Irish travellers soberly reflecting on the first week of duty-paid sales could consider a ferry trip to Finland, where duty free lives on thanks to a special tax regime in a group of Swedish-speaking islands.

The 6,500 islands which make up the semiautonomous Aland province, located between Finland and Sweden, are part of the EU but not subject to VAT and excise directives. When Aland joined, along with the rest of Finland following a referendum in 1994, the area successfully argued that VAT and excise-free sales were vital to transport, which is key to the local economy.

Since duty-free sales were abolished in the EU last week, ferries plying the busy routes between Finland and Stockholm in Sweden have started calling in to the islands' ports, meaning they can continue selling duty-free on board. Port expansions are already planned, and the economic outlook for Aland's 25,500 inhabitants has brightened.

But if desperation for access to duty-free booze drives you to consider moving there, think again. Aland, once part of Sweden, also has unique residence rights within the EU, and only Finnish citizens who have lived there for five years and who speak Swedish need apply. Perhaps it's time the island of Anglesey, on which Holyhead is located, renegotiated its EU status.