Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will share with my colleague, Deputy Frank Feighan, a Roscommon man. I welcome the Bill and the work and the efforts of the Minister for Health and his Department to try to tackle this area. I listened to the contribution of Deputy Mathews. Certainly, there is a good deal we can do through legislation and various Bills, but education is important as well. We need to convince people at a young age that cigarettes are addictive. The attitude of young people - I was a young person not long ago - is that when they are young it cannot happen to them. This applies whether it is a car crash, an illness or getting addicted to cigarettes or drugs. They tend to assume that it will not happen to them but to other people. We need to get young people from an early age. By the time they leave school it is almost too late. If a person is caught smoking before then there is some chance of stopping him from smoking, drinking or taking drugs but attitude is central. I have spoken a good deal about road safety and cars. The prevalent attitude among most people is that it will not happen to them and they will not crash. However, people should realise, as it says in the lotto advertisement, that "It could be you." This is the message we must get across to people when they are in school and in the education system. We should continue to impress the message afterwards but mainly at that stage. We must relay the message that bad things can happen to them as well as good things and that it could happen to them.

I remember the first time I tried a cigarette many years ago. One assumes one will not become addicted but it can take hold. Cigarettes or drugs can be addictive. Some people can take up a cigarette and then put it down again and it does not bother them but others cannot. We need to get into the heads of young people in the education system and let them know that these things can happen. Whether it is cigarettes, road safety issues, driving fast or driving like a madman, all these things can happen. Anyone can have an accident. This is part of what we need to do in our education system. Part of this programme should involve bringing people who have suffered from smoking-related diseases and ill-health into a classroom to meet young people head-on and discuss the consequences of smoking and how bad it can be for a person's health, family and so on.

I support my colleague, the Minister for Health, in his objective to make Ireland a tobacco-free society. I support any measures which are proven to reduce the level of smoking in Ireland and which can avoid countless unnecessary deaths caused by this addiction. However, I wish to use my time on the Bill to discuss something we are doing in our committee in respect of this and other areas. I am Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Our committee has held several hearings in the Oireachtas and in other parts of the country, including Waterford and Kilkenny, to examine the impact the black market is having on the retail and other sectors of the economy. Waterford was chosen because the illegal cigarette trade there is one of the strongest in the country. My county, Meath, and County Kildare are among the strongest when it comes to the black market trade in cigarettes. They are among the top three or four and this area must be tackled.

We have had several meetings on foot of a report carried out by Retail Ireland during the summer which highlighted the cost of fraud and how it can be solved and so on. We used the report to start our study into the area of illicit trade and the black market. One area high on the agenda everywhere we go is cigarette smuggling, the illicit trade in cigarettes and the associated consequences and costs. We hope to have more meetings on this issue and to bring forward more solutions. We will come to the various Ministers in all the Departments with solutions and ways to tackle this illicit trade and fraud and so on. There is a vast cost in terms of jobs and lost revenue to the State. At all these meetings the message has been given loud and clear to all Members across party lines to the effect that Government and legislators must avoid any further regulatory burden which incentivises criminal opportunism to the detriment of legitimate retailers.

All of the small business owners with whom we are meet are telling us they are choked with red tape, licensing requirements and enforcement which require of them a great deal of effort while someone selling on the black market dishes out cigarettes at a third of the price and is subject to very little regulation. We must target our resources at those key areas in which abuses take place. Legitimate business are telling us they feel they get the brunt of regulation and red tape notwithstanding that 95% of them are compliant with everything. Nevertheless, they are subject to all of the effort and inspections while the wheeler and dealer down the road is subject to nothing.

One of the largest growth products in the black market in recent years has unquestionably been illegal cigarettes. Small retailers are feeling the pinch while crooked and sinister members of society profit at their expense and that of the taxpayer. While Ireland is widely admired for the bold stance we have taken against the tobacco industry through the introduction of the successful smoking ban in 2004 and point-of-sale display ban in 2009, some of that admiration has unfortunately fallen foul of certain facts in respect of the protection of the health of our citizens as they relate to reducing the number of smokers. In 2000, the then health Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, stated that the Government's aim was to cut the incidence of smoking from 31% to 20% within ten years. A decade later, the Eurobarometer survey of 2010 demonstrated that the prevalence of smoking in Ireland remained at the 2000 level. Thankfully, the most recent Eurobarometer survey, published in May 2012, shows a reduction to 29%. While the trend is the right one, we are still above the EU average of 28%. The smoking ban was introduced to reduce the number of smokers but it has not necessarily achieved that. Even the current chief medical officer in the HSE, Dr. Tony Houlihan, recognised the contradiction when addressing a public health conference in 2011. He stated that the frequency of smoking of 28% to 30% had not improved since the public smoking ban was introduced. While I recognise the great benefits of the smoking ban in reducing the effects of passive smoking and protecting the health of non-smokers, a reduction in the number of those smoking has not been achieved. Perhaps in time that will happen. The trends are beginning to go the right way.

While the incidence of smoking has not altered significantly in the past ten to 12 years, excise duty increases have been imposed and new public health regulations introduced. The quantity of illicit cigarettes seized by Customs and Excise and the Garda increased from €96.3 million in 2000 to €218.5 million in 2009. In total, over the past 12 years, €1 billion worth of cigarettes have been seized by customs and Revenue authorities. These are the facts and figures which have been presented to the committee and they are stark. While €1 billion worth of cigarettes has been seized in 12 years, it is estimated by a survey commissioned by Revenue and the National Tobacco Control Office that the value of illicit cigarettes consumed in 2011 was €770 million. If that figure is extrapolated over 12 years, it means more than €8 billion worth of cigarettes have come into Ireland undetected by Customs and Excise and Revenue. This has resulted in huge losses to the State. Retail Ireland recently produced a report which estimated that €861 million a year is lost to the State though the purchase by Irish people of illegal goods, not all of which are cigarettes. Over the last couple of years, we have lost out on approximately €4.3 billion. This is money which could have been used to tackle smoking-related health issues.

While I will not go through all the facts and figures, it is estimated that approximately 6% of smokers are smoking illegal cigarettes in respect of which no tax is collected. We also lose jobs. Our committee looks at this issue from an employment perspective. When legitimate traders lose business, we lose out on jobs. More important, we are losing out on tax revenues which the Department of Health needs. I ask the Cabinet to come together to tackle the illicit trade in cigarettes and other goods. Serious criminals use the profits from illegal cigarette trading to fund other illegal activities which are much more sinister.

While the Bill focuses solely on public health and the impact of suggested European provisions, it should be considered that unintended consequences may arise. Revenue and law enforcement must have an opportunity to provide their guidance and expertise on a growing trend in Irish society. I ask the Minister to ensure the Bill and any other legislation he intends to introduce to tackle smoking and public health is proofed against unintended consequences. While we want to introduce successful legislation, my committee is anxious to ensure that we do not hit the wrong people with additional red tape and damage employment. The Minister is the right man for the job and must ensure that he covers all the angles. This is a fight in which we must all become involved.

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