Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation and I must concur with some of what the previous speakers have stated on the various flavours of cigarettes. In my youth I was in a band which sang in front of 500 or 600 people in various places. I never smoked in my life but I should probably be long buried somewhere because of secondary smoking. I often ask myself why young people smoke and I have come to a few conclusions. These are that they think it is cool, and that social environment plays a role, as does family which has a great deal to do with young people smoking. If it is done at home by family members young people will automatically follow. The European survey is not correct with regard to the age of young people who smoke as I believe they are much younger. I see many children as young as ten or 12 years of age smoking as they come from primary schools.

I agree with Deputy Ó Caoláin that all we can do is stop young people smoking. There is very little we can do about older people smoking no matter what graphic images we put on cigarette packages. Education is crucial and it should begin at first class in primary school. Most schools now have CSPE courses and there is much that can be taught about health and smoking. If a young person with a chest infection attends the family GP the doctor should examine the history of the family and make people well aware of the risks of smoking, particularly if this young person comes from a background where an addiction to smoking has contributed to the death of family members. GPs and hospital doctors should play a key role by handing people leaflets or booklets on the risks of and statistics on smoking. This would go a long way towards helping young children.

I am disappointed that nobody has targeted young people with television advertisements on the health issues of smoking. The advertisement campaigns on road safety have played a huge part. I recently watched a very old film and I noticed that all of the famous actors in it were smoking. Thank God this seems to have been removed from what many young people watch. The characters in "Friends" and other television programmes do not smoke. I agree with Deputy Ó Caoláin that somebody from the Department of Education and Skills or the Department of Social Protection should have come before the committee this morning to hear the views being expressed.