Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

We have no issue with the increase in price on tobacco, but it is worth stating on the record in the debate on this financial resolution that 2025 was supposed to the year that the policy target of a tobacco-free Ireland would be met and that tobacco prevalence would be at 5%. It has been a common thread through the last four Governments - this Government and previous governments, with Fine Gael being one of the common threads in the last three Governments alongside Fianna Fáil - that they have failed. We have 18% tobacco prevalence. The impact on our health system is absolutely horrendous. People are getting sick, people are dying, and we are not making any impact in meeting the policy targets of a tobacco-free Ireland.

We can continue to tax tobacco budget after budget, and we do not mind that, but we need to see some brave, imaginative, real policy initiatives that are actually going to make a difference in terms of reducing the tobacco prevalence in Ireland. This annual financial resolution alone will not do that.

That is a message that needs to be brought home to this Government and to the Minister for Health. They really need to focus on reducing the tobacco prevalence in Ireland and reducing the impact that tobacco-related illnesses are having on people's mortality and on our health system.

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