Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I feel very strongly about this issue. As in many other countries, smoking in Ireland is a serious public health issue and one that quite often does not attract the attention it deserves. Among the general public it certainly does not receive the respect it should, given the dangers it causes. In addition, the cost to the taxpayer arising from the implications of ill-health from smoking is particularly serious, especially when we are in a troika programme.

Having said that, I must commend the former Minister for Health, Deputy Micheál Martin, for introducing the smoking ban in public places, which was a brave move. We were the first in Europe to do so and at this stage our example has been followed by most other European countries. The ban sent out a positive message but we have taken our eye off the ball on this issue somewhat since then. My family runs a shop in County Clare where, unfortunately, we sell quite an amount of cigarettes. Speaking to other retailers in recent times, however, we have noticed that cigarette companies are now pushing out the boundaries concerning what they can or cannot do. We have seen the recent introduction of packs of 23 cigarettes. Smokers now face a choice of packs of 20 or 23. We banned packs of ten in order to reduce the incentive for young people to buy them, but we are now back to having a choice of two packs. We should either ban the 20 pack or the 23 pack, but only one pack should be on sale. Next we will see a pack of 30 cigarettes which will work out cheaper per cigarette than a 23 pack. We could even see the introduction of packs of 50, which would work out cheaper still. The economics of scale are built into the number of cigarettes purchased.

Coupled with that, we have also observed in-store incentives being peddled by cigarette companies. These are to incentivise staff to push cigarettes on the public. Under one scheme currently being operated in shops around the country, staff members who increase sales of a particular brand of cigarettes will receive a ¤50 shopping voucher. There is an incentive to partake in such a promotion coming up to Christmas when times are difficult in an expensive period.

In addition, glossy and colourful price lists are being produced on the basis that retailers are legally obliged to advertise the price of their products. They are therefore taking advantage of that loophole to peddle their brands.

I abhor smoking which I believe is one of the greatest curses in the modern world. We have a responsibility to do what we can to curb it. This is a time-sensitive subject because the budget is being announced next week. That would be an opportune time to deal with this issue by regulating new methods of in-store promotion of cigarettes.

Retailers are permitted to buy tins of cigars yet they can be sold individually. Thus, people in a difficult economic situation who come from an unprivileged socioeconomic background could, unfortunately, be incentivised to buy single cigars. Tobacco products should be sold as part of a package.

Another element that has crept in recently is the peddling of roll-your-own cigarettes. We will always be fighting this battle against smugglers who are selling tobacco on Henry Street for ¤5 a pack. We may not have a large amount of control over that but we certainly can control how tobacco products are sold in shops, including the price and packaging.

It is a win-win situation to tackle this problem and the vast majority of the public will be on our side. Statistics show that 18% of the population smoke, while 15% want to quit smoking. Therefore, we will probably have 90% support for any initiatives we take to deal with this matter.