CUSTOMS OFFICERS have difficulties cracking down on the number of cigarettes an individual can bring into the country for private use from other EU member states. If tobacco or alcohol goods bought abroad are not for personal use, excise duty can be charged on them. At the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, Revenue chairman Josephine Feehily said the indicative quantity for cigarettes was 800.

This means that if a person is carrying larger quantities, he or she may be asked to prove they are intended for personal use.

Ms Feehily said that in the EU the burden of establishing whether cigarettes carried were not for personal use was very high.

The Revenue chairman said the most prevalent method of bringing cigarettes into the State was on container trucks.

She said there was also a method known as ant smuggling, where a person carries relatively small quantities in a suitcase. “If [there is] enough of small volumes, you still have a problem,” Ms Feehily said.

In 2008 there were 80 convictions for cigarette smuggling, netting €34,500 in fines. This rose to 146 convictions last year and €60,000 in fines.