Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle) | Oireachtas source

As I said yesterday or the day before, I believe I am agnostic on all matters that come before the House but I must say that anything to do with smoking tobacco touches a raw nerve with me. Having regard to the fact that people on all sides of the House are supporting the legislation, I therefore commend the Minister, his officials and all the parties supporting the Bill. The truth of the matter is that smoking cigarettes has had a devastating effect on people the length and breadth of the country. Some families have a predisposition to being damaged. I have personal experience of this in that my mother, who died from lung cancer, was one of five siblings, two of whom died from lung cancer in their 40s. My mother and her brother died in their very early 70s. The one who did not smoke lived to be 98. I have only two male cousins on my mother's side. They both smoked and they both died from cancer. I am wise enough not to have smoked but that does not mean the Grim Reaper will not come to get me in some way or other. What the Minister is doing is laudable.

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