Illegal Cigarettes Sales, Waterford Tobacco

Waterford has topped the figures for illegal cigarettes according to statistics released by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC). The research showed that 44.5% of the cigarettes in Waterford were non Irish duty paid (NIDP), the highest percentage in the country and well above the average of 29.8%. The figures, which were collected and compiled by MS Intelligence for the second quarter of 2012, show that the average of 29.8% is well above the average from the same period last year which was only 23.8%. The research, which was carried out across 22 towns and cities across the country, sees Newbridge in Kildare with the next highest NIDP rate after Waterford at 41.5% and Limerick city having the third highest at 37.5%. A spokesperson for Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC) said; “The figures are certainly worrying when you look at the incidence over the past two years. The NIDP reached one of its lowest rates in the same period last year and this was following the governments freeze on excise on cigarettes and the increased focus put on the area by the Revenue and Gardai. However following the government’s increase in the VAT and Excise in the last budget pushing the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes to over €9 there has been a surge in the amount of NIDP cigarettes on the streets.” "The government clearly do not see the illegal tobacco trade as serious an issue as they made it out to be in their Programme for Government where fine increases and jail sentences were promised to help fight the flow of illegal cigarettes into the country. All we have see is the fines and punishments staying the same and no decrease in the amount of illegal cigarettes available freely on every street corner in the country. "Ireland is a target for international crime gangs due to our paltry fines and the ease at which illegal cigarettes can be sold here. This is costing Ireland hundreds of millions every year, it’s bringing crime into the community and it’s selling a product that is circumventing the Department of Health guidelines. These figures just reinforce the fact that the problem is not going away," the spokesperson went on to say.