Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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38. To ask the Minister for Finance the current legal penalties for the sale of contraband cigarettes; and if it is his intention to significantly increase those penalties in line with the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions, in view of the fact that a single large container load of contraband may cost the State up to €3 million in excise revenue foregone. [53512/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the fines that apply for an offence of evasion, or attempted evasion of excise duty on excisable products, including cigarettes, were increased substantially in the Finance Acts 2008 and 2010. The penalty in the case of a summary conviction for the smuggling or illegal sale of unstamped tobacco products is now a fine of €5,000, or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or both a fine and a term of imprisonment. In the case of a conviction on indictment, the fine was increased ten-fold in 2010 and the Court may now impose a fine not exceeding €126,970, or a term of imprisonment of up to five years, or both a fine and imprisonment. Where the value of the excisable goods concerned in an indictable smuggling offence exceed €250,000, including the tax payable, the Court may impose a fine three times the value of the goods. In the case of a conviction on indictment for an offence concerning a container load of cigarettes, the Courts would therefore have the option of imposing a fine up to three times the tax paid value of the cigarettes. The current penalties for excise offences are very significant, but I will continue to keep them under review.