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

As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, I take the opportunity to voice my support for the measure before the House. This is a public health measure which is designed to ensure the tobacco industry will not have a veto on public health policy. It is also about sending a signal to the industry to the effect that we must protect children and those who want to give up smoking. That is why it is important that cessation and harm-reduction measures are put in place in tandem with this financial measure. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, has referred to the fact that smoking kills 5,200 people in this country and 700,000 throughout Europe each year. One in two people who smoke will die. It costs the State €500 million per annum out of the public health budget to deal with the effects of cigarette smoking.

As stated, this is a public health issue. It is about reducing the number of people who smoke, lessening the effects of smoking and ensuring no single person will have free reign to take up smoking. The tobacco industry has only one issue, namely, to recruit people to smoke. That is why Tobacco Free Ireland is a very important initiative. It is vital that we support the national office of tobacco control and work in tandem with it to deal with the issue relating to retailers. I hope consideration will be given to the subject of cessation, both in the context of tax reliefs and in terms of the establishment of a convention with retailers who might be of assistance in assessing the alternative products with which they might replace cigarettes in their shops. We must support them in their businesses. The House should support the measure before it, particularly from a public health perspective.

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