Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an tAire go dtí an Teach inniu chun plé a dhéanamh ar an Bhille tábhachtach seo a bhaineann le tobac agus caitheamh tobac.

Fianna Fáil supports the Bill before the House and any measure the Minister will take to curb the prevalence of smoking or its consequences in society. Smoking is a curse on society. The Minister rightly pointed out that, unfortunately, the major companies manufacturing and promoting cigarettes are now targeting young people, and women in particular. The reason for this is that they have lost so many of their other customers. Cancer is a major scourge for our population. Professor Crown is our expert in the House in that regard. We all visit people when they are ill and have attended funerals when people have died. Unfortunately, the majority of these people die as a result of encountering cancer and having to battle with it at the end of their life. They get palliative care support, but smoking exacts its cost. We all remember the smoke-filled rooms of years ago when we attended political and community meetings. Whether people were smokers or not, they were smoking passively and we are now aware this has had a devastating effect on human health.

The smoking ban has been hugely successful since its introduction. While publicans were against it at the time, if they were asked about it today, they would be in favour of it. Talking to a colleague earlier, we recalled how if one was in a pub years ago, when one came out one's hair and clothes reeked of smoke. Thank God those days are in the past.

The Minister touched on the issue of brand monopoly. According to Bloomberg, the Marlboro brand company is worth €21 billion per year. It is the tenth biggest brand on the planet and has huge financial weight. However, we must deal with these companies and take them on. I fully support the Minister's aspiration to introduce universal plain packaging and hope he brings that to Cabinet in the near future, along with the hard-hitting message of the detrimental health impact of smoking on the package. Australia has done this very successfully. Researchers in the tobacco field show the companies are totally opposed to this and are targeting new smokers in countries where there is no universal packaging, including here in Ireland, where young people are being targeted through clever advertising.

The Minister drew our attention to the clever new packaging that is being used. The first time I saw such packaging at the supermarket counter - I am not a smoker - I thought the branding made it look like some form of lipstick tube, health food or supplement. These people, who have huge amounts of money, did not some up with such a clever approach on the spur of the moment. Governments need to be responsible. Along with my Fianna Fáil colleagues, I will support the Bill in question when it comes before the Oireachtas. The sooner it does, the better because we need to take on the vested interests in this sector properly.

The issues of the cost of tobacco and the money being made by tobacco companies arise in the context of the legislation we are discussing. The cost of cigarettes is approximately twice the EU average. People often bring cigarettes home with them when they go on holidays in Spain, Portugal and places like that. They can buy 200 cigarettes there for the price of 40 cigarettes in Ireland. Smokers might disagree with me when I say it is not a bad thing that cigarettes are so expensive here. Every time the level of tax on cigarettes in Ireland has been increased - I appreciate that the State generates a great deal of revenue through such measures - the companies have dovetailed with that to increase their profits. According to the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society, the tobacco sector's revenue on every packet of 20 cigarettes increased from €1 to €1.84 in the decade up to 2010. The companies are piggy-backing on what the State is doing. I encourage the Minister to examine this aspect of the matter. Some form of regulation or legislation is needed to prevent companies from piggy-backing on increases in the level of tax imposed on tobacco products.

If the Minister decides to introduce generic packaging that is light green, dark green or some other colour, I encourage him to include cigars and all other forms of tobacco in that regime. We should not confine our attention to cigarettes - we have to focus on every form of tobacco.

I think an educational campaign is needed, particularly in our primary schools. I know this is happening in some secondary schools. If teachers do not have the dedicated expertise to show young people the deadly effects of tobacco smoking, they should be supported in doing so. Believe it or not, tobacco companies are using their clever advertising to target children of primary school age. The Minister should work with his ministerial colleague in the Department of Education and Skills to target such practices through the school network and the education system as a whole. If that were done in an effective way, it would educate the next generation about the deadly effects of smoking tobacco products.

I could say much more on this issue. The Minister has articulated most of what needs to be said about the health effects of smoking. As a medical practitioner, he is familiar with those effects. I am sure he has seen many cases of people suffering from cancer, particularly lung cancer, as a result of smoking over a long number of years. As politicians, we have an obligation to protect the nation and to protect people against smoking. I agree with the Minister that we are anti-smoking rather than anti-smokers. I would subscribe to that. I have never smoked, but I have friends and family members who smoke. My younger brother who smokes was diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago. He would love to give up cigarettes if he could do so. When people get addicted to cigarettes, unfortunately they get a grip on them and form part of their daily lives. It is very difficult to give them up. We need to give serious consideration to ways of educating young people, showing them alternatives, assuring them that smoking is not a cool thing to do and reminding them that they should not follow their friends who might smoke. That would be very useful.

We are fully supportive of this short Bill. We look forward to the publication by the Minister of legislation on cigarette packaging. I encourage him to keep an eye on major companies that might seek to piggy-back on any decision to increase our tax revenues from cigarettes. That is exactly what they are doing. A cap needs to be placed on the profit they can make from every packet of cigarettes that is sold in our supermarkets.

The issue of contraband cigarettes, which are readily available, has not been mentioned during this debate. They come into this country through the North and other channels. They are sold on many streets in this country at heavily reduced prices. I am not sure how we can target this phenomenon. The State is losing substantial and serious revenue. The Criminal Assets Bureau, the Revenue Commissioners and the Garda Síochána are working to try to close the various loopholes that exist in this regard. I am not sure whether more can be done to that end. As the cigarettes that are coming into this country in this way contain all sorts of fillers, they are even worse than the cigarettes that are being sold in our shops. I am not sure how we can deal with this problem. Former members of certain parliamentary groups in the North are involved in this activity. This problem need to be targeted. The population needs to be educated about the consequences of products that are being sold under the counter.