Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Has the Department conducted a study on the impact the tax will have on different income groups who it would hit particularly hard?

I have read the arguments put forward. One of the purposes of the tax is to encourage people to switch from drinking full sugar soft drinks to other drinks be they diet drinks or other types of drinks. I hope people would choose water as it is the best option. I accept that the dangers are lesser. However, artificial sweeteners are not without their problems, although I accept that they are probably lesser than the problems associated with sugar. By disincentivising the consumption of very highly sugared soft drinks the Government is incentivising consumption, relatively speaking, if people want to get the same taste, of saccharine and aspartame. A number of studies have indicated that there are health risks associated with both. Has the Department considered the matter?

Perhaps it is just a turn of phrase. Is this really the finishing piece of the Department of Health's action plan on obesity? It has not had much of an impact, in terms of all of the things that could be done. Even if I agreed with this taxation measure and thought it would have a substantial impact and was not concerned about it being regressive, I would still have a serious question mark over this tax being the final finishing piece. Surely there are many more things that can be done, not least the question of physical education.