James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

We are sleepwalking through a public health epidemic and its time we woke up. Every year, 5,200 Irish people die from smoking. That figure is worth reflecting on. Almost one in five deaths is smoking related. This decade, a population with the capacity to fill the Aviva Stadium will die needlessly as a result of this deadly addiction. This year, more people in this country will die from smoking than died during 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Twenty years ago, it seemed an aspirational dream that Northern Ireland could live in peace, but with cross-party consensus and political priority, that was achieved. We have the same cross-party consensus on tackling our smoking rate. If this public health epidemic is given the political priority it deserves, then we will achieve a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025. Standardised packaging of tobacco is the next step towards creating a tobacco-free Ireland.

The Bill will regulate the appearance of tobacco packaging and products. The aim is to make all tobacco packs look less attractive to consumers, particularly children, make health warnings more prominent and prevent packaging from misleading consumers about the harmful effects of tobacco. The Bill will also implement some aspects of the newly adopted tobacco products directive of the European Union. It will give effect to Ireland's obligations under the World Health Organization framework convention on tobacco control.

Standardised packaging means that all forms of branding, including trademarks, logos, colours and graphics, would be removed from tobacco packs. The brand and variant names would be presented in a uniform typeface for all brands, and the packs would all be in one plain neutral colour. We need to introduce this measure because the evidence indicates that tobacco packaging is a critically important form of promotion. Some in the industry call it the last billboard they have. This is more relevant in Ireland where we have comprehensive advertising and marketing restrictions. Standardised packaging is the next step.

The consequence of this legislation is clear. It will protect our children from marketing gimmicks that trap them into a killer addiction. If the tobacco industry did not get our children addicted, it would disappear within a generation. We all know that to be true and so does the industry. To replace the smokers who quit and, sadly, those who die, the tobacco industry needs to recruit 50 new smokers in Ireland every day just to maintain smoking rates at their current level. Given that 78% of smokers in surveys said they started smoking under the age of 18, it is clear that our children are targeted to replace those customers who die or quit.

Research has shown that smokers consuming cigarettes from the standardised packs we intend to introduce are 66% more likely to think their cigarettes are of poorer quality, 70% more likely to say they found them less satisfying and 81% more likely to have thought about quitting at least once a day. They also rate quitting as a higher priority in their lives thanks to standardised packs and we know all of this thanks to the experience in Australia.

I will now take Members through the Bill section by section to clarify its provisions. It is divided into four Parts and the first Part deals with preliminary and general provisions and covers sections 1 to 6. Section 1 of the Bill makes standard provisions setting out the Short Title of the Bill, the collective citation for the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts and arrangements for its commencement. Section 2 deals with its interpretation and defines the meanings of some of the terms used for the purposes of the Bill. Section 3 deals with regulations, allowing the Minister for Health to make regulations to bring the legislation into operation. Section 4 is a standard provision dealing with expenses. Section 5 clarifies that nothing in the Bill operates to prohibit the registration of a trade mark or will be grounds for the revocation of the registration of a trade mark. It also makes clear that nothing in the Bill will affect the law in relation to tax stamps. Section 6 makes transitional provisions that will allow retailers and manufacturers time to comply with the new measures. Current packets may be manufactured until May 2016 and there will then be a one year period to sell outstanding stocks. Non-compliant retail packaging may not be manufactured from May 2016 and may not be sold after May 2017.

Part 2 of the Bill deals with the retail packaging and presentation of tobacco products and covers sections 7 to 14. Section 7 sets out the requirements for the retail packaging of cigarette packets. The Bill specifies that cigarette packets must be a prescribed matt colour on the outside and inside and may not have any decorative features such as ridges or embossing. They must have no coloured adhesives and may not have any marks or trademarks, other than a bar code or similar identification mark. Packets may not have anything inserted or affixed to them apart from items prescribed by law. The colour and decorative feature provisions will not apply to the health warnings that must be printed on packaging or other items prescribed by law.

The Bill allows for the brand, company or business name and a variant name to be printed on the packet but regulations will set the font type, size, colour and positioning of these. The wrapper must be transparent, not coloured, and may not have any decorative features, marks or trademarks or affixed items apart from those provided for by law. It may have a tear-strip, which will be prescribed for in regulations. These provisions will apply to retail packaging of all cigarettes intended for retail sale in the State.

This section also transposes provisions of the 2014 EU tobacco products directive which must be applied to those products for sale in the EU. It sets out that the cigarette packet must be cuboid in shape, although it may have rounded or bevelled edges, made of carton or soft material and may only have a flip-top or shoulder box hinged lid.

