Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill which will allow the Minister unilaterally to issue new guidelines on the advertising and promotion of tobacco. It will ensure that Ireland observes a ruling of the European Court of Justice and introduce regulations on the design of tobacco packaging and marketing. I hope the Bill will also dent the sale of illegal tobacco, much of which does not carry EU health warnings.

We are supposed to have come a long way since I was going to school. Not only did we have packets of 20 and ten cigarettes, but some corner shops sold cigarettes singly, which was illegal. I am beginning to wonder whether it might not be better for people to obtain a single cigarette rather than to have to buy a packet of 20. While I am sure studies have been carried out, I am curious as to whether being able to buy cigarettes singly might assist people to wean themselves off smoking. I grew up in a newsagents and cigarette sales were very much part of the family business. Cigarettes are now almost €9 for 20, which is an exorbitant price, but they cannot be expensive enough. Cigarettes have done enormous damage. While tobacco has been available internationally for little over 200 years, more people have died from smoking-related illnesses than have been killed in all world wars combined. It is a statistic which needs to be highlighted.

Of those who smoke, 99% know of the dangers of tobacco-related illnesses. While we should avoid an overtly nanny-state, much more must be done to stop smoking, which puts great pressure and cost on the health system. Any nurse or doctor will know immediately if a person admitted to hospital is a smoker. It is an issue which must be addressed. While lighter tar and electronic cigarettes have been introduced to wean people from smoking, we have not succeeded to the extent that one in three young women smokes. Many young women smoke because they feel they might otherwise put on weight. Smoking creates a craving of its own and one loses a taste for food but I do not believe there is a correlation between giving up cigarettes and eating more. However, it should be remembered by young men and women that there are many who will not see them as attractive because they smoke.

This is an issue that needs to be brought up.

The smoking ban was a great idea but I am disappointed to see that there has been a reduction of only two percentage points, from 31% to 29%, in the number of people who smoke. If the smoking ban had been introduced in any month other than May, which saw good weather - for example, in November, when people going out to smoke would be freezing - there would have been near anarchy in the streets. This shows that the smoking ban was introduced at the appropriate time. It has been very successful and I give credit where it is due to the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Micheál Martin. I also welcome Senator John Crown's initiative to ban smoking in cars and I believe the Minister is very supportive of that. Anything we can do to reduce smoking in the community is great.

We must tackle the smuggling of illegal cigarettes into the country, which results in the loss of significant amounts of revenue and is a significant incentive for people who want to make extra money on the back of the taxpayer. If someone is selling 200 cigarettes on a doorstep at one third of the retail price, it is a significant incentive. Much has been done to tackle this but more needs to be done because we are losing a significant amount of revenue and cigarette smoking is simply bad for and will kill one.

I once owned a pub and would have given it up at one point because I felt I was a passive smoker, although I had never smoked. I was getting up in the morning and coughing, which was the result of passive smoking. Of course, I could not take an action against myself because I owned the pub but I certainly feel there was an issue there. As a newsagent, I remember that if one wanted to do up one's shop, the three tobacco companies - P. J. Carroll & Company, Gallaher's and John Player - would be fighting to put in new cigarette stands and a counter, which showed the power of merchandising and advertising. I am delighted there is no advertising in shops, but it showed that the cigarette companies had their own departments which put in counters in shops to display their wares. It showed how important merchandising in shops was to these companies. Much more needs to be done and I welcome this Bill.

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