Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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115. To ask the Minister for Finance his estimate of the monthly excise and VRT losses due to the fall in sterling after the UK referendum decision to leave the European Union, by exciseable product, in tabular form; and the detail of the monthly loss of VAT accruing in view of the fact all of these items are also liable to VAT at the standard rate. [17405/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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116. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated likely loss of excise duties, VRT and VAT in 2017 and 2018 assuming average euro sterling rates of €1= £0.90 and €1 = £1, as estimated by his department. [17406/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 116 together.

The following table shows receipts by Excisable commodity from July 2015 to December 2016 (2016 figures are provisional).  It is not possible to estimate associated VAT for them all so only Excise has been provided for consistency.

The Deputy may find it useful to compare the excise receipts for the six month period following the UK referendum decision to leave the European Union (July 2016 to December 2016) with the corresponding six month period in the preceding year (July 2015 to December 2015). 

It should be noted that the timing of receipts of Excise duty in most cases reflect the timing of removal from warehouse or bond, rather than timing of consumption.

I would advise caution in the interpretation of the tobacco figures, as the monthly tobacco receipts in late 2015 and early 2016 were unusually high due to the stockpiling of tobacco products in advance of the introduction of the Tobacco Products Directive in May 2016.  In this regard I would specifically direct the Deputy's attention to the December 2015 tobacco receipts where over a quarter of the annual receipts for 2015 were received in that month.

Finally, the Deputy will be aware that exchange rate fluctuations are not the only driver of cross border price differentials and the respective taxes in both jurisdictions, as well as the pricing strategies of retailers, can impact on cross border trade. Accordingly, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the likely impact on revenue streams based on the exchange rate scenarios set out by the Deputy.