Claim that Revenue ignores overseas shoppers rejected

The Revenue Commissioners rejected a claim that its Customs officers are turning a blind eye to shoppers returning from overseas trips without paying taxes and duty on their purchases.

Business organisation Isme yesterday claimed shoppers are bringing over €1 billion worth of products into the State each year from foreign destinations without any intervention by Customs. It estimated the loss to the exchequer at over €300 million.

The volume of goods brought in by shoppers from the US in particular is having a serious impact on local shops and businesses, which are losing out to unfair competition, Isme said.

The claim drew an angry response from Revenue, which said Customs officers at Dublin, Shannon and Knock airports had checked 350 flights originating in the US since October. Over 3,500 passengers were challenged and 2,000 bags searched in the period, and €25,220 was collected in VAT and duty.

A spokesman said there were no detections of anything of significant value, while in the same period, almost six million cigarettes with a value of over €2 million and drugs with an estimated street value of almost €1 million were seized.

"Naturally, we cannot check every passenger on every flight from the US, but we do check passengers on every single flight," the spokesman said.

November and December are the peak times for US shopping trips and with the dollar particularly weak this year, the number of shoppers travelling to New York is set to grow by 15 per cent.

"It is galling that the authorities are not clamping down on the levels of product brought into the country illegally," said Isme chief executive Mark Fielding.