Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I listened carefully to what Deputy Finian McGrath had to say and while his arguments are highly amusing, they are false. He has dismissed World Health Organization reports and everything else. He has run out through the door of the Chamber and did not listen my criticism. I fundamentally disagree with what he said and it would wrong of us to let that erroneous message be sent. He stated the Bill was an attack on smokers; it is not, rather it is an attack on the cigarette and tobacco industry. I understand it is difficult to give up smoking and ask the Deputy to try hard to do so because it can be done. I smoked cigarettes for 20 years and was successful in stopping. It is as if the Deputy is involved in fantasy politics. He dismissed the arguments made by the Minister for Health who is a qualified medical doctor and also those brought forward by Senator John Crown, a renowned oncologist, as if this was some kind of game. I thought it was April Fool's Day and that he was pulling all of our legs. The argument made by the Deputy is totally wrong. He may not realise it, but 5,200 people die every year as a result of smoking. This accounts for 19% of all deaths. The Deputy may be able to laugh it off, but there are people who will die in this country as a result of smoking cigarettes. In my former profession I was a school principal, something I share with the Deputy. It is very irresponsible that, as educationists, we put out the message to children that smoking is okay; it is not.

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