Brian Finnegan, boss of the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft (INFACT), was speaking at an anti-counterfeiting conference organised by the Garda, the PSNI and Interpol, and he issued a warning that a piracy culture has grown in the country. However, he also believes that public attitudes towards illegal DVDs are changing.
Finnegan said that about 50% of all DVDs currently sold in Ireland are black market products. “To put that in real terms, that works out at losses of about €80m a year. The pirates wouldn’t get all that, but they’d certainly get about half of that – so that’s €40m going to crime,” he explained.

Mr Finnegan is convinced that money from the illegal trade in DVDs in Ireland is funding organised criminal gangs, and he emphasised that the sales loss to pirates is affecting legitimate DVD businesses and costing jobs, particularly during the current economic downturn.