Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The last time I was a Deputy, the parties in government engaged in this ritual hypocrisy each year by introducing more taxes on cigarettes and pretending that it was a health measure. The Taoiseach's predecessor, Mr. Bertie Ahern, used to go on about it ritually. This is a revenue raising measure of some €45 million, the bulk of which will come from working class people and poor people. Unfortunately, smoking causes severe damage and should be tackled on a much harder scale than any Government has done until now, including a complete ban on advertising. However, if the Government was serious that this was a health measure, the revenue would be ring-fenced specifically for health issues related to smoking diseases and prevention. That is not the case. I am in favour of a major campaign to convince people not to smoke. I am not in favour of hypocritically putting another tax, under false pretences, on those who are among the poorest in our society. Therefore, I oppose this motion.

See this speech in context