James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Mitchell O'Connor asked about the campaign aimed at pregnant women. I think it is a very worthwhile campaign. There was a similar campaign a couple of years ago. Deputy Catherine Byrne made a proposal regarding nicotine replacement therapy in this context. I will certainly examine that. We would have to get it costed. It is important to send out a message from today's meeting that nicotine replacement therapy is far safer in pregnancy than smoking. I will come back to the other questions in due course if that is okay.

The argument about damage to Ireland's intellectual property reputation is another spurious one. This country has very strong property laws. They are attacking us on intellectual property rights because they know this country has a Constitution that provides very strong protections to property rights. We have taken our legal advice. I would be aware that the tobacco industry has retained a large number of senior counsel. They might not use them, but the fact that the tobacco industry has retained them means we cannot use them. We saw that coming. We took action before that became the case. We have a good team to defend any challenge to this legislation. Part of that team is in this room. I thank the members of this committee for that. Their consideration of the heads of the Bill will help to inform the Bill itself. The further review of that Bill before it becomes law will be the best protection we can confer on that Bill to ensure it stands up to any challenge.

I assure Deputy Mitchell O'Connor that not a year goes by without the inclusion of the introduction of a sugar tax, which she raised in the context of childhood obesity, on the wish list we submit to Revenue. While Revenue has not yet seen fit to accept our proposal, I believe we will eventually succeed in introducing such a tax. The pressure will be on again this year to ensure this issue is tackled.

Deputy Neville spoke about stepping up the campaign to combat the illicit trade in cigarettes. As I have said, 90% of the illegal trade is contraband as opposed to counterfeit. Licensing laws are going to come in as well. There will be more stringent observation of that. Any breaches will lead to severe penalties being imposed on those who sell cigarettes without a licence or who sell cigarettes to a minor under the age of 18. I believe we should also have more severe penalties for anybody who is found selling or smuggling illegal cigarettes.

Deputy Regina Doherty asked about head 13 of the proposed Bill. I will let Dr. Holohan deal with that. She also asked what ex-smokers spend their money on.

As a general practitioner, I used to advise people who gave up cigarettes to put the money they saved in a jar and spend it on themselves in a different way. The Deputy is correct that we could commission some research to identify where this money is spent. I have no doubt it stays in the economy and does not disappear up chimneys in puffs of smoke.

We can examine the issue of nicotine replacement therapies only being available in pharmacies. Given the increasing number of items sold over the counter, I do not see any reason all retailers of cigarettes would not at some point sell nicotine replacement patches.