Section 8 lays down the requirements for the appearance of cigarettes. They must be white with a white or imitation cork tip. They may have a brand, business or company name and a variant name printed on them but in accordance with regulations that will set the colour, font, size, positioning and appearance. It will be an offence to manufacture, import or sell non-compliant cigarettes. These provisions will apply to all cigarettes intended for retail sale in the State.

Section 9 provides the specifications for the appearance of roll-your-own tobacco packets and they are similar to the requirements for the retail packaging of cigarettes. These provisions will apply to the retail packaging of all roll-your-own tobacco intended for retail sale in the State. This section differs from section 7 in that it allows a unit package of roll-your-own tobacco to be either cuboid in shape, similar to a cigarette packet, cylindrical orin the form of a pouch. As before, these provisions were included as they transpose parts of the 2014 EU tobacco products directive and therefore must be applied to the packaging of all cigarettes for sale in the EU. This section also sets out how the brand, business or company name and variant name is to be printed on different shaped packs. They must be printed in a colour, font, size and so on to be laid out in regulations.

Section 10 provides for the specifications for the retail packaging of tobacco products other than roll-your-own tobacco and cigarettes, for example, pipe tobacco and cigars. It contains the same features as sections 7 and 9 pertaining to colour, decorative features and so on and allows for cuboid and other shaped packets. Section 11 deals with the linings of unit packets of tobacco products and provides that where a lining is present, it shall be of a prescribed colour and material. Section 12 provides that the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide content shall not be printed on any form of retail packaging of tobacco products. As this provision is transposing part of the 2014 EU tobacco products directive it applies to all tobacco products for sale in the EU. The rationale behind this measure is to ensure tobacco companies cannot advertise in a way that makes certain cigarettes seem safe because they are labelled as "low tar".

Section 13 deals with the general appearance of tobacco products and again transposes in part the 2014 EU tobacco products directive. As before, it therefore must be applied to packaging of all cigarettes for sale in the EU. It is an offence to manufacture, import or sell tobacco products that do not comply with section 13. Section 14 prohibits sound effects, scents and features that alter the appearance after sale.

Part 3 of the Bill sets out offences, proceedings and penalties and covers sections 15 to 19. Section 15 sets out the offences under the legislation. It will be an offence to package, manufacture, import or sell tobacco products that do not comply with sections 7 and 9 to 14, inclusive. However, the Bill provides for a defence if a person can show that he or she made all reasonable efforts to comply with the legislation.

Under section 16 there are three types of penalties for offences under the Act. For a first offence, a person may be liable to a class B fine or six months imprisonment or both. For subsequent offences a person may be liable to a class A fine or 12 months imprisonment or both. On conviction on indictment a person may be liable to a fine or eight years imprisonment or both. A person convicted of an offence may also be ordered to cover the prosecution costs and expenses.

Section 17 sets out provisions relating to offences committed by bodies corporate and their directors, managers or officers. Section 18 states that proceedings under the Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Health Service Executive.

Section 19 sets out provisions relating to evidence brought before proceedings. It states that tobacco products or packaging bearing a name or trademark of an importer or manufacturer will be used as evidence that the products were manufactured, imported or packaged by that person unless the contrary is proved.

Part Four of the Bill deals with miscellaneous matters. Section 20 amends section 5A of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts. The legislation will now provide that if a person registered to sell tobacco under section 37 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts is found guilty of an offence under the current legislation, he or she can be removed from the register for a specified period. Section 21 amends section 37 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts. Section 37 will now take the current legislation and any offences committed under it into consideration when a person is applying for registration for the sale of tobacco products. Section 22 amends section 48 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts, as amended. Section 48 will now provide the Health Service Executive with the necessary powers to enforce the current legislation.

A number of issues were raised on Committee Stage in the Seanad which I have agreed to examine. One relates to the possibility of shortening the product wash-through period allowed for in section 6 of the Bill. The other issue relates to the possible inclusion of a health information sheet inside the packs of tobacco products. The officials are examining these issues from a policy and legal perspective to determine if they are appropriate.

I remind the House that for five decades the tobacco industry deliberately concealed facts about the dangers of smoking. Now it is using spurious arguments about illicit trade to terrify responsible retailers into opposing the legislation. Their arguments today remain as bogus and as dishonest as they have been for the past five decades. I ask Members of the House not to allow for any manipulation of the truth. As an old lady once said to me, the truth is not fragile and it will not break. The truth is that smoking kills. I commend the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014 to the House.

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