Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, it is my privilege to speak in the House on the Bill. As we begin our consideration of the Bill it is worthwhile to put smoking and the problems it causes in context. Today is a momentous day for our public health system and those in charge of it. The smoking rates in Ireland, as of December 2013, were that 21.5% more men smoked than women; the age group with the highest percentage of smokers was young adults aged between 18 and 34 at 30.7%; and smoking was lowest among those aged 65 and over, at 9.7%. While there was little variation in regional trends, there were significant variations between socio-economic groups, with farmers and groups with higher levels of education least likely to smoke.

In yesterday's Irish Examinerit was reported that more than one fifth of young people were considered as current smokers in 1998, compared to 11.9% in 2010. This shows a welcome reduction of approximately 50% in the past 15 years. If this trend was to continue, Ireland will be a smoke free country by 2025, the date set by the Minister's tobacco free Ireland initiative.

What are the effects of the decision of this 21.5% of the population who smoke? Smokers lose an average of ten to 15 years from their life expectancy. As other speakers have stated, each year at least 5,200 people die in Ireland from tobacco-related diseases, which is 100 people each week and 14 people each day.

Before I continue I would like to put briefly the tobacco industry in a financial context. The tobacco industry generates approximately €1.4 billion in tax revenue for the State each year and creates considerable employment, but the effect of this product costs the State approximately €1 billion in caring for the adverse effects of smoking in our public health system. In pure financial terms, the State makes a profit of approximately €400 million from tobacco but the cost to society must be kept to the forefront, which is that every year 5,200 of our family and friends die. We would all agree that saving these lives is worth forgoing any revenue that may accrue to the State. Those who died from cancer would have liked to have been able to kick the habit and their families would certainly like to have their loved ones back and would agree with us.

Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of illness and death in Ireland, and thankfully we can take effective steps to reduce smoking. The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013 is one part of a suite of past and future measures designed to tackle tobacco consumption and the harm caused by smoking in Ireland. The Bill builds upon previous successful measures, including the introduction of the workplace smoking ban in 2004; the introduction of graphic warnings on cigarette packets in 2013; and the publication of Healthy Ireland - A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025.

In October 2013, the Minister for Health launched the Government's latest tobacco control policy document, Tobacco Free Ireland. The overall aim of the policy is to reduce the harm caused by tobacco use, ultimately achieving a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025. While the Minister for Health accepts this is an extraordinary challenge, he has stated in the House that if we work together to denormalise smoking, we can do it. This is a challenge that all of society should embrace and support.

Tobacco Free Ireland has 60 recommendations and measures designed to assist key stakeholders, including the Government, in reaching its target. The main recommendations are the introduction of plain packaging for tobacco products; banning the sale of tobacco products from mobile units and containers; making nicotine replacement therapy more widely available; monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of smoke-free legislation; developing national smoking cessation guidelines; enhancing educational initiatives, particularly those aimed at preventing young people from starting to smoke; and legislating to prohibit smoking in cars where children are present. In this regard, the Minister for Health has indicated his support for the Private Members' Bill in the Seanad. Other targets we must consider include an increase in excise duty on tobacco products to be applied over a continuous five year period; the introduction of a tobacco industry levy, which would be ring-fenced to fund health promotion and tobacco control initiatives, such as ending the illicit trade in tobacco products, as Deputy McLoughlin highlighted; and collaboration between North and South.

In November 2013, the Government approved and published the general scheme of the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013 and sent it to the Joint Committee on Health and Children. As part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process, the joint committee considered and reviewed the general scheme and submitted a report to the Minister. This Bill has often been incorrectly referred to as being about plain packaging, but it is not; it is about is making it mandatory for tobacco to be sold in standardised packaging, which will greatly increase the health warnings and reduce the ability of tobacco manufacturers to promote their brand.

