Graveyard flower seller jailed after being caught with €217k in unlicensed tobacco

A Dublin man has been jailed for two and a half years following his conviction for supplying untaxed tobacco products. Eamonn Lynch, 44, of Lanesborough Avenue, St Margarets, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to delivering unstamped tobacco and evading excise duty totalling €175,151 on cigarettes and loose tobacco. Revenue officers discovered cigarettes and tobacco with a retail value of €217,000 at a storage yard in north Dublin during October 2020. The court heard that Lynch, who operated a flower-selling pitch at Sutton graveyard, had been observed transporting large quantities of contraband tobacco to private residences and retail premises. He admitted being paid €100 daily to make deliveries but declined to name his supplier. A subsequent search of his home recovered €28,000 in cash. Judge Martin Nolan acknowledged Lynch's charitable work and employment history but stated that depriving the State of such revenue constituted serious criminality warranting imprisonment.