Mr. Chris Macey:

There is no doubt that it is a regressive tax. Everyone knows that. In the past five years, the number of smokers in Ireland has dropped from 29% to 22%. This means that there are 250,000 smokers. The high tax is the key driver of this. That is agreed throughout the world, particularly in the context of children not starting to smoke or of giving up if they are already smoking, and across all groups. We carried out research very recently which involved conducting focus groups among children. Every child's choice of cigarette is driven by the price. They all buy the cheapest cigarettes. One of the things we want to do is prevent the industry from selling cheap cigarettes. The price differential is very wide at present. Clearly, one must try to help people. Some 80% of smokers want to give up. We are not trying to penalise people, we are trying to help them. We want to help those to whom I refer to give up. Smokers' tax should be spent on helping them to give up. The Deputy is quite right. Tax is a crude instrument and on its own, it is not a solution to anything. However, in the context of a package of measures, evidence from around the world proves that it is the one thing that works best.