Joe O'Reilly: Calls for More Staff to Fight Contraband Cigarettes
Joe O'Reilly warned that contraband cigarettes are a major threat to small retailers and urged increased revenue staffing to tackle smuggling. He asked the leader to bring the issue to government, citing seizures, revenue losses and a fall in revenue staff as evidence.
He said about €500 million in retail losses and €540 million a year is lost to the Exchequer from contraband cigarettes, and that 37% of all cigarettes entering the country are illegal. He highlighted a 2024 seizure of 128 million illegal cigarettes, which he said was double the amount seized in 2023.
He praised the work of revenue officers and the cross-border and agency task force but said the recent increase in seized illicit products was not due to increased resources. He argued for more staffing to police smuggling and suggested redeployment or additional hires would pay for themselves.
He noted a 25% increase in passenger arrivals at Irish airports alongside a 14.6% decrease in revenue staff, falling from 630 to 540. He presented those figures as a concern that undermines enforcement capacity against illicit goods.
He described retailers as the lifeblood of communities, providing local and student jobs and sponsoring local activity, and said contraband sales threaten that role. He called for measures to protect small retailers from goods sold outside the normal retail chain.
He suggested cigarette prices may have reached a high pinnacle and that further price increases might not be necessary from a health perspective, but emphasised that stopping contraband through stronger enforcement and staffing is essential.
Scale of illicit trade
He said about €500 million in retail losses and €540 million a year is lost to the Exchequer from contraband cigarettes, and that 37% of all cigarettes entering the country are illegal. He highlighted a 2024 seizure of 128 million illegal cigarettes, which he said was double the amount seized in 2023.
Seizures and enforcement activity
He praised the work of revenue officers and the cross-border and agency task force but said the recent increase in seized illicit products was not due to increased resources. He argued for more staffing to police smuggling and suggested redeployment or additional hires would pay for themselves.
Passenger arrivals and staffing trends
He noted a 25% increase in passenger arrivals at Irish airports alongside a 14.6% decrease in revenue staff, falling from 630 to 540. He presented those figures as a concern that undermines enforcement capacity against illicit goods.
Impact on retailers and communities
He described retailers as the lifeblood of communities, providing local and student jobs and sponsoring local activity, and said contraband sales threaten that role. He called for measures to protect small retailers from goods sold outside the normal retail chain.
Policy comment on pricing
He suggested cigarette prices may have reached a high pinnacle and that further price increases might not be necessary from a health perspective, but emphasised that stopping contraband through stronger enforcement and staffing is essential.
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Transcript
The retailers are the lifeblood of all our communities, sponsoring virtually everything, giving local jobs, creating local jobs and particularly for students and summer holidays etc. So in every way possible we should support our small retailers and one of the biggest threats to them is smuggling of illicit goods and selling them outside the normal retail chain and the biggest example of this is in the tobacco sector. About 500 million apart from the retailers and their loss, 540 million a year is lost to the exchequer from contraband cigarettes being sold. In 2024 there was a seizure of 128 million which thankfully and is to be welcomed, it was double the seizure in 2023 of illegal cigarettes. The revenue officers and the cross-border and agency task force work on this constantly but there's a there's a need for more staffing here. There's a shortage and they would pay for themselves if you like or there could be possible redeployment. The increase in the number of illicit products seized is not due to increased resources as there was minimal allocation of resources here. And now there's a 25% arrival increase in passenger arrivals into Irish airports and a 14.6% decrease in revenue staff from 630 to 540. That's not to be welcomed obviously. So we need, in other words what I'm saying leader and I want you to bring this to government please, is that we need to have more people policing this and finding these, finding it. So it's 37% of all cigarettes that come into the country are illegal cigarettes. So that's how bad it is. But basically what I'm saying we need to up the staffing here. We possibly at a level where we don't need to increase the price of cigarettes anymore from a health perspective. It's reached a very high pinnacle but whatever about that we certainly need staffing and we need to stop the contraband cigarettes from every perspective and we should be supporting our retailers. The whole community depends on them. Thank you.