Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputies should at least come in here on an informed basis.

Let us deal with the facts now. First, on tobacco consumption, the proportion of the population that is smoking has fallen. According to the National Tobacco Control Office, 21.7% of the population is currently smoking, compared to 27% in 2003 and 31% in 1998. There are several factors contributing to the decline in the consumption of tobacco, one of which is the measure introduced by Deputy Martin when he was Minister for Health. Price is also a factor and the excise duties placed on tobacco products have contributed to the aforementioned decline in consumption. Since 2003, the total consumption of tobacco declined by 45%. However, when one looks more closely at the statistics on consumption between 2003 and 2013, one will see that in four of those ten years, there was no increase in excise duty on tobacco. There was a decline in consumption in every year that excise duty was increased but in two of the four years when excise duty remained unchanged, there was an increase in consumption. In 2005, for example, excise duty was not increased and consumption increased by 3.4%. In 2006, excise duty was unchanged and again, there was an increase in consumption of the order of 1.6%. Last year, with an increase in excise duty of 25 cent, there was a decline in consumption of almost 9%.

See this speech in context