Mr. Jim McCabe:

With regard to Deputy Sean Fleming's proposal of putting €1 on every can, as this is the finance committee, it would have to be careful that the necessary checks and balances are put in place first. As I stated earlier, excise on spirits has fallen this year. There is also the link to increased cross-Border shopping and illicit smuggling. In fact, one could find that Exchequer returns could fall. We favour minimum pricing, we favour the elimination of below-cost selling and we favour responsible selling. There are other checks and balances to put in place before we can look at that.