Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State and join him in saying that this is a battle against tobacco. It is one of the most important health challenges the country has faced. We in Opposition wish to lend whatever support we can to ensure the blight of tobacco will not be a threat to this or any other country.

I once attended a conference on cannabis smoking. I was struck by a statistic which indicated that more people have died from smoking tobacco, since its introduction over 200 years ago, than in the First and Second World Wars. I found it difficult to understand how this drug has taken such a hold on western Europe, including Ireland, given its cost and damage to health. Any measure that can prevent the smoking of tobacco, which is harmful to children, workers in the workplace and customers, is welcome.

The 2002 Act brought together a number of legal instruments and replaced two existing Acts, one of which was the Tobacco Products (Control of Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion) Act 1978, which was welcome because at the time we used to have the Carrolls All-Stars. As a teenager I found it strange that icons of sport, GAA, football and hurling, could be associated with tobacco. That Act has helped those of us who aspired to sport to realise that smoking harms not only one's health but one's chances in sport. The Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Act 1988 incorporated certain provisions of the Government's policy, Towards a Tobacco Free Society. The main provisions of the Act were a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, including in-store advertising and displays, and all forms of the tobacco industry. This is where I am confused.

My family business is a newsagents. Tobacco sales was always a major part of a newsagent's trade. To get around the so-called ban where one had a tobacco stand in the newsagents, the tobacco companies have installed a form of vending machine. Legally, they are able to circumvent the law by installing these machines. There are photographs of all the tobacco companies on the machine, for example, Carrolls, Major and so on. When a customer comes into the newsagents, I have to turn around from the till and press a little button and the cigarettes come out. I do not believe that policy was thought out sufficiently. It is business as usual. One can say that, as a newsagent, I should not sell these products. Whatever legislation was brought in has been circumvented by the multinationals and it is business as usual. There are serious profits from the sale of tobacco because these machines do not come cheap and they are installed free of charge in every newsagents and every retail outlet in the country. I do not believe anything can be done about it.

I agree with the registration of tobacco retailers and tougher penalties for those convicted of under age sales. I compliment the health boards, and particularly the Western Health Board, in that on five occasions in the past two years we have received a letter from the health board which had carried out on-the-spot checks. It sent a young teenager to the newsagents and thankfully my staff were vigilant and denied the teenager the cigarettes. I welcome these tough spot checks. If we had sold cigarettes to an under age person, I have no doubt the full rigours of the law would have been applied. I welcome the pro-active approach of the Western Health Board in ensuring cigarettes will not be sold to under age persons.

The ban on the retail sale of packs of less than 20 cigarettes is welcome as are the tighter controls on the sale of tobacco products from vending machines. If teenagers could not get cigarettes in a retail shop, they went to vending machines and now they have to be located in an area which is visible to the public and the owner or manager. That is a welcome development. I also welcome the ban on the sale of confectionery, normally intended for children. It was crazy that children could have toy cigarettes or sweet cigarettes, copying the habits of their peers or their adult friends.

Public disclosure of all aspects of tobacco including toxicity and addiction is welcome. We are all aware that tobacco kills. Countries, such as Australia, have gone much further in that their tobacco packs are very graphic. The UK has advertisements showing people who suffer from lung cancer saying they did not think "this little weed kills". It does kill.

The reason the Bill is before the House is that procedures were not followed under the 2002 Act. As a result, 14 of 53 sections of the Act are affected. These sections relate mainly to the sale and marketing of tobacco products. I am concerned that, perhaps, we did not give sufficient attention to that Bill. The EU directive will deny the tobacco industry direct access to young persons. There will be a difficulty because the legislation ran foul of the European Commission. The words "control of the sale" and "control of the marketing" had implications and fell foul of EU competition law. This should be a warning to us that there are lawyers looking at the Bills we pass. We should be more vigilant and spend more time on these Bills.

The legislation has provided for a change in penalties. It would not have been prudent to send publicans to prison. The prisons should be used for much more sinister gangsters — I am not saying publicans are gangsters. I was a publican. Although the financial penalty has been increased to €3,000, publicans can afford to pay it and would prefer to do so rather than go to prison. It is difficult to clarify the extent of the publican's responsibilities. Who is responsible? It is very difficult if a customer is in the pub — this is a separate issue — but I would never sell a ticket to a customer because it offended him or her. If one would not sell a ticket, one would not tell a customer to stop smoking because that custom would be lost. I wonder whether environmental protection agents or health board agents will have the backup of the law at a time of night when it would be difficult to deal with people with drink taken. While I welcome the Bill, I foresee difficulties ahead.

I am concerned with the issue of pub ventilation. A significant amount of money was spent installing proper ventilation equipment into pubs following the introduction of clean air legislation, and this was promoted by the health boards. While such measures cost pubs as much as €70,000, they are no longer useful. The equipment was installed to eradicate smoke and to protect customers and bar workers but is no longer necessary. A pro-active measure could have been introduced so that this money was not wasted. Many high-tech, smoke eradication units are now worthless, an issue we should consider.

I support the Minister and any measure which protects people in workplaces and public areas from the ravages of smoke inhalation, which has killed many. The sooner we are rid of the scourge of tobacco, the better.