‘Black market cigarettes are killing us’

A MASSIVE increase in the availability of illegal tobacco in parts of the Southside is killing local trade, it has been claimed.

Figures provided by an agency, MS Intelligence, that works on behalf of some of Ireland’s biggest tobacco companies suggest a large increase in the amount of tobacco consumed in Dun Laoghaire on which no excise duty had been paid.

According to MS Intelligence, there was an increase in the level of non-Irish duty paid (NIDP) from an average of 20.5 per cent in 2012 up to an average of 26 per cent during 2013 in the area.

There was also a large increase in the amount of tobacco consumed in Tallaght on which no excise duty had been paid.

There was an increase in the level of NIDP from an average of 28.1 per cent in 2012 up to an average of 32.5 per cent during 2013 in the area.

The national average for cigarettes and tobacco smoked in Ireland but not bought in an Irish shop in 2013 remained at just over 28 per cent, with 12 of the 22 towns and cities that were surveyed having a figure higher than the national average.

A spokesperson for the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers’ Advisory Committee (ITMAC), said the rise in figures in Dun Laoghaire and Tallaght was just one example of how tobacco, on which no Irish tax is paid, continues to thrive across the country.

“There is a growing availability of tobacco on the black market, on streets and through door to door sales all across Ireland, this is certain,

? the spokesperson said.

“The ease at which illegal tobacco is available to anyone, irrespective of age, who has the e4 to purchase it, is shocking.

“The increase in excise in the last budget will certainly have displaced more people from the legitimate market to the illegal market, but when criminals are selling this product at half the price with none of the regulations, it makes it easier for the consumer to purchase.

“No ID is required, no quality checks are needed, and with just the money the consumer can purchase an illegal, unregulated product.

?

The concerns regarding the rise in the availability of illegal cigarettes was borne out locally with one Monkstown shopkeeper saying the illegal trade was killing off local business.

“I can see here at first hand the effect it’s having on the sale of cigarettes,

? said Joan Egan, a Gala retailer on Oliver Plunkett Road.

“We depend on the sales of cigarettes for a lot of our business and I’d say it has dropped from about 30 per cent of what we earn to about 20 per cent.

“And it’s not just people giving up. I know more and more people are giving up cigarettes but not to the extent that we have seen our sales drop off.

“Sure, I’ve been here 12 years and I know most of my customers who are still smokers but they don’t buy them from me anymore.

?