Bray People

32.4 million cigarettes seized in 2017

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Revenue continues to attach a very high priority to cigarette smuggling and seized approximat­ely 32.4 million cigarettes with a value of €19.5 million in 2017, Health Minister Simon Harris told the Dáil. Proposing the 50c increase in excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes as part of Budget 2019, he said there is now a range of supports through the health service. These include the HSE QUIT campaign, a multimedia QUIT campaign service, a specialist counsellin­g staff and nicotine-replacemen­t therapies covered by the GMS.

‘This House has taken a number of measures in recent years in the Finance Act 2012 and the Finance Act 2013 to try to continue to beef up and improve the powers of Revenue in that area,’ he said. The Budget measure was carried without a Dáil vote.

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