Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister and his colleagues for their strong presentations. I also thank the Minister for doing what he said he would do. He has brought the heads of the Bill to the committee and made a very strong presentation. As a doctor, he knows exactly what happens to people who smoke. He is proposing this policy and I say "Well done" to him.

Last week The Irish Times ran a story in which it claimed legal opinion had been received from a major tobacco company. It stated that if standardised packaging was introduced, this would make the State liable for hundreds of millions of euro in compensation. Is that a credible threat or is it really an attempt to bully and scare us? Has the Minister obtained a legal opinion on the matter? Perhaps he cannot share it with us today, but I would like to hear it. On a number of occasions I have read that the introduction of standardised packaging would damage Ireland's reputation as a protector of intellectual property. Will the Minister comment on this?

I refer to obesity, especially childhood obesity, an issue on which I have been working with a number of groups. Would the Minister consider doing much the same in the case of products with a high sugar and high salt content?