Bogus booze warning as Revenue loses €50m

THE State is losing around €50 million every year through the illicit trade in alcohol, according to official estimates.

In the final run up to the party season, Revenue officers yesterday warned people against buying alcohol in suspect places, as their money was funding an illegal trade, run by both organised and opportunistic criminals.

“The current estimate is that the loss to the Exchequer resulting from smuggled alcohol is in the order of about 5%,” Revenue’s Investigation Bureau manager Ursula O’Neill said.

With alcohol excise duties amounting to around €928m, the illicit trade is estimated to be worth around €50m.

Ms O’Neill warned people buying alcohol - particularly spirits, in markets such as Jonesborough in Northern Ireland - that it was very likely they would be buying counterfeit goods.

“They are funding an illegal trade, not necessary subversives, but well-organised smugglers, there’s no question about it. It’s a purely black economy,” she said.

She made similar warnings about so-called van shops - unlicensed small shops selling cheap spirits from mobile homes in the Republic - and opportunistic truckers who buy hauls of booze abroad and sell them around industrial estates.

Unlike the smuggled tobacco trade, Ms O’Neill stressed subversives were not significantly involved in the illicit alcohol trade, apart from some involvement in the manufacture of counterfeit spirits.

Two weeks ago, following a lengthy surveillance operation, customs smashed an illicit distillery operation in Cooley, Co Louth.

Ms O’Neill said the plant was capable of producing 4,500 litres of vodka per week, with a potential annual loss to the Exchequer of €3m.

She said illicit distilleries were typically filthy, with appalling hygiene conditions.

A Revenue inspection of 500 pubs in 2001 found that 19 (or 4%) of them were selling counterfeit spirits.

Landlords can buy a case of counterfeit vodka for €150, compared to €240 for the genuine product.

There were seven convictions for counterfeit spirits in 2003 and five so far in 2004, with two cases still before the courts.