From: Independent.ie
Ian Paisley Jnr
As the MP for North Antrim, I am still reeling from the news that 1,000 jobs in my constituency are set to be lost with the closure of the JTI/Gallaher tobacco factory. The devastation that this will cause to the area cannot be overstated.
There are some who would see this as the inevitable fallout from the decline in smoking rates, but in truth much of the blame lies with the over-regulation of the tobacco industry, and those who championed it.
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Foremost among these is the potential to worsen the already serious problem of cross-Border tobacco smuggling by making counterfeiting a far easier process. The growth of this criminal activity undermines the rule of law in Northern Ireland and has a destabilising effect within the body politic threatening to unravel the gains of the Good Friday Agreement.
Anyone can see that copying a generic pack would be more straightforward than doing the same with a branded pack. That’s something not lost on the criminal gangs that run this trade, as evidenced by the recent uncovering of an illegal tobacco factory in South Armagh. Following on from this seizure, HM Revenue & Customs specifically mentioned plain packaging as a concern.
I believe we will also see a rise in illegal branded packs masquerading as legitimate duty free cigarettes, as criminals exploit the opportunities presented by plain packaging. One such illegal brand was involved in an enormous seizure at Drogheda Port in June 2014 when gardaí and Customs officers intercepted 32 million cigarettes. Then in January, officers seized nearly eight million branded cigarettes.
This is not idle speculation. A recent story in the Irish media quoted unnamed Garda and Customs sources as saying that unbranded packs would provide a massive boost to the former Provisional IRA members who control the cigarette smuggling trade from South Armagh.
