We send over children’s allowance, they send back cheap fags…. Walk into any eastern European ‘food store’ and you can pick up 200 cigs €25/30. I’m surprised the Garda don’t do more checks to be honest.

Seems to be always eastern european smokes. If so its not going to make a diff how they get em in, suitcase, friends, family. They’re not going to pay Irish prices.

We get ripped off left right and centre. Everyone here is jealous they don’t have the balls to do the same. Cause ye can’t say those taxes lost will make any diff, we never had em. Never will.

Maybe we should start finger banging ever person who goes thru the airport to ensure they arent carrying like the Americans do? Or like in Aus where they’ve astronomical border security to prevent foreign animals and plants getting in?

There goes ALL the tax plus some.

Ye ever hear of the war on drugs? Have you seen the money poured into that unsuccessfully?

All this proves is that tax is economically too high on cigarettes. You are permitted to bring a few thousand tax paid cigarettes from another EU state for personal use, and most EU states charge just half what we do. Point of diminishing returns has been reached and people are entitled to buy them abroad for themselves tax paid.

There are plenty of bad habits around, and some as harmful as cigarettes, but none taxed in the same draconian way. If people are foolish enough to smoke, and can’t afford it due to the taxes, then what choice have they but to buy bootleg fags? It is an addiction, just like alcohol addiction and gambling addiction. If they reduce the tax cost of cigarettes that those foolish enough to want them can afford them, they would kill the black market and probably make more revenue in the long run with increased sales of legitimate cigarettes.

Ban them altogether and fine anyone found with them the max