Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the work he has done in this area. It is complex but there are a few issues that we must see if we can get through. My colleagues, including Deputy Durkan, raised the issue, for example, of limiting the number of cigarettes in a packet to 20, and this could be covered under this proposed legislation.

The other issue we need to examine is that there is a great deal of commentary now concerning the sale of tobacco products and gradually working up to having a situation where they can only be sold to people aged over 21. This has been done in some countries, including New Zealand, and such an undertaking is also being discussed in the UK. Research and evidence show that if it is possible to keep people off cigarettes up to that age, then the likelihood of them ever getting involved in smoking will be extremely remote.

Another issue concerns the importation of cigarettes when people go on holidays and bring back many of them. If we look at the figures from the Covid-19 lockdowns, it will be seen that the sales of cigarettes increased by something like €150 million, which is somewhat of an indication of the extent of products being brought in from abroad when people are travelling back. Some countries have introduced a provision to stipulate that the health warnings on packets must be in the language of the country. Such warnings can be in whatever language, so there is nothing preventing us from specifying that all packets of cigarettes allowed in here must have the warning concerning the risk of smoking cigarettes displayed in Irish. This would then limit what products could be brought in from abroad.

Those are just a few aspects that need to be considered. We are also talking about a second Bill on this issue, but there are some things we could do with the current legislation to incorporate some of the measures to address these issues. I think this should be considered. I again thank the Minister for the work the Department has done on this issue and it is important that we try to make as much progress as we can at this stage.