RAS Blog

Tag: Brexit

  • Retailers warn cost-of-living crisis is not the right time for further excise increases

    Retailers warn cost-of-living crisis is not the right time for further excise increases

    Widening the gap between price of duty paid tobacco vs what’s available on the black market coupled with cost-of-living is creating unfair competition and financial loss for legitimate retailers

    Any additional excise increases on tobacco products in Budget 2023 will drive hard-pressed consumers to the black market as they grapple with the soaring cost-of-living. That’s according to Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS), who have outlined how Ireland remains a key target for crime gangs taking advantage of a rapidly growing illicit tobacco market.

    Commenting on the organisation’s Budget submission to Minister Paschal Donohoe TD, RAS national spokesperson, Benny Gilsenan explained how further excise increases would directly impact both the retail sector and Exchequer.

    He said: “RAS members are witnessing first-hand how the skyrocketing cost-of-living is forcing Irish consumers to make radical decisions on how and where they spend hard-earned income. For many, the black market has for the first time become the only realistic option for purchasing high excise items such as alcohol, solid fuel, and tobacco products.

    “Year-on-year excise increases on tobacco products in particular have resulted in them becoming an exceptionally lucrative commodity for organised crime gangs. A record year for cigarette and tobacco seizures by Revenue in 2021 shows the extent to which sophisticated criminals are taking advantage of household cost-of-living pressures and rapidly growing demand for the black market in Ireland. A trend which RAS members have seen continue to escalate throughout 2022 as the crisis deepens.”

    Mr Gilsenan added: “In the context of spiralling costs and a challenging operational environment ahead, Budget 2023 must avoid any measures which will negatively impact key revenue streams for retailers including an excise hike on tobacco products.”

    Enforcement of tobacco allowances for travellers coming into Ireland

    RAS has also called on Government to ensure ports and airports are adequately resourced to fully enforce the permitted personal allowances that can be brought into Ireland on non-Irish duty paid products. In 2021, 21% of all cigarette packs and 18% of all roll-your-own tobacco packs held by smokers in Ireland were found to be classified as illegal or non-Irish duty paid according to Revenue’s Tobacco Products Research Survey.

    Mr Gilsenan continued: “A full return to international travel this year and the reintroduction of duty-free shopping between the UK and the EU following the end of the Brexit transition period are also having a significant impact on Irish retail tobacco sales. With Ireland ranked as the most expensive country in Europe to purchase duty paid tobacco, consumers are understandably taking advantage of the option to purchase cheaper product outside the State while travelling and bringing it back.

    “To protect key revenue streams for both retailers and the Exchequer, it is critical that ports and airports are adequately resourced to ensure the permittable allowances set out by Customs for bringing non-Irish duty paid products into the country are fully enforced. Retailers are concerned that these allowances are being exceeded with individuals bringing in much larger quantities than what is permitted for personal consumption or to pass on to friends and family.”

    Download the RAS Pre-Budget Submission 2023 here.

  • Retailers Against Smuggling attend Leinster House briefing to raise awareness of the growing concern surrounding smuggling in Ireland

    Wednesday 4 July, Dublin

    On Wednesday, 4 July, Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) attended a Leinster House briefing hosted by Fianna Fáil Deputy Declan Breathnach to raise awareness of the growing concern surrounding smuggling in Ireland.

    Following the success of our ‘Brexit, the Border and the Black Market’ roundtable in Belfast on 15 June, Deputy Breathnach invited RAS into Leinster House to speak about how illicit trade is negatively impacting Irish Retailers and our local communities.

    RAS believe that until measures are taken to effectively tackle smuggling to protect small businesses, there should be no further increase in excise. We have witnessed a growth in Non-Irish duty paid which is a major concern to retailers, from 17% in 2013 to 20% in 2017 and due to the year-on-year increases in excise, this is likely to grow even further. Further hikes will lead to greater price differentials between legitimate, legal, duty-paid products and illicit, non-duty-paid products. We are calling for a moratorium on further excise increases until they can be proven not to lead to a surge in smuggling.

    RAS spokesperson, Benny Gilsenan, said: “We want to give a voice to the shopkeepers around the country that are having their business undermined by smuggled tobacco, alcohol and solid fuel. Retailers face an uncertain future with Brexit looming, so the Government needs to totally reconsider its policy of year-on-year excise increases, which clearly helping fuel the illicit trade and to provide more resources to Revenue to stop the flow of illicit goods into Ireland and our local communities. We’re grateful for the opportunity today to speak at Deputy Breathnach’s briefing today and help raise awareness of this growing issue for small retailers.”

  • Retailers call for Government consultation on making it an offense to purchase illicit products

    20 February 2017

    Retailers across the country are today calling on the Government to urgently consult with them on measures to tackle sales of illegal cigarettes and tobacco on Ireland’s streets. The UK revenue and customs, HMRC, last week launched such a consultation, with the focus in particular on repeat offenders. RAS note that we do not know the numbers of those who have been caught several times or more selling illicit products in Ireland. Following an informal targeted consultation in 2015, this new consultation is seeking views on four potential additional sanctions:

    • increasing financial penalties for repeat offenders
    • a new civil penalty for dealing in illicit tobacco
    • reducing the threshold for the publication of details of people or companies that deliberately evade duty
    • a statutory duty of care on landlords and landowners of properties or land

    Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) Leinster spokesperson Benny Gilsenan welcomed the consultation: “The proposals in this consultation are prime examples of what can be done with minimal effort to help tackle illegal tobacco sales and protect the legitimate, tax-paying retailers of Ireland. While some of the proposals mentioned are already in place in Ireland, Retailers are being undermined day in day out by sellers of illegal tobacco and we have real solutions to help tackle this problem. Our views must not be pushed to the sidelines, so today we are calling on the Government to look at what their European counterparts are doing and launch a similar consultation on making it an offense to purchase illicit products here in Ireland”.

    The consultation also seeks views on the introduction of a new civil penalty for fiscal mark wrongdoings. Benny concluded: “RAS have been calling on the Government for the past number of years to make it illegal to purchase alcohol, solid fuel or tobacco products where the duty has not been paid. HMRC are already looking at where they can place this legislation, it is time the Irish Government listen to the legitimate retailers – with Brexit around the corner we need to protect tax-paying businesses from the impact of the growing black market”.