Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have no doubt the Minister is correct when he talks about the ill effects of smoking and the necessity of reducing the number of people who smoke. However, at what point does increasing the tax become counterproductive due to the use of imported tobacco? The higher the tax, the more lucrative smuggling tobacco becomes and the more that money falls into the hands of criminal gangs rather than local shopkeepers. It is simply a question. At what point does the Minister think it is unrealistic? We have one of the higher levels of taxation in the European Union. We have had that for some time and it is having effects, if the statistics the Minister quotes are correct. I am not suggesting that he did not quote them correctly but I would be interested to know where they are from. Is there a Government policy around making sure we do not have more tobacco sales by illicit sellers of tobacco? The Minister probably does not have these figures off the top of his head but does he know the number of people who are vaping daily? While vaping might not be quite as damaging as smoking cigarettes, it has a lot of negative health effects too. Many people seem to have transferred the habit without necessarily kicking the nicotine addiction. They are just getting it elsewhere. I will allow time for colleagues.

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