A new report has claimed that there has been an upsurge in black market activity in this country in the past six months.
According to the study by business group ISME, we are losing €340m a week to the black market.
The group indicated that this is costing more than €3.5bn in tax revenue every year.
ISME's head of research Jim Curran, said this afternoon that rogue operators are attempting to profit from the down-turn in the economy.