The purpose of the pre-legislative scrutiny process was to facilitate consultation with key stakeholders before the Bill was finalised and presented to the House for consideration as part of the formal legislative process. In organising its work, the committee was first briefed on the general scheme by the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer, Mr. Tony Holohan, at a meeting on 5 December 2013. The joint committee invited written submissions from interested groups and individuals on the general scheme and held a series of meetings with key stakeholders and experts, including those involved in the tobacco industry. All committee members appreciated the opportunity to be involved in contributing to this critical legislation. The pre-legislative scrutiny process allowed committee members to be fully informed about the issues involved and enabled all members to provide meaningful input into the legislation and make observations and suggestions before finalisation of the Bill.

During January the committee sought written submissions on the Bill and began a series of consultative hearings which took place in January and February. This was an opportunity for us to hear at first hand from interested groups and stakeholders with regard to contributing to the drafting of the legislation. As part of the wider consultation process, the committee held public hearings with various interest groups and stakeholders to obtain in a meaningful way their input and views. I hope our intensive scrutiny, which culminated in a two-volume tome of a report, assisted the Minister, the Department and the Government in their further consideration and formulation of the legislation.

In our hearings, the committee met representatives of the Garda, the Revenue Commissioners and the National Tobacco Control Office. We also heard from health advocacy bodies, charities and youth organisations. We also engaged with retail organisations to hear their views on the Bill and on how the changes might affect their businesses. They raised many interesting and thought-provoking points. During our final day of hearings we engaged directly with the tobacco industry and a smokers' lobby group. The committee decided to meet a wide variety of groups with different perspective on the Bill so we could accurately reflected the points made throughout society. Many committee members had misgivings about direct engagement with the tobacco industry, but as a group we took the decision that it was better to engage with its representatives in an open forum, in a setting where we could listen to their views and challenge them if necessary, rather than to allow our work and the Bill be criticised for a lack of engagement. The result of this wide-ranging engagement is that every party has been listened to, and all concerns have been raised and considered.

Tobacco packaging has been described as the last billboard for the tobacco industry, and the legislation will force the industry to show with greater clarity the devastating effects of smoking on the health of citizens.

Committee members have seen for themselves the packets of various shapes, sizes and colours used by tobacco companies to attract young people to take up smoking. Standardised packaging with much larger health warnings will act as a deterrent.

Every year, 5,200 Irish people die from smoking-related illnesses and diseases. Protecting our children and young people from taking up smoking is a key policy for the Minister for Health and of all of us in this House irrespective of our party affiliation or none. There is a wealth of international evidence on the effects of tobacco packaging in general and on perceptions and reactions to standardised packaging which support the introduction of this measure.

I wish to put on the record of the House the conclusions and recommendations from the committee's work. Our recommendations are wide-ranging, including some that go beyond the scope of the Bill and look at wider policy on reducing tobacco consumption, which hopefully can be incorporated with further initiatives to move towards a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025. The recommendations are clear and cogent. The recommendations and measures set out in Tobacco Free Ireland should be implemented as soon as possible, including the ban on smoking in cars where children are present; prohibiting the sale of tobacco products from mobile units and containers at fairs and markets; and making nicotine replacement therapies more widely available, including in retail outlets where tobacco products are sold. These measures should be given prominence because of their importance.

It is important that the proposed legislation specifically sets out that its provisions will come within the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the revised EU tobacco products directive. The rise in the number of calls to the Quitline in Australia could be viewed as evidence that the inclusion of a quit-line number on tobacco packaging in Ireland could be another essential way of encouraging smokers to start thinking about quitting. The Irish Cancer Society strongly recommends the inclusion of a quit-line number in the legislation. The Department, in conjunction with other key stakeholders, should monitor and review the effectiveness of standardised packaging on the prevalence of smoking and the scale of the illicit tobacco market in Ireland.

Consideration should be given to providing a lead-in period of at least 12 months to allow retailers and tobacco manufacturers time to comply with the law, which is a necessary and reasonable timeframe. Consideration should also be given to decreasing the level of duty-free allowance in respect of tobacco products in general. We note 6% of cigarettes are purchased abroad and brought back into Ireland legitimately for personal use. Alternatively, we believe that consideration should be given to decreasing the level of duty-free allowance in respect of non-compliant tobacco products.

