Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Do these figures explain why the tobacco industry is so desperate to keep peddling death in Ireland and to keep recruiting young people to this filthy habit? The industry's business model, as mentioned by some of my colleagues, will not survive unless it gets children smoking. The Minister has called the tobacco industry an evil industry. Do the companies think anyone would believe they do not want children and young people to start smoking? Why is it that the Minister for Finance told the House in November that he suspects the legal tobacco industry is involved in the production of illicit cigarettes? Does each company accept that the legal tobacco industry has a long history of complicity in tobacco smuggling?

I have just one question for each of the witnesses present.

In his submission to this committee, Mr. Donaldson stated that smoking is a cause of various serious and fatal diseases, including lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and cardiovascular diseases. I want to ask him two questions. First, how can he face family members, parents and children, knowing that he is a purveyor of death?