Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Wednesday 5th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

We will continue to bear down on the terrorist threat. We are determined to defeat terrorism, whether domestic or international. We will be doing all we can to support the PSNI and its partner agencies in defeating these evil terrorists.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

9. What assessment she has made of the co-operation between the UK and Irish Governments on tackling organised crime.

[The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mike Penning)]

Organised crime in Northern Ireland is naturally devolved, but we work very closely with the Irish Government, and so do the devolved Assembly and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

[Jim Sheridan]

Organised criminals account for 10% of the cigarettes imported into the UK from the island of Ireland. What discussions has the Minister had with Departments here in the UK and with his counterparts in the island of Ireland, and what impact, if any, would plain packaging have on the illicit trade?

[Mike Penning]

Like fuel smuggling, cigarette smuggling is a serious problem, not least because of where the profits go—we know that some go into terrorist activities. I work closely and meet regularly with HMRC and we will meet again soon, but at the end of the day we must make sure that when we get the smugglers, they are prosecuted correctly and get the right sort of sentence.