‘Rise in tobacco licence fee will benefit criminals’

Plans for a 200-fold rise in the cost of the licence fee to sell tobacco could see many outlets choose not to offer the products and drive more people to the black market, it has been claimed.

The Irish Cigarette Machine Operators Association yesterday called its members to an EGM to discuss the proposed legislation which, it claimed, will severely impact the vending industry, which employs 145 people and is worth over €175m to the economy.

“We’re very concerned about several proposed Department of Health measures that have the potential to decimate our industry in a very short space of time,” said ICMOA spokesman Cormac Dunn.