Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not agree to the proposed increase in the price of cigarettes. Thankfully, I am not a smoker, although some of my family are and I wish to God they were not. Smoking is a relaxant for some people, whether we like that or not, and this increase is just a tax grab for the Government because it is not investing any money back into education to try to get to the root of the problem. It will never fully resolve the issue no matter what it does - I accept that - but in any schools I visit, I do not hear any deep discussion of the dangers of cigarette smoking, with children being brought along and an attempt to educate them.

The Government has a habit of punishing people; that is its way of delivering a message. If you drive a car, you will get punished because the Government will shove up the cost of fuel and make it almost impossible to buy it. Likewise, if you smoke cigarettes, the Government will punish you by increasing the price. What that means, however, for the many people who are in a crisis situation right now, finding it almost impossible to make ends meet, is that there is less food on the table, and it might well be not just their own food. It could well be the food for the rest of the family.

It is a tax grab. As I said, I wish to God people did not smoke and I thank God I do not smoke myself. I do not need cigarettes but I respect those who need the comfort of cigarettes, for whatever reason that might be. Certainly, they are not mischievous or bad reasons. It is maybe just a bad habit they got into years ago. We have not invested any of the taxes we get from cigarettes. Was it €68 million that the Minister said this measure is expected to yield for the Exchequer? Some of that should be funnelled back into the education system to try to dig into the roots of the problem. When I was travelling to the House earlier, I looked twice at a student who had a cigarette in her hand. She must have been no more than 13 or 14 and that would be pushing it. That has to stop.

To give some chance to people and given that so much tax is being collected from tobacco, surely some of that €68 million could be put aside to try to educate children in schools and to show them the dangers of cigarettes. I would consider voting in support of an increase if that money went to something that would help people give up cigarettes. I think the increase is a bit unfair. People are finding it very difficult and I have received a fair few messages today expressing annoyance from people who smoke and are again being hit hard in the pocket today.

What is more, it is just shoving them into the black market. As Deputy McNamara said, when someone is flying into the country, people are always looking for them to get cigarettes for them. It is quite annoying, to be honest, although I do not do much travelling, so it does not worry me. I hear people talking about it quite a lot, however, and the increases are playing into the black market.

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