Mr. Paul Gilligan:

I will pick up on a couple of points. All the work we know of that takes in drugs, alcohol and smoking indicates that the longer we can delay somebody starting, the better chance that person will never start and will never develop an addiction.

That is an important point to make about smoking. The longer we can delay a person having a first cigarette, the better chance we have of ensuring they never do it.

Second, one must remember that children are vulnerable by virtue of their developmental capability. The reason they begin smoking is that they do not fully comprehend the impact. No child or teenager thinks he or she can die. It is not something young people think about when they wake up every morning; that only comes with age. Therefore, some of the arguments about the harm are not fully understood. We must protect people who are vulnerable by virtue of their developmental capabilities.

Finally, if the representatives of the tobacco companies appear before the committee and argue that they are not marketing their product at children, they should stop spending money on marketing because their marketing is failing. A total of 78% of smokers start smoking when they are children. Their marketing, therefore, is skewed and wrong and they are wasting money. The facts are available in respect of any argument to suggest they are not being marketed to children. The tobacco companies know as well as we do that the earlier one can get people to smoke, the greater the chance that they will continue to smoke throughout their lives.