Ireland’s untaxed cigarette market now worth €790 million, retailers say

Eva Osborne

Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) has said that the Revenue Commissioner’s Illegal Tobacco Products Research Survey 2024 proves that the Government is losing the battle against Ireland’s booming market in illicit tobacco, stating that the untaxed cigarette market is now worth €790 million.

Wednesday's Revenue Commissioner survey found that 37 per cent of cigarette packs in circulation had no Irish excise duty paid as they were either illegal or purchased outside Ireland.

This marks an increase from 34 per cent in 2023. In the case of the roll-your-own tobacco market, the proportion of products in circulation with no Irish duty paid was a massive 49 per cent.

The regulated cigarette market in Ireland – for which excise duty was paid – had a total retail value €1.34 billion in 2024, meaning that untaxed cigarette market - making up the 37 per cent of the cigarettes in circulation according to this week’s survey – had a retail value of €790 million in 2024, RAS said.

€550 million of this was accounted for by illegal cigarettes. The Revenue Commissioners successfully seized €96 million in illegal cigarettes in 2024, meaning they seized less than one in five of all illegal cigarettes in circulation in Ireland last year.

RAS spokesperson, Benny Gilsenan, said: “With a retail value of €790 million, the scale of Ireland’s untaxed tobacco market is staggering – and it’s taking business away from legitimate Irish retailers.

“It is clear that the Government has lost control of Ireland’s tobacco black market; and their current rate of seizure is only the tip of the iceberg. Ireland needs a new strategy to tackle illegal cigarette smuggling.”

“One of the main reasons Ireland’s untaxed cigarette market has grown so large is because continuous increases in excise are driving people to purchase the cigarettes from the black market or abroad, a trend being allowed by a serious lack of enforcement of duty free and travel allowances.”

Retailers Against Smuggling siad they are calling on the Government to:

• Freeze excise on cigarettes, which is already the highest in Europe, and is clearly fuelling tobacco smuggling;
• Increase staffing and scanner resources to detect illegal tobacco being smuggled into Ireland, including through our airports through breaches of duty-free allowances;
• Increase the fines and prison sentences for court convictions for illegal smuggling.