Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

It is important that we acknowledge the major damage caused by smoking in our society. We need to take into account the need for constant vigilance and concerted efforts to combat smoking in the most effective way possible. It is extremely disappointing to see the Government introducing provisions that water down the penalties for breaches in the law with regard to the advertising, sale and display of tobacco products in shops. We need to ask ourselves what signal this sends out. The latest survey from the Office of Tobacco Control shows that 40% of retailers and 63% of licensed premises are willing to sell cigarettes to minors. While there has been some improvement in these figures since 2007, it is still a high rate and shows that breaches of the law are widespread. Such breaches ensure that children can have ready access to cigarettes and begin an addiction that will be lifelong in many cases, health-impairing in most and fatal, unfortunately, in many.

In the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002, among the penalties set out is removal of the retailer from the register and consequent prohibition from sale of tobacco products for three months for a summary offence and a year upon indictment. This new Bill proposes, in sections 3 and 5, to dilute these penalties. The mandatory tobacco sale prohibition period for offenders is to be changed from three months or one year to a maximum of three months or one year, with lesser periods possible at the discretion of the Judiciary. This is just not acceptable.

When the Bill was published, the impression was given that this change only affected those provisions relating to the display of sale of tobacco products. The Government rightly went ahead with the ministerial order that came into effect on 1 July but apparently as a softener to retailers signalled that it would reduce the penalties for breach of the law. As I said, the impression was that this was only for display-related offences, but my reading of the Bill indicates that it covers all breaches of the principal Act of 2002. Either way, Sinn Féin is opposed to sections 3 and 5 of the Bill, which send out entirely the wrong signal and represent a slackening of the effort to combat smoking and prevent the grave damage it does to our society.

I have no difficulty with the Bill in general, apart from these sections; other sections relate to duty free and specialist tobacco shops. However, the signal these sections have sent out is unhealthy. The Minister for Health and Children talks about the damage done by tobacco and we all know about this. In this context, I do not understand why a Government would reduce the penalties for sale to minors. It does not make sense.