209. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will consider developing a whole-of-Government strategy to combat the illicit tobacco trade, in line with the approach adopted by the UK government (details supplied). [75045/26]

As the national tax and customs administration, Revenue is responsible for implementing tax and duty legislation and applying customs controls. Revenue robustly targets the illicit tobacco trade using a range of measures to identify and target the smuggling, supply or sale of illicit tobacco products in the State and, where possible, prosecuting those involved. Revenue monitors trends in the illicit tobacco trade on an ongoing basis and adjusts its actions and redeploys its resources on an agile, risk-focused basis.

There are over 900 Revenue staff assigned across the ports, airports and mail centres as well as national profiling and risk assessment units and inland teams, dedicated to the enforcement of and ensuring the protection and integrity of customs controls in relation to all excisable products including tobacco products. In addition, at present, Revenue utilises 24 detector dog teams deployed at airports, ports, mail centres nationwide and in freight forwarding premises. Revenue’s detector dogs assist in screening passengers or postal packages, searching warehouses, commercial and private premises, all manner of vehicles, freight consignments, and air or sea passenger baggage. They also provide regular support for nationally coordinated operations, many of which are carried out on a joint multi-agency basis. The Revenue detector dogs play a vital role in Revenue’s mission to combat illicit tobacco activities, and they are an integral part of Revenue’s broader enforcement strategy together with intelligence gathering and scan technology.

In 2025, Revenue procured in total five baggage X-ray systems to be deployed at Dublin Airport, Shannon Airport, Kerry Airport and Cork Airport. Revenue also procured another handheld X-ray system bringing its current capacity of handheld scanners to eight. In addition to this, as part of the redevelopment of Rosslare Europort, a new high energy X-ray gantry system was deployed in October 2025. This is the first high energy X-ray gantry system to be deployed in the State and is used to scan containerised freight and vehicles as required. Revenue’s operational requirements and deployment of assets are kept under continuous review having regard to ongoing risk assessment of smuggling and criminal activities and evolving operational needs.

Revenue engages with a number of national and international agencies in relation to tobacco.  Domestically, Revenue works closely with the Department of Finance in relation to legislation and ensuring it is sufficiently robust to enable Revenue to effectively administer the tax.  Revenue also works with the Department of Health on matters relating to the administration of the Traceability and Security Features regime for tobacco which was introduced as a measure to assist in combatting the illicit trade.  Revenue’s frontier management teams work closely with the HSE in implementing border controls.

As the smuggling of tobacco products has a transnational and cross-border dimension, in addition to working closely with An Garda Síochána, Revenue also works closely with its counterparts in other jurisdictions including colleagues in Northern Ireland through the Cross Border Joint Agency Task Force (JATF) and international bodies including OLAF (the EU’s anti-fraud agency), Europol and the World Customs Organisation.

Revenue has achieved significant success in combating the illicit tobacco trade. As of 30 September, this year, Revenue has made over 4,338 seizures of cigarettes and 1,077 seizures of other tobacco products with 106.3m cigarettes and 1,692 kg of other tobacco products seized. Revenue has also secured 35 convictions for offences related to tobacco smuggling or evasion of excise duty on tobacco products and 31 convictions for offences related to illegal selling of tobacco products with fines totalling €106,850 imposed by the courts for tobacco offences.

I am further advised that Revenue maintains a strong and collaborative working relationship with the HMRC and Border Force in our shared focus on combatting the illicit cigarette trade. On 3 September 2026, the Revenue Board met with the CEO and Senior Leadership of the HMRC to exchange views on shared experiences and challenges across a range of issues to include the illicit cigarette trade.  This high-level meeting was an opportunity to support the ongoing operational collaboration that exists between Revenue and the HMRC in combatting the threat posed by this activity.