Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I assure the Senator I am young enough and healthy enough to notice all of that, thanks be to God.

Evidence suggests a certain level of smoking still occurs. We must consider everything. The idea that increasing the price of cigarettes too much encourages smuggling is a classic Department of Finance excuse. It is not to do with smuggling, it is to do with declining revenue. It is probable that various Members on the other side of the House will give lectures on the imposition on old people by putting up the price of their 20 cigarettes, one of the few pleasures they have. I could make the speech myself. I still believe an overwhelming case can be made in favour of increasing the price of cigarettes.

Either the Tánaiste or the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, proposed selling a minimum quantity of cigarettes. My view is that a minimum quantity should be 40, 20 at the very least. It should be illegal to sell fewer than 40 cigarettes at a time to make it more difficult for people who are young enough to have extremely limited amounts of money to buy them at a cost of €15 or whatever. I am not a prohibitionist as I do not believe prohibition works. However, we should put up every obstacle possible. We should not have any cigarette advertising anywhere in the country, which we have nearly achieved.

We should restrict the number of outlets in which cigarettes are sold. A case can be made for the introduction of regulations to prohibit the sale of cigarettes in third level institutions, such as CIT where I work. I do not know whether shops in hospitals sell cigarettes.