James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The Government did not increase the tax on cigarettes which fill our hospitals with sick people and they make alcohol cheaper which will result in a higher consumption of alcohol - as proven by research - and a greater increase in all the issues related to alcohol use, problems in the home and at work. The most dire tyrants in history have used this sinister policy to keep the poor and minority peoples down. Give them cheap drink and keep them in a stupor. This is a sad reflection on a Taoiseach who was once a Minister for Health and it shows the Government's priorities are certainly not the poorest, the sickest, children, carers, the disabled or the blind. I oppose the motion.

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