Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

The Bill was introduced initially last year by the previous Administration. Compliments were paid on Second Stage to the Minister and the Government for reintroducing the Bill. Many of the statistics the Minister and other contributors made are relevant. In the context of section one and these proposals it is important to put on the record the latest World Health Organization report on the global tobacco epidemic. The report was issued in the past two days and gives the stark figure that more than 1 billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws requiring large graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco, almost double the number of two years ago. I cannot help but reflect on this.

I realise I am crowing from our side but I believe I should add my voice in acknowledgement and recognition of the initiative taken by Deputy Micheál Martin when he was Minister for Health and Children to introduced the legislation. The Leas-Chathaoirleach will correct me if I am wrong but I believe Ireland was the first country to introduce smoke-free places. The initiative has been in place for many years and I note that since it was introduced more than 739 million people in 31 countries have been covered by comprehensive laws requiring smoke-free indoor spaces. More than 353 million people are covered in 15 countries. Thailand is among the latest countries to ban smoking in indoor public places and in the workplace. I am keen to highlight these facts. Deputy Micheál Martin was much maligned for many things during his tenure in the Department of Health and Children, but that will stand as a shining legacy of his time there.

The World Health Organization tobacco free initiative director, Dr. Douglas Bettcher, stated that large graphic health warnings of the sort pioneered by Uruguay, Canada and a handful of other countries are an effective means of reducing tobacco's appeal and Ireland will now be a part of it. Perhaps the Minister of State will comment on this. He goes on to say that Australia's proposed legislation to require that tobacco be sold in plain packaging will do even more to ensure that fewer people fall into the trap of sickness and premature death, and that the World Health Organization, WHO, stands ready to help countries to resist the tobacco industry's unprincipled attempts to eliminate these important protections. I share the view of the WHO that one is dealing with very devious, manipulative people in the tobacco industry. Several films have been made about this. One of them, whose title escapes me, received a worldwide release and depicts the cynicism of the tobacco industry, particularly from an American perspective.

Requiring large graphic health warnings is among the six demand reduction measures recommended by the WHO. Interestingly, in the context of Senator Crown's contribution, the other measures are: monitoring tobacco use; protecting people from tobacco smoke; helping users quit; enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; raising taxes on tobacco. Of the six, the Minister will probably agree that this country has perhaps reached a tipping point in terms of the amount of tax it is possible to get from tobacco consumption, primarily because of the continuing threat to the Exchequer of the illegal importation of cigarettes. Perhaps the Minister has a view on that. I am sorry to throw so many questions at her and for my somewhat scattergun approach, but I am sure she will pick up on this point as it is important that we are given an insight into the Government's thinking on the widespread practice of illegal tobacco smuggling. Undoubtedly, it threatens the amount of money the Exchequer can collect from the consumption of tobacco and it has been an ongoing problem in recent years.

In the context of the six recommended measures, I share Senator Crown's concern that we protect people from tobacco smoke. It is a difficult issue but perhaps the Minister will focus on that recommendation and on what initiatives she might undertake in that regard. She has already told us she will be a reforming Minister so I urge her to be as reforming as possible. I am totally opposed to smoking in harmony with the old cliché that there is nobody more intolerant of smoking than a reformed smoker. I used to smoke. I started puffing fags at about ten years of age behind the school shed. I gave them up in my late twenties and, thank God, have not smoked since. However, one of our five offspring attended a boarding college for one year. He did not like it and left after his first year, but he said the only thing he learned there was how to smoke. He is 21 and is the only one of our family who smokes, despite our best efforts. I see the danger of passive smoking in our house. We try to get him to go outside the door but he goes into his den with his friends and the place is often clouded with smoke.

Both my personal experience and the statistics show the adverse impact of passive smoking on health. The WHO report states that the tobacco epidemic will kill nearly 6 million people this year. More than 5 million of them will be users and ex-users of smoked and smokeless tobacco and more than 600,000 will be non-smokers who were exposed to tobacco smoke. By 2030, the WHO projects that tobacco consumption or passive smoking could kill 8 million people per year, which is double the population of this country.