Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I should preface my remarks by stating that I am a smoker, so I have a particular interest in this important debate. I quit when the smoking ban came in. However, I then got a job abroad where it was permitted to smoke indoors and I started smoking again. I now smoke when taking a drink, as a lot of my peers do. If we could do something to break the link between alcohol and cigarettes it would go a long way towards solving the problems arising from the effects of smoking.

I very much welcome the Bill and thank the Minister of State for circulating the pictures. They are graphic and disturbing, and they will work. About eight years ago, when I was a student in Canada for the summer, they already had such images on cigarette packets. It was quite graphic and drove the message home. I always wondered why we did not have that system here, so it is great that we are finally starting to catch up with some of our international friends in this regard.

We should examine a number of other areas in this respect - not just what we are doing to discourage people from starting to smoke but also to help smokers to move away from the habit. Some good things are happening with new technological developments, including substitute cigarettes. I recently met with a group that had developed a battery-powered mechanical cigarette which provided a substitute effect without any of the harmful elements of smoking. If we can spend more time promoting such alternatives, including nicotine patches and substitute cigarettes, it would go a long way towards improving the situation. In addition, we should destigmatise such alternatives to smoking by making them more commonly available and more acceptable to use. We must also do what we can to aid research into the addictive nature of cigarettes.

Deputy Donohoe mentioned the dangers of smoking for pregnant women. I pass a hospital on my way home and it is shocking to see pregnant women smoking there. Surely we are not doing enough to educate people if such women think it is acceptable to smoke while pregnant. At the same time, one sees young mothers smoking. I understand that when one has such an addiction one will smoke, but there will be a negative affect on young children at home in their formative years who are subject to passive smoking. We should target particular groups, including young mothers, to help them stop smoking. The impact on people's health and lives goes beyond the individual smoker.

I stopped smoking when the ban was introduced because one had to go outside and stand in the rain to have a cigarette. It was miserable. I started smoking again when I was abroad, but when I came back to Ireland I saw that there had been a proliferation of smoking areas in bars and restaurants. I understand the idea of erecting a canopy with a heater to help smokers but some of these smoking rooms are not outside. There seems to be no difference from being inside when one goes to the smoking areas. That needs to be examined and, although I understand that such businesses are suffering perhaps the law is being interpreted too loosely. They are able to build these rooms that might as well be inside, yet because there is a small hole in the wall for ventilation it is deemed appropriate to smoke there.

It used to be just the smokers who would go outside to have a cigarette and then come back inside but now everyone is going out to these smoking rooms and staying there for the evening. They are thus subject to the secondary effects of passive smoking, which is completely undermining the smoking ban. I urge the Minister of State and her officials to revisit the legislation to see if it is too liberal and whether we are allowing too many variations of the smoking section, which are undermining the purpose of the ban itself.

I welcome the Bill, which is a great initiative. I hope we can get the pictures on to cigarette packets as soon as possible.

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