Galway tops for untaxed cigarette packs

Counterfeits also discovered

GALWAY recorded Ireland’s highest rate of non-Irish duty paid (NIDP) cigarettes, a new survey has revealed.

NIDPs are tobacco products, legal and illegal, that do not have Irish tax paid on them. The latest Empty Pack Survey found that three quarters of cigarette packs surveyed in Galway were NIDP.

Of this total, one tenth were illegal counterfeit cigarettes. They are manufactured without authorisation from the owners, with the intent to deceive consumers and to avoid paying tax. Nationwide, counterfeit cigarettes made up 14 per cent of the cigarette packs surveyed.

Galway had the highest rate of cigarette packs with no Irish tax paid on them, followed by Swords in Dublin (66 per cent). Wexford was worst affected by illegal counterfeit products with a quarter of packs surveyed deemed illegal, followed by Ennis (20 per cent) and Waterford (19 per cent).

“These findings show a significant issue with non-Irish duty paid cigarettes in Galway,” stated Daan van Hamersveld, Director of Communications at Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Ireland, the country’s leading tobacco manufacturer.

“The Government’s own figures show that illegal tobacco products cost the state over €750 million in lost taxes in 2025 alone, while at the same time undermining legitimate retailers and providing income for organised crime groups.

“When legal non-Irish duty paid products are included, retailers across the country are losing out on over €1 billion in lost turnover annually.

“We would urge the Government to pair a more moderate approach to excise increases with stronger enforcement action against the criminal networks behind cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting to avoid further exacerbating this already serious situation.”

Around 5,000 empty packs of cigarettes were collected randomly from streets and public bins across Ireland’s 22 largest cities and towns between February 16 and April 3 as part of the survey.

Researchers then examined the packs to identify where they came from, whether Irish taxes had been paid on them, and to determine if they were illegal counterfeit products.