Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The point was made on budget night by a small number of Deputies and me that increasing the cost of tobacco is just another regressive hit at lower and middle income families who are already in difficulty. We do not buy the argument that it is a health measure but that it is primarily about a Revenue raising grab which disproportionately hits the less well off. I wish to record that opposition as I have done in previous years. Deputy Joe Higgins and one or two other Deputies have made similar points.