Ms Claire Gordon:

As I stated, the evidence is not there in respect of the impact of the size of the packet. The aspect relating to cost is absolutely something that we address. We are lucky that the Minister for Finance agrees to this. Each year, the Minister for Health writes to the Minister for Finance and seeks an increase in the excise duty on cigarettes and other tobacco products. I refer to cigarettes being purchased more cheaply.

The evidence-based way to address that is to increase the price. As I said, there is no evidence currently that the bigger the box, the more people will smoke, but there is evidence that the more you increase the price of cigarettes, the more people decide to get off them. If evidence were to emerge showing that we could justify a measure to ban boxes of more than 20 cigarettes, that is absolutely something that the Minister of Health would look at, but when the evidence is not there, we do not have a reason to act. Where we do have a reason to act is in respect of the price, which we do every year. We are lucky that every year in the budget, prices are continually increased. Irrespective of what manufacturers do to try to make someone think that they are getting a bargain or whatever, in Ireland we relentlessly and consistently increase the price of tobacco products every year. That is the way to address that.

On the other issue of the number of cigarettes a person can bring into the country, was the Deputy referring to the personal quota permitted when a person is travelling?