Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2025
149. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of food products seized by his Departmental officials at Dublin Port and Dublin Airport to date in 2025; and the penalties that apply to persons that fail to declare that they are bringing in commercial amounts of food products. [21505/25]
View answerThe amount of food products which were seized by my Department in Dublin Port and Dublin Airport to date in 2025 is:
• 79.21 tonnes of commercial consignment
• 6.02 tonnes of personal consignments including products seized at Temporary Storage Facilities (TSFs) and passenger baggage
Commercial consignments undergo documentary, identity, physical, sampling and, if necessary, laboratory inspections to confirm they are in compliance with EU legislation. Consignments found not to comply with these requirements are rejected and are either destroyed, re-exported to the country of origin or are subjected to special treatment under the control of my Department, to mitigate the risk associated with the non-compliance, as detailed in the rules laid down in EU Regulation 2017/625 and in SI 656/2020, SI 459/2020 and SI 9/2020.
When a person commits an offence under the above Regulations they are liable on summary conviction, to a class A fine or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or both; or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €500,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.
For a small number of summary offences, a fixed payment notice of €250 may be served in lieu of prosecution.
Alternative non-monetary/non-judicial penalties are also available to my Department, in the format of the destruction of the food product and the issuing of Import Control Notices which are enforceable by law.
