Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not smoke and I do not like smoking, but we are tackling this the wrong way. We have continually put up the price budget after budget, but for people who are addicted or find it difficult to stop smoking, and especially for working-class or unemployed families, this price is savage and it puts huge pressure on all aspects of the household budget for food, clothes and general living expenses.

As I said today as part of my budget contribution, we are not touching the whole illicit trade of cigarettes. The Minister mentioned the €7.54 excise duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes and the €61.8 million in revenue that might come in, but the amount of cigarette smuggling across the Border and from outside our shores that is coming in is shocking. We have seen studies about how dangerous smuggled cigarettes are, as they are not regulated and in some cases they are like smoking tar. We are not touching this issue at all. If we are discussing real health worries and issues, the damage those kinds of cigarettes do to people's lungs and general health is shocking. We should broaden our options here and not just put the price up by 20 cent, 50 cent or whatever every year, which has just become a habit now. Rather, we should seriously tackle the smuggling and importation of illegal cigarettes, which do greater damage to health and which do not provide any revenue.

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