the number of calls received through their tobacco hotline in 2010, 2011 and 2012, were 197, 97 and 137, respectively. Revenue’s experience is that very few calls are specific enough to lead directly to seizures, but in the relevant years 9, 4 and 5 seizures respectively were as a direct result of calls to the hotline. It has not been possible in the time available to establish the value of resulting seizures, or subsequent convictions in respect of them. The tobacco freefone operates on a twenty-four hour, seven-day basis and is monitored by an intelligence unit in the Revenue Commissioners’ Investigations & Prosecutions Division. As this work is undertaken as an integral part of a broad range of intelligence-related functions, it would not be possible to provide information on the specific staff resource allocated to, or the operating costs of, the tobacco hotline. As virtually all information received through the tobacco hotline is provided anonymously, it would not be possible to provide a breakdown by region of the calls received. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that they regularly remind trade groups in particular of the availability of the hotline, and will again, in the context of the Hidden Economy Monitoring Group, draw their attention to the kind of information that is useful.