Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome the Bill and the steps which have been taken. I recently watched an old film on television and I could not get over the fact that every character smoked. I suddenly realised that one no longer sees that. The behaviour of people in public clearly sets an example for young people. I hope the current absence of public images of smoking will deter them.

In Germany recently, I was surprised to see a big poster advertising cigarettes. I thought cigarette advertising had disappeared throughout Europe. Apparently that is not the case. Part of the difficulty of any regulation is that Irish people can see television broadcast from other countries, as we can see American magazines containing adverts for popular brands of cigarettes. I am not sure how we can impose legislation in every area to deter people from smoking.

The measures in the Bill will be effective because they will apply to shops. The Irish Cancer Society has expressed to many Members its unhappiness with the reduction in penalties in the legislation. I think the new penalties will work well. I am not sure if the Minister of State is a rugby fan. Until a few years ago, if a rugby player committed a foul the only thing the referee could do was to put him off the pitch for the rest of the game. That usually finished the match because 14 players could not compete against 15. With the introduction of the yellow card and red card rule, the referee was able to put a player off for ten minutes. The match was not ruined but the penalty was a sufficient deterrent. The new legislation has a similar benefit. A judge might not be willing to remove a licence for a considerable period whereas he or she might be willing to remove it for the limited time specified in the Bill.

On the other hand, we must make sure it is not acceptable to sell cigarettes to children. Almost 30% of our population still smoke and close to 7,000 people die from tobacco related diseases annually. The figures are horrific. I do not understand why anyone smokes. I can understand someone who started smoking 20 or 30 years ago finding it difficult to give it up. I find it difficult to understand how anyone in his or her teens can take the first cigarette, knowing it is a drug. I know we say this all the time.

Ireland has become the first country in the EU to remove all tobacco advertising from retail outlets. The fact is that one in four people here still smokes and the aim of this Bill is to cut rates even further through the new measures. I am a little concerned about small retailers who rely so much on tobacco. With my own background in retail, Members will understand that. I am much more concerned about the effect the tobacco industry has had on our children and that it continues to invest heavily in promoting a killing product.

New research by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland makes it clear that the problem in some parts of Irish society is worse than 50 years ago. In the 1960s, smoking was still comparatively rare among young Irish women. The RCSI report shows that 56% of 18 to 29 year old females in the lowest social brackets are smokers, while the figure is 28% for the same age group among the most affluent.

A study of the smoking habits and attitudes of 600 adolescents in Kildare and neighbouring counties found that adolescents have no difficulty in obtaining cigarettes from shops, despite laws which outlaw their sale to minors. A significant minority say they get them from their friends, brothers and sisters and, most surprisingly, their parents. Some 90% of the 126 pupils in four post-primary schools indicated little or no difficulty in obtaining cigarettes from their parents, siblings or friends, with the average age for the first cigarette at 12.7 years. Dr. Brendan O'Shea, who has served on the board of the Office of Tobacco Control, spoke to the Leinster Leader and suggested smoking was on the rise again in Ireland, after a dip brought on by the smoking ban. It is very worrying to think that children are still having no difficulty obtaining cigarettes and I hope we will see a major decrease in smoking rates among children with this new legislation. It is difficult to understand why young people start smoking when we have so much knowledge about its dangers.

Another growing problem is black market sale of tobacco. This is now, officially, one of the most profitable forms of organised crime in Ireland and is the third largest supplier of tobacco in Ireland. The Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill was before the House but without tackling gangs' major source of income, the measures introduced will fall short. Tobacco smuggling cost retailers €453 million in 2007. We need to do much more to address this major problem. I use figures for retailers because they are unhappy with tobacco smuggling, but tobacco smuggling and the encouragement of gang crime is a far greater priority.

Recent talks at the World Health Organisation on expanding an international anti-smoking treaty to clamp down on the illicit trade in tobacco cited evidence that "half a dozen terrorist" or militant groups rely on black market tobacco and smuggling for revenue. I had not realised that. They include a number of which we would be aware. Some 11% of the global cigarette market is illicit, equivalent to some 657 billion cigarettes a year. Those figures come from the International Union against Tobacco and Lung Disease.

The WHO negotiations are also considering measures to deal with Internet sales. I am not sure what we can do about that. What strategy is the Government considering to stem on-line sales of cigarettes? I am not sure how big is that trade. The World Health Organisation is also examining a possible halt to duty-free sales of cigarettes, which it says are often diverted into the illicit trade. I am not sure how that happens. I can understand why the Minister of State has excluded duty-free from the Bill as we are in competition in that market. On the other hand, I would like to see a world wide ban or restriction on duty-free. One of the measures being considered is a ban or restriction on duty-free sales, according to official reports of the WHO meeting. It concluded that there would be no legal obstacles to such a ban, while a "track and trace" system on tobacco to prevent contraband was "feasible".

Given the findings that so many duty-free sales of cigarettes end up in the illicit trade, I would like to know what the Government is considering in this respect? Are heavier restrictions on duty-free cigarettes in the pipeline? At the very least, I believe we need to find out what percentage of duty-free cigarettes end up on the black market and consider whether a track and trace system on illegal tobacco could be introduced here in Ireland. I think there is a possibility of being able to do something in this area.

Those of us in the supermarket and retail business know of a number of shops which stopped stocking cigarettes because they were so easily stolen. The decisions had nothing to do with health. Shopkeepers simply feared that tobacco is too easily stolen by customers or employees.

The steps we are taking are in the right direction. I hope they have gone far enough. I accept the changes the Minister of State has made. I approve of the yellow card and red card system. I congratulate the Minister of State and encourage her to continue in the strife. So many lives are at stake in this regard.