Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2013 is relatively simple. It will give the Minister power to prevent below-cost selling and to control advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. In recent years the large multiple stores have used and continue to use cheap alcohol products to attract customers. This practice works well as a loss leader to attract customers. The Minister for Health is examining this practice and may deal with it in the future. In the meantime the Minister is quite right to recognise that retailers might use the same tactic with tobacco products. There is no doubt that below-cost selling of tobacco products could prove a useful tool in attracting customers to a particular chain of stores. Section 1(a) of the Bill prohibits the sale of tobacco at a reduced price and section 1(b) prohibits the making available of any tobacco product to persons free of charge. The provision of free or reduced-price tobacco products as part of any promotion is also prohibited.

We are all well aware of the danger to personal health of using tobacco products. Measures surrounding tobacco use and health care are of great importance. Tobacco use has a huge effect on our economy and Exchequer figures. Last year the total cigarette tax take was €1.36 billion, but according to the Department of Health, at current rates of smoking, tobacco-related illnesses will cost the State €2.3 billion annually over the next ten years. This is almost €1 billion a year more than is received in tax from the sale of tobacco products.

The Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society recently told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children that the tobacco industry is earning substantially higher profits in Ireland than in many other European countries. Tackling this could net the Government €150 million a year and curb the tobacco industry’s ability to recruit young smokers. According to the Irish Heart Foundation, this money could pay for 4,167 extra nurses, 4,853 new primary school teachers, 5,400 Garda recruits or, indeed, 7,000 special needs assistants. It is easy to see how this money could be put to good use. The Minister for Finance went some way toward dealing with this situation in the recent budget. By introducing this legislation it is clear that the Government is moving in the right direction.

The Irish Cancer Society recently produced a report on the ever-increasing number of young girls and women who smoke. Most worrying of all is that more Irish women are now dying of lung cancer than of breast cancer. The report includes findings of research into why women smoke and why more women smoke and continue to smoke. Two thirds of smokers want to quit. This report shows that there are social and psychological factors that make it hard for women to quit. Many women are aware of the health risks of smoking but see it as a way to cope with the stress and pressure of life. It is important to note that levels of smoking are highest in the poorest communities and are linked to multiple social and economic disadvantages, ill-health and poor life expectancy. Disadvantaged groups in society are disproportionately likely to smoke and are least likely to give up cigarettes. Those who can least afford to do so smoke the most and suffer the most from this. Children growing up in poverty experience social environments in which the majority of adults smoke. Smoking therefore becomes normal and acceptable adult behaviour. The tobacco industry is aware of all these facts. It constantly needs to recruit new smokers to replace those who die. Female smokers are a lucrative market for the tobacco industry, which is experiencing a decline in smokers. The tobacco industry has long recognised that women represent a different market from men, and has developed and will continue to develop policies to target women, sometimes by segmenting the market by socioeconomic grouping and developing products for these groups. What better tactic could the tobacco industry employ at any time than below-cost selling or, indeed, free tobacco with the purchase of other items, an approach that would be attractive to men and women? Shopping incentives will undoubtedly affect women more as, generally speaking, they do a larger proportion of household shopping.

By introducing this Bill the Minister is locking the stable door before the horse has bolted. I commend this Bill to the House.

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