All-Ireland smuggling solution needed, retail group told

Proposed legislation targetting smugglers will prove ineffective unless an all-island approach to tackling smuggling and cross-jurisdictional price differences is first addressed. Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) have been informed that legislation will not resolve issues unless the issue is tackled on an all-island basis.

Fianna Fáil’s Private Members Bill the Sale of Illicit Goods Bill, introduced in 2017 by Louth/Meath East Deputy Declan Breathnach, aimed to create a deterrent to purchasing smuggled goods like cigarettes, alcohol and solid fuel, which are seen to undercut that sold by Irish retailers.

However, Conor Brennan of RAS, who was joined by Jim Copeland of the Hardware Association Ireland (HAI) in addressing the Cavan Joint Policing Committee (JPC) last Friday, June 5, accepted their focus was not the private purchaser, but rather the wholesale supplier avoiding tax.

RAS and HAI estimate the illicit solid fuel trade costs the Irish Exchequer over €9.7 million in lost revenue, at a loss of €36.5 million to retail merchants, which they claim is putting many traders out of business.

Different tax regimes either side of the Border make a lorry load of coal €2,217 more expensive in the Republic than in the North. A carbon tax hike in Budget 2020 is set to widen that gap even further.

RAS and HAI believe that will encourage smuggling of solid fuel over the Border at unprecedented levels.

The Bill, if passed, would allow for on the spot fines to be dealt out to offenders.

“It's not a bill to catch people out,” assured Mr Brennan, explaining that the aim is to educate consumers and squeeze out the black-market middle men who profit by stocking up on cheap coal in the north and selling to punters down south.

It is, as clarified by the presentation, not illegal for a person to purchase fuel in a different jurisdiction for personal use. Where they may fall foul of the law, is when they sell on the goods.

One suggestion was a track and trace system, similar to that used in clamping down on the sale of illegal cigarettes or alcohol.

Together, Mr Brennan of RAS and HAI counterpart Jim Copeland presented the outlook to the meeting of JPC members, which included senior gardaí from the county, in a socially distanced online forum.

The same presentation had been given to members of Monaghan County Council towards the end of last year.

Mr Copeland went so far as to state that the groups were aware of coal being sold “door to door” in towns and village across the region, without carbon tax or VAT being applied.

But chair of the JPC, John Paul Feeley said he had never seen or heard of the practice in his area. He was backed up by Independent Cllr Brendan Fay.

“I don't see anyone coming down my area selling out of the back of a truck,” dismissed the Belturbet-based elected representative, who also raised the issue of fuel poverty.

The question of enforcing the legisation, if passed, was raised by Fine Gael's Peter McVitty who suggested that gardaí had other responsibilities and that Customs might be better suited to tackling solid fuel smuggling.

Cllr Feeley said that many people are seemingly breaking law but doing so unaware.

He questioned too if RAS and others were involved in examining the pathways through which coal was sold here in the Republic, and stated the only way to solve the situation was by applying an all-island legislative solution to the matter.

Mr Brennan accepted that the difference in jurisdictional tax systems, including the failure to apply Carbon Tax on an all Ireland basis had “created this situation".