Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty for that contribution. Of course pricing has an impact on consumption and on where people source product and I understand the point the Deputy is making. One purpose of increasing the excise is motivated by public health and the need to continue to drive down smoking levels in our society. That is, first and foremost, the objective. There are, of course, other ways in which people can get cigarettes, some by illicit means. Some cigarettes are illegally purchased and then we have duty-free, which the Deputy has correctly identified.

To answer the Deputy's question about research, the Ipsos MRBI Healthy Ireland Survey 2022 conducted on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners and the National Tobacco Control Office of the HSE found that an estimated 17% of cigarette packs consumed in the State were illicit. This equates to approximately 31.7 million packs based on a pack size of 20 cigarettes. A further 13% of packs consumed were non-Irish duty-paid. The level of illicit rules of origin, RoO, rose to 17% in 2022 from 13% in 2021. In effect, approximately 30% now are either illicit or are brought in through duty-free, which is approximately three out of ten packs at this point. That needs to be a consideration in the decisions we make around excise as it means that 70% are still bought here in the legitimate trade. We just have to marry the consideration of that with our obligation with regard to public health. Certainly for this budget, I believe what we are proposing is appropriate.