IRISH smokers are among the most important customers of criminal gangs, which make billions of pounds every year selling illegal cigarettes.
A new report for the European Parliament blames ineffective customs and tax collection systems for the growth in "transit fraud". Cigarettes account for about half the contraband smuggled, and the report indicates that Irish smokers are among the most enthusiastic buyers.
Sales in the Republic account for only 4 per cent of the illegal cigarette trade in the EU, but a survey of eight member-states placed Ireland second, after Austria, in terms of the number of illegal cigarettes bought relative to population size.
The report, written by British MEP, Mr Edward Kellett-Bowman, and presented to the parliament this week, says the criminals use cigarette smuggling profits to fund other crime, including trading in arms and trafficking in people.
The gangs are making so much money, according to the report, that they can afford to "go legitimate" by setting up genuine companies to compete in the established business world.
The report focuses on the illegal trade in cigarettes which, like alcohol, carries high duty rates and offers the highest potential profits to the crime gangs.
Typically about three-quarters of the retail price of a packet of cigarettes in an EU state is accounted for by national taxes (about £2.10 of the £2.90 charged in the Republic). A lorryload of cigarettes may have a retail value of up to £1 million, but criminals can obtain them before any taxes are paid at a quarter of that price.
The European Confederation of Cigarette Traders estimates EU governments are losing about £3.6 billion a year in unpaid taxes.
MEPs are seeking tighter customs controls and the introduction of a computerised checking system so that the thousands of lorry containers moving throughout the EU every week can be tracked.
The fraud problem has grown since the introduction of the EU's single market in 1993. According to the report, EU states failed to compensate for the relaxation of border controls by creating new fraud detection systems.