Dunnes Stores has lost its High Court bid to overturn a tax assessment of €36.4 million imposed on the supermarket chain arising out of the levy on plastic shopping bags.

Mr Justice John Hedigan today dismissed the company's claim that the smaller plastic bags, used to wrap fish and meat and for hygiene purposes, do not fall within the scope of the levy.

He rejected arguments the levy was intended only to apply to plastic carrier bags supplied at checkouts and said Dunnes claims in that regard took no account of detailed provisions in the relevant law defining what bags are exempted from the levy.

The levy is clearly not limited to carrier bags, he said.

The point of the law was "to reduce as much as possible the presence of discarded plastic bags littering our towns and countryside" and it was "most improbable" the legislature would exempt plastic bags supplied anywhere apart from the point of sale.

The levy is applicable to all plastic bags provided at supermarkets, shops and service stations except for bags that fell within the exemptions provided for in the legislation, he ruled.

Dunnes had disputed the Revenue's tax assessments over a four year period to November 2008 on grounds including a claim the definition of plastic bag in the 2001 regulations is "so uncertain" as to render the regulations invalid but the judge rejected those arguments.

The case arose after Dunnes received four assessments totalling some €36.4 million from the Revenue in late 2009. The Revenue complained the levies due for plastic bags had not been collected.

The company did not accept the assessments and brought proceedings against the Revenue, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the State.

Dunnes claimed the levy related to larger bags given to customers at point of sale for their shopping and that the assessments wrongly included other bags used for wrapping for fruit and vegetables or hygiene purposes.

Today, it failed in its bid for orders quashing assessments related to the accounting periods of July 2004 to June 2005, July 2005 to June 2006, July 2006 to June 2007 and July 2007 to June 2008, all made under the Waste Management (Environmental Levy Plastic Bag) Regulations of 2001.