Dr. Patrick Doorley:

Some of the products are sold in retail stores. They double one's chances of quitting. We should encourage the prescription of those drugs, where appropriate. It is obviously a clinical decision. There is a need for much more support to help people to quit.

Let me refer to the denormalisation of tobacco. Smoke-free campuses in hospitals, health centres, administration centres, local authority campuses and playgrounds should be encouraged. We should encourage private employers to have smoke-free campuses.

That sends a message to society, and to children in particular, that smoking is not normal behaviour. The more we can disseminate that message through legislation or encouragement, the better.

Tobacco taxation is the single most effective measure for cutting smoking rates. Smuggling is an important problem but its extent has been exaggerated. To the extent that it is a problem, inter-departmental action should be taken to address it. The tobacco industry is only too happy for what it regards as high prices to be undermined by smuggling. It should be noted that in years when tax rates were not increased the industry imposed its own price increases despite screaming about the impact of high prices.

People can be wary about public campaigns because of questions about their value for money but a strong body of evidence has been amassed on how to target messages at, for example, lower socio-economic groups, how to engage people and how new media such as Facebook and Twitter can be used to reach younger people. New media make it possible for people to support each other online.

There is no single solution, however. We need to intensify everything we are doing at present. If we are to achieve the goal of 5% prevalence by 2025, our rate of progress needs to be much better than is currently the case.