Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I support the Taoiseach. Despite what Deputy Higgins is saying, this measure is sending a strong message regarding health promotion by this Government. Deputy Sean Ó Fearghaíl was previously Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. If he takes the Minister's Budget Statement to the House to the next conclusion, he should consider that the health promotion aspect regarding below cost selling is being pursued by the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, and that below cost selling was introduced by the leader of Fianna Fáil. This has led to an increase in alcohol sales and an increase in the misuse of alcohol in our society. It would be more in our line to work together on alcohol misuse and to pioneer the issue, as we are doing in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. The measure on tobacco sends a strong signal that the Government is intent, regardless the guise in which Deputy Higgins is masquerading, on the point that smoking is wrong. I challenge Deputy Higgins. Would society be better if people did not smoke? The answer is that we would, from the perspective of health promotion, work and recreation. It is important that Members of the Opposition, who come in and promulgate a philosophy and ideology that is outdated and warped, stand behind the Government and the people.

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