Mr. Joe Sweeney:

I disagree with many of those points because increasing the price of tobacco, whether it be by taxation or any other means, merely drives business further into the black market. It creates a bigger gap between the retail price in a legitimate outfit and the price on the black market.

We are responsible retailers. We observe the law. We implement regulation on behalf of the Government. How will the Government implement the regulation if it does not control the black market? We are their source of implementing regulation.

We have co-operated with Government for many years. We have implemented age-restrictive regulation. We have banned the sale of cigarettes in tens. We are now subject to a ban on display - we cannot display the product. All of this has contributed to more focus on availability on the black market.

I stated in my opening remarks that we now find that those under the age of 30 are not coming in to our shops to buy tobacco, and yet they are smoking it. In previous years, we had a problem with those under age trying to buy tobacco in our shops. Many of us had a difficult time identifying them, checking their age, etc. In my case, as a retailer in north Dublin, I now never get approached by juveniles for tobacco. They do not need to come to my shop. They can get it so easily and so cheaply.