Dr. Mimi Tatlow-Golden:

That is it. I love to think of the smoking ban at these times. I was here when it was introduced. I am sure that everybody remembers the chat at the time, when everybody was saying that it will never happen; nobody will ever stick to it in the pubs. Then there was that phase when everybody was smoking more because they were going outdoors to smoke, because the craic was outside.

It has radically changed the socialising environments for people who work there. The sugar tax is a perfect example. Legislators need to be brave and say that there are some things that matter too much to allow things to stay as they are. A great deal of lobbying goes on and many economically threatening statements are made by certain interests warning of dire consequences. My vision is that Ireland is a food island, and we should saying that we will make some radical changes to create healthy environments where we are not exposing children and their parents to marketing techniques, which we know are effective and lead them to dangerous practices.

There are standard practices in Ireland, including the Friday night takeaway for a family. The birthday of every child in school is celebrated; if there are 30 children in a class that adds up to many birthday parties over the year. All the relatives are invited. There is a press or a bowl in each house full of chocolate bars and treats like that. That is not anybody's fault. It is nothing to do with people not having enough willpower; they are surrounded by a normative environment which tells them to do this, to be nice and loving to their children and respond to their requests. Children ask for many of these treats and that they are prompted to do so by marketing.

People will say that this is impossible to implement and that it cannot be done. However, plain paper packaging is bring introduced for cigarettes.