Supplementary written evidence from Federation
of the Retail Licensed Trade NI
I promised to ask our membership for details
of the incidence of illegal alcohol and unreported crime, to try
to assist the Committee in its Inquiry into Organised Crime in
Northern Ireland.
Despite our best efforts, we had only a small
response to our questionnaire (40 respondents). The vast majority
were in effect "nil" returns which, unfortunately, is
often the case with a self-reported and self-selected survey.
However, for the sake of completeness and interest,
the findings were as follows:
— The 40 responses were evenly divided
from throughout Northern Ireland.
— 11 had been offered alcohol for sale
from other than a reputable source; on average, once a year. The
most common time was around Christmas.
— None of the 11 cases reported it
to the PSN1.
— To the best of their knowledge, only
3 of the 40 had ever been offered counterfeit alcohol for sale—and
less than once a year in all cases.
— None of the 3 cases reported it to
the PSNI.
We asked whether, to the best of their knowledge,
whether illegal alcohol distribution (via shebeens, taxis, markets
etc) was common in their area.
Responses were:
Extremely common
| 4 respondents |
| Very common | 6 |
| Common | 8 |
| Quite uncommon | 5 |
| Extremely uncommon | 8 |
| |
Thus, from the limited sample, it was more common than not.
Interestingly, those that stated it was extremely or very
common were all based in Belfast, Down or Armagh.
Only two stated that they had ever been victims of extortion—one
was asked for £2,000 to cover 12 months, and the other for
£100/week. Both were from Belfast.
One case was reported to the PSNI—"No action was
taken". In the other case, the comment was "What would
be the use—absolutely no protection available from the police."
When asked if other crime would be reported to the PSNI,
35 respondents stated that they would. Those that replied "no"
gave reasons as "slow response times, no point" and
"political reasons".
I am sorry that we did not get a better response. The sample
is so small as to be worthless; however, I did want to let you
have the results in any case.
Nicola Carruthers
Chief Executive
14 April 2006
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