Mr. Vincent Jennings:

In response to Deputy Catherine Byrne, we do not even need the harrowing evidence of the past number of weeks for any reasonable person - be he or she a representative of retailers or Members of this House - to realise that smoking kills and that tobacco helps people to die prematurely. It is as simple as that. Smoking has no value of a societal nature whatsoever. That said, we must all be realists. We represent retailers who, unfortunately, are as welded to the product at this point in time as are the poor people who are either buying legitimately from them or being taken to the cleaners by paramilitaries and major criminals. The scourge needs to stop and we need to begin our efforts in that regard now. I honestly believe the work which has been done by the National Tobacco Control Office and its staff is having an effect. However, there is a need for haste. The figure relating to prevalence has variously been estimated to be 22%, 24% or - as the Department of Health informed the committee this time last year - 29%. Whatever the figure is, it is too high and must be reduced. We wholeheartedly support the aspiration of the Minister - there is a need for more than aspirations - to work towards a figure for prevalence of 5%. If we could reduce the figure to match that which obtains in Australia - between 14% and 15% - we would state it was a job well done. We must prevent young people from initiating the habit.