Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator van Turnhout on the issue of child pageants. We should follow the lead of the French Senate on this; they are hideous competitions and should not be encouraged.

This morning the Irish Cancer Society has highlighted research into the attitude of teenagers towards smoking. There are some interesting findings especially on plain packaging, for which we intend to legislate. The research found that cigarette brands encourage teens to start smoking, which is no great surprise. However, it also found that non-smokers would be discouraged from even trying them and current smokers would quit if cigarettes were in plain packets. The research highlighted that young people are the primary target for marketing by the tobacco industry, which, according to the HSE's national office of tobacco control, needs to recruit 50 new smokers a day to replace those who die or those who manage to quit.

More than any other tobacco control measure to date the removal of branding from cigarettes would threaten the business model that has enabled tobacco companies to increase profitability by recruiting new young smokers. The research follows the recent introduction of plain olive-coloured packaging in Australia. It is not completely plain, because it also contains horrendous pictures of the illnesses that can ensue from smoking. Introduced in January, it has been shown to be very effective especially with younger people. While this has worked, some in the tobacco industry have raised concern about the potential for a higher incidence of counterfeiting. We need to stand up to the tobacco industry which manages to lobby under all sorts of headings to persuade us that certain measures, which we might try to introduce and which would ultimately decrease their profits, are a bad idea. We need to be really strong when the legislation comes before the Houses.

If done properly as has been done in Australia, plain packaging can also incorporate greater security and anti-counterfeiting measures. Yesterday we had a very good debate on the report of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee. One of its key recommendations was plain packaging for cigarettes and now is the time to push ahead with it. We need to stand up to the tobacco industry and the various headings under which it lobbies.