Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

It would be easy to tell the Senator what his party had done in Government. We will not embarrass him just yet, but we will get to it.

Regarding tobacco, I commend the activities of organisations such as Action on Smoking and Health and the Office of Tobacco Control. As a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, I was very surprised – but on reflection, not so much – to hear from an expert that tobacco is more addictive than heroin. The statistic was damning by any standards.

Alcohol is a drug that we all consume from time to time. The issue is not so much use as abuse. Very often the Vintners' Federation of Ireland is demonised. We are not saying that its members are all great, but they are all bad either. They are not a baby-sitting service, in which role some members of society would cast them. When some Johnny or Mary comes home locked to the gills with alcohol at the age of 15 or 16, the first question asked is what pub gave him or her the alcohol. That is very pertinent, but the question of where the mammy and the daddy were is never asked.

It is only fitting and correct that I list what this Government and its predecessor have done. The Fianna Fáil-led Government raised the age limit for buying tobacco from 16 to 18, stopped advertising in newspapers and magazines and ended sponsorship by the tobacco industry. It took positive action by providing for the free availability of a full range of nicotine replacement therapy products to people who cannot afford them, namely, those with medical cards. It initiated sustained media advertising campaigns directed at preventing young people from taking up smoking. It allocated several million euro extra to the health boards to help them improve compliance with the tobacco laws.

The Minister for Health and Children established that very important organ, the Office of Tobacco Control. That office, with the Health and Safety Authority, commissioned the report on the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke in the workplace. In fairness to Senator Ryan, Senator O'Meara and other Members, they have quite rightly mentioned working in a safe atmosphere. If ever there was a reason for the creation of the Health and Safety Authority, it was the problem of environmental tobacco smoke and its ill-effects, not only on the people who generate it but also on those who are obliged to inhale it, even though they were not responsible for the origination of that particular atmospheric pollutant.