Mr. Chris Macey:

We are not talking about taxation that will penalise consumers. Its purpose is to incentivise reformulation so industry over time reduces the level of sugar, fat and salt in the products. That is what has happened with the sugar-sweetened drinks tax. We only have figures for the UK at the moment, but there has been a huge reduction in the sugar in products sold as a result. There is a significant impact of 6,500 calories per year per resident of the UK. If we brought in a broader sugar tax or ultra-processed food tax it would have a much bigger impact than that, because as I said, ultra-processed food is now 46% of the shopping basket of the Irish consumer and therefore a huge area. There are very high-sugar drinks like energy drinks that have up to 17 spoons of sugar in a 500 ml bottle.