Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At one point when the double doors opened and Deputy Doherty walked in, I thought he would have a can of Red Bull in his hand, such were the points his colleague made in his absence. Anyway, I am glad the Sinn Féin policy on this matter is clear and that the party supports the principle of the sugar tax.

In some ways, Deputy Paul Murphy is one of the most unlikely socialists I have ever come across. He continually preaches the need for higher taxation. He points to the role of taxes and how taxes need to be used to change behaviour. Yet, every time we bring in a tax with that intention, he appears to oppose it. I would have thought that if anyone can agree with the principle of tax policy being used as a way of influencing behaviour, surely it would be someone such as Deputy Murphy, who advocates higher taxes on many forms of activity every day of the week. When I saw that Deputy Murphy had tabled an amendment in this regard, I initially assumed that he must have been calling for a higher tax, since that appears to be his normal response to every other form of tax policy that we introduce.

The Deputy made the point that he is not convinced by some of the arguments put forward. Of course, that is always his right. In recent years, however, in the debate on issues like childhood obesity, many of the clinical experts in this area have called for tax to be used to reduce the excess consumption of drinks that have a high sugar content and that can cause great difficulties for children in later life. That is why we are bringing in the measure.

It will bring in a yield to the State of approximately €40 million but the reason we are bringing in the measure is because we believe it can play an important role in the Government’s action plan, A Healthy Weight for Ireland. The plan is about trying to put in place a number of different measures to deal with the growing difficulties we have relating to obesity. This tax is not being introduced in isolation. It is one of a range of different policies that either have been brought in or are in the process of being brought in, such as legislation relating to food labelling, calorie posting in restaurants and incentives for industry to reformulate products. This tax is a classic example of how it can be done and there is some evidence that it is already happening. Other measures include providing health services in primary and secondary schools, better provision of information and guidelines for people through the media, training of health care staff and healthy eating initiatives.

I do not contend for a moment that this tax on its own will change all of the behaviour we seek to change. I do believe, however, it will make a contribution. I would have hoped Deputy Paul Murphy, as a full-throated socialist, would embrace this tax rather than seeking to oppose it.

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