Ms Claire Gordon:

I will mention in passing the issue of women smoking to control their weight. There is evidence that this idea is completely untrue and that whether younger women smoke or not does not impact on their weight. This idea has been exploited by the industry, which sells products like Virginia Slims in the US. These are long, slim cigarettes. The boxes are also slim. We have banned those kind of fancy boxes. The industry is fantastic at targeting particular cohorts. It probably understands why people smoke and how to appeal to them better than we, or public health officials in general, do. There are some horrifying advertisements from the 1970s suggesting that women can show they have become independent by being a smoker. There is a brilliant advertisement with the slogan "You've come a long way, baby", which shows a woman having a smoke. Smoking is supposed to be a sign of her liberation. I have seen evidence that smoking has literally no impact on weight. Young women who are smoking to manage their weight should know it has no impact on their weight at all. I just want to get that idea, which is beloved by the tobacco industry, out of the way.

I was asked whether I think the measures in the proposed Bill are sufficient to deal with illegal importation. I will hand over to Ms Brophy on that. We might talk a little bit about the EU track-and-trace system, which is designed to reduce the amount of illicit cigarettes in circulation. At the moment, 15% of the market comprises illicit cigarettes. Revenue has estimated that 15% of cigarettes sold are illicit. That is not a Department of Health estimate but that of the Revenue Commissioners, but we are involved because of this EU-wide system which we hope will reduce that figure.