Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I endorse this amendment. I have spoken about smuggling, black market activity and tax increases on cigarettes during the debates on the last few budgets. Our party does not oppose an increase in taxation on cigarettes, but we would have gone further than the Government has gone. We argued for a 20 cent increase, but we would not have gone as far as Fianna Fáil and argued for a €1 increase.

The key point is that any increase in the price of cigarettes and tobacco products needs to be made hand-in-hand with a number of measures to deal with black market activity. Deputy Michael McGrath's amendment is one such measure dealing with the end product where someone has been caught. It could be used as a deterrent. The missing element is the resources to tackle black market activity. That is where the Government falls down in its proposals, with which we will deal in the next section, to increase the price of tobacco. It has not used that resource to deal with the fact that a large number of cigarettes consumed in the State are purchased on the black market. It is an illegal practice, but for many, it has been normalised. People who never think of breaking the law do not see it as breaking the law, defrauding the State or Revenue when they buy packs of cigarettes for €3 or €3.50.

I commend the amendment in looking at one end of the issue. It is part of a bigger jigsaw with which we must deal and the Government's focus heretofore has been on grabbing more money from people who smoke tobacco. There are health benefits; we know that increasing the price of tobacco has consequences in terms of consumer behaviour. If so many tobacco products are available at a lower price, there must be action to deal with the issue. Enforcement deterrents are more welcome, but there is also the question of how to deal with the issue on a practical day-to-day basis in ports and Garda Síochána and Revenue operations. That question must also be dealt with.

See this speech in context