Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for their comments. I assure Deputy Kelliher that no one in this House, I assume, is going to bend in front of the pressure or the lobby force from tobacco companies. A total of 640 million cigarettes were seized between 2009 and 2013. This year to date, almost 50 million cigarettes were confiscated and seized, including a seizure of 32.3 million in Drogheda, the largest seizure in Europe.

Almost 2,000 staff are involved in Revenue in an integrated tax and customs administration. They are not all associated directly with cigarette seizures but they do a range of things as part of their work in ports and customs and connected areas. They work in ports, airports and postal depots. They are supported by equipment and resources like scanners, extra machines and trafficking detector dogs. These resources are all revamped regularly.

The fiscal policy referred to is part of the overall health policy. Other elements include controls on the sale of cigarettes; permanent health warnings on packets; prohibition on tobacco advertising and the display of tobacco products in all retail outlets; prohibition on sponsorship; restrictions on the smoking of tobacco in public areas and places of work; prohibition on the sale of cigarettes in packs of less than 20; and health education programmes as well as actions by health professionals.

Clearly, if there is an increase in excise duty it is an imposition on people and it is meant to be. As Deputy Reilly pointed out, no one wants to see their children take up this business. While tobacco smuggling is clearly a high priority for Government there is a reason behind this and it is not simply fiscal policy. As Deputy Reilly pointed out, when the racking cough starts and it cannot be gotten rid of people fade away physically, mentally and emotionally. Their lives are destroyed by virtue of this drug. Although the measure causes difficulty for a number of people the tobacco companies must have a new crop of bright young people every year to keep the conveyor belt moving and this measure is intended to inhibit that. I hope we can get to a smoke-free Ireland by 2025. From that point of view I commend the motion to the House and I thank the Deputies for their contributions.

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