The proposed legislation should include provisions to provide for: the standardisation of the size of tobacco packaging; the inner packaging of tobacco products to be the same colour as the outside surface; a separate and distinct definition for brand, company and business name so as to prevent tobacco manufacturers from promoting brand variants to the status of brands; and the maximum length and number of characters in brand and variant names. We also believe that consideration should be given to permitting a small distinguishing mark, for example a colour code, being applied to the bottom surfaces of cigarette packs so as to reduce the risk of consumers being sold the wrong product.

The committee took the view that consideration should be given to an amendment similar to the one introduced by the Australian Government to address a technical manufacturing issue - that is the use of round corners on the inside lip of cigarette packs. Information messages which set out the ingredients and emissions of tobacco products, similar to those used in Australia, should be required on at least one side of tobacco packaging.

In its deliberations the committee also formed the view that the proposed legislation should prohibit the use of brand and variant names appearing on individual cigarette sticks, but allow manufacturers to use an alphanumeric code instead. Consideration should be given to expanding the enforcement powers of authorised officers under the proposed legislation to include the seizure, removal and detention of non-conforming products. We also believe consideration should also be given to providing that the offender pay the costs associated with the seizure, removal and detention of non-conforming products including the cost of their destruction. The legislation should also include an offence for the possession by retailers of non-conforming tobacco products.

. The committee also took the view that the primary sanction upon conviction would be the suspension, and in the case of repeat offences, the loss of the privilege to sell tobacco products. The proposed legislation should provide a wider range of penalties to include official warnings, cautions and on-the-spot fines. We also looked at introducing a ban on proxy purchasing as a matter of urgency.

The Department of Health should assess with the Department of Finance the potential impact that raising excise duties would have on the sale of illicit tobacco products. More investment should be made in educational programmes and youth projects designed to raise awareness around smoking to complement other strategies designed to prevent young people from starting to smoke. In addition, more investment should be made into cessation and quit programmes so as to give the four out of five people who want to quit smoking the necessary aids and supports to do so.

We also looked at the way that we should help to incentivise retailers to become tobacco-free zones. Consideration should be given to the introduction of a "polluter pays" type levy on tobacco manufacturers to be used to offset the health-care costs associated with tobacco use. The introduction of mandatory opening and trading hours for tobacco products should be considered by not selling them during or after a certain time, for example, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

We also took the view that prohibiting the sale of cigarettes in licensed premises might be considered. The regulation of e-cigarettes should be given consideration. A freefone complaints line and e-mail address to encourage compliance should also be established.

I want to put on record my appreciation, and that of my colleagues on the committee, of the many different interest groups who made both oral and written submissions to the joint committee in its preparation of our report. I acknowledge the contribution of Ms Monica Boyle from the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for her assistance with this body of work, the clerk to the committee and the staff of the committee secretariat. As everyone in this House knows, the committee's work is only as good as the service it gets from the staff. We are very fortunate to have very good staff working on our committee secretariat, for which I thank them.

The control and regulation of tobacco products and tobacco use is a key public health policy objective in our country. We have a successful record in implementing many legislative and policy initiatives that have helped to reduce the incidence of smoking. Internationally, Ireland is regarded as one of the leaders in this area of public policy. The Tobacco Control Scale 2010 in Europe ranks Ireland second out of 31 European countries in terms of tobacco control. I hope that the work of the committee was of assistance in bringing about this Bill which proposes to introduce standardised packaging for all tobacco products and also determine the size and position of health warnings on cigarette packets.

I commend the Minister and ask him to continue to lead on this issue. When this Bill has been passed, I hope he will take the other recommendations in the committee's report as the basis for the next policy step in our efforts to continue to reduce the rate of smoking in Ireland.

The saving of 5,200 lives is of paramount importance to all of us. I take issue with Deputy Finian McGrath's comments that we are becoming a nanny state. It is about the preservation of life and the elimination of a cancer-generating product which affects the lives of our people and the country's overall public health. I commend the Bill to the House.

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