“In the region of 75% of all card fraud occurs online, so serious caution is required when purchasing goods or services,” she said.

The Department of Finance said it has not yet pursued findings of a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General which found that FÁS paid more than double the recommended price for a site for a new headquarters in Co Offaly.

Once a peninsula of green fields and country estates, Mahon in Cork has in recent decades developed into a sprawling suburb of mixed residential housing, a rapid transformation which along with other social factors resulted in it becoming an area of high unemployment.

Gardaí and Customs officials acting on tip-offs from corner shops swooped on homes across Dublin today in a major offensive against rogue cigarette traders.