Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We are all aware that the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the 1930s did not stop the consumption of alcohol but produced the Mafia. Today, the prohibitive pricing of cigarettes will not stop people smoking; it is producing a cigarette Mafia in this country and there is absolutely no question about that. One could probably trace a simple correlation between the rise in cigarette prices in recent years and the growth of the cigarette Mafia. That poses a bigger threat to public health because of the degraded quality of the cigarettes that are smuggled. In many cases, they pose a very direct and immediate threat to people's health.

I am a smoker, I must confess, and I would love to give it up. However, the idea that price will be a serious inhibitor of what is an addiction is nonsense. The Tánaiste knows that. The Taoiseach was honest enough in the debate on alcohol to admit it was about revenue and that a different strategy is required to deal with alcohol abuse and binge drinking, etc. At least the Tánaiste should be honest enough to call this measure what it is, a grab for money.

We should create a culture in which young people do not develop addictions, to alcohol or cigarettes. We need to give people alternatives and generally create a society in which people are not so stressed, anxious and alienated such that they engage in behaviour that is addictive or bad for them. Of course, in budget after budget, the Government and its predecessor have cut and chipped away at the amenities, services and resources that would actually offer people alternatives. The Tánaiste should, at least, be honest: this is about money, nothing else.

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