Illegal cigarette-sellers in Dublin received fines ranging from £500 to £1,000 yesterday following a joint operation by gardai and Customs officers. Twenty-three people had been summonsed for offering cigarettes and tobacco for sale around the Moore Street, Henry Street, O'Connell Street and North Earl Street areas of Dublin city centre without tax stamps between February and March last.
Those who did not attend court were mostly fined £1,000, while those who did and pleaded guilty were fined £500. All were given at least five months to pay, with the penalty for default set at 25 days in jail.
Dublin District Court heard cigarettes under the brand names Rothmans, Super King, L&M, Silk Cut, Benson and Hedges and 50g pouches of Samson tobacco were involved. Bench warrants were issued by Judge Desmond Hogan for the arrest of two women facing obstruction charges, Ms Tracey Burke, of Lourdes House, and Ms Dolly Mason, of Summerhill, both Dublin. Mr Darren Mulhall, Rutland Cottages, who was summonsed for offering a packet of cigarettes for sale in O'Connell Street on February 10th had the summons dismissed as Judge Hogan ruled there was insufficient evidence. Mr Mulhall claimed he had just bought the packet from a trader.
A 16-year-old boy from the north inner city who did not attend court was fined £500 for illegally offering cigarettes for sale at North Earl Street on February 15th.
Joan O'Driscoll, St Mary's Mansions, received fines totalling £2,000 for selling cigarettes at North Earl Street on March 25th and again on April 3rd, after she failed to appear in court.
Marie Dillon, Inver Road, Cabra, who appeared in court, was fined a total of £1,000 for selling cigarettes on March 20th and February 13th and fined a further £250 for obstruction after she ran away from Customs officers in O'Connell Street on April 2nd. The following were fined £1,000 each (all addresses Dublin): Lisa Mooney, Fontenoy Street; Tina Byrne, Mountainview Court; Aileen Dunne, Summerhill; Catherine Teeling, Cumberland Street; James Brennan, Ballybough House; Lorraine Fagan, Dorset Street; Sean Byrne, Ballybough Road; Tracey Burke, Lourdes House; and Mary Doyle and Carol McKenna, with separate addresses at Croke Villas, Ballybough. The following who appeared in court were fined £500: Edward Waters, Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra; Yvonne Gunnery, Ventry Road, Cabra; Joseph Whelan, Railway Street; Janice O'Brien, Henrietta Street; and Margaret Kinlan, Upper Gloucester Place.
Joseph Whelan, St Jarlath's Street, who had seven previous convictions for casual trading, was fined £600 for having 300 cigarettes at Cathedral Street on February 4th. The case against Angela O'Brien, St Mary's Terrace, had to be adjourned to October 13th after conflicting evidence regarding her